Any Feasible Faster-Than-Light Interstellar Travel?

[Ascendant0]

TL;DR Summary

As our technology advances and based on what we know to exist now, is there any feasible way to bend space-time to the point where interstellar travel comparable to say Star Trek is one day possible?

I'm not talking sci-fi, not talking "10yrs to the next solar system" speeds, and not including things we don't even know actually exist (like exotic matter). I'm talking interstellar travel like star ships, speeds one day comparable to what you see in sci-fi now, such as Star Trek?

While my knowledge in physics is only at 3rd year college level, I of course know our technology isn't nearly there yet. I also know that bending space to the extent where you could travel the vast distances between solar systems would take an energy source greater than a few of our suns. But, what I'm asking about is in hundreds (or maybe thousands) of years from now, is there any way based on our resources and technological advances that we could travel the stars at speeds where we could visit multiple solar systems in a lifetime?

If so, what technology or other resources would it require? How far off do you feel we are from getting there?

 

[phinds]

TL;DR Summary: As our technology advances and based on what we know to exist now, is there any feasible way to bend space-time to the point where interstellar travel comparable to say Star Trek is one day possible?

No

I'm not talking sci-fi, not talking "10yrs to the next solar system" speeds, and not including things we don't even know actually exist (like exotic matter). I'm talking interstellar travel like star ships, speeds one day comparable to what you see in sci-fi now, such as Star Trek?

No

While my knowledge in physics is only at 3rd year college level, I of course know our technology isn't nearly there yet. I also know that bending space to the extent where you could travel the vast distances between solar systems would take an energy source greater than a few of our suns.

Uh ... you are WAY low on that estimate. If we COULD do it, which we can't, I think it would take a lot more energy than that.

But, what I'm asking about is in hundreds (or maybe thousands) of years from now, is there any way based on our resources and technological advances that we could travel the stars at speeds where we could visit multiple solar systems in a lifetime?

Highly unlikely

If so, what technology or other resources would it require? How far off do you feel we are from getting there?

I seriously doubt we will EVER get there.

 

[Drakkith]

Feasible? No, not at all. The closest thing would be the Alcubierre drive, but since that requires 'negative mass' (something not believed to exist) it's not within the realm of 'feasible'.

But, what I'm asking about is in hundreds (or maybe thousands) of years from now, is there any way based on our resources and technological advances that we could travel the stars at speeds where we could visit multiple solar systems in a lifetime?

Thanks to time dilation and length contraction you can feasibly visit many star systems within one lifetime of a passenger by traveling at near-c speed, but from the POV of a 'stationary' observer in one of the star systems a person is limited to visiting perhaps a handful of nearby star systems within the 'stationary' observer's lifetime.

FTL travel simply isn't possible according to science as we currently understand it. It is always possible we'll discover something new in the future that will allow it, but I doubt it.

 

[PeterDonis]

Our best current understanding of the laws of physics is that FTL travel is impossible.

Thread closed.

 

[Nugatory]

@Ascendant0 The argument against faster-than-light travel is not based on technical limitations. It's not like the old "man will never fly" arguments put forth in the 19th century when no one imagined that the power-to-weight ratios achieved by 20th-century internal combustion and jet engines would remove all sorts of technical limitations.

The argument that we cannot get from point A to point B faster than a flash of light is more like the argument that we will never find two integers $a$ and $b$ such that $(a/b)^2=2$ - if we assume that is possible we encounter logical contradictions. For an example of the difficulties that arise you might try googling for "tachyonic antitelephone".