Is the Alcubierre Drive the Future of Faster-Than-Light Space Travel?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter mnielsen1
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Drive
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the Alcubierre Drive and its potential for faster-than-light space travel, exploring theoretical implications, relativity, and communication challenges associated with such technology.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses interest in the Alcubierre Drive, noting the proposal by White to reduce the mass required, suggesting it may be plausible.
  • Concerns are raised about the implications of special relativity, particularly regarding time dilation for travelers compared to those on Earth.
  • Questions arise about whether the travel times mentioned by White refer to the travelers or observers on Earth.
  • Another participant highlights the challenge of communication, noting that the craft would likely travel faster than current communication capabilities.
  • There is curiosity about other theoretical concepts from science fiction, such as "sub-space," and whether they are being explored in relation to faster-than-light travel.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying levels of understanding and skepticism about the feasibility of the Alcubierre Drive, with no consensus on its implications or the specifics of the theory.

Contextual Notes

Some participants have not read the original paper, leading to uncertainty about the details and assumptions made in the discussion. There are also unresolved questions regarding the effects of time dilation and communication challenges.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in theoretical physics, space travel concepts, and the implications of relativity may find this discussion relevant.

mnielsen1
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
OK, so I have not read the whole paper, can't seem to access it so if anyone has it, please send it my way or at least a link too it. I understand the principles and with White coming out and proposing how to reduce the mass required I can see it being plausable, interesting at the least. Now, again, I have not read the paper and do not know if it covers this, but according to the special theory of relativity, those inside of the craft would get there much faster and age much slower than those of us here on Earth, thusly when they get back we would be older and possibly those that sent them would be dead. Again, I have not read this but the buzz is that it is not completely "trek-like" and that the factors of "warp" would be nearly limit-less. The weeeks or months to travel to Alfa Centuri as White was stating may be plausible, would that be for the observers or for the travelers? Further more, it is clear that the craft would travel exponentiallay faster than any communications capabilities that we currently possesses so is anyone working on any other theories taken from si-fy such as "sub-space" or any other coined phrase?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
mnielsen1 said:
OK, so I have not read the whole paper, can't seem to access it so if anyone has it, please send it my way or at least a link too it.

Here? http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0009013
 
Awesome! This tanker thanks you!
 
Damn, dt=dt. Assuming we can pull this off, that is cool for us here at home. Sounds almost too good to be true...
 

Similar threads

Undergrad Does the Alcubierre drive shorten distances?
  • · Replies 32 ·
2
Replies
32
Views
3K
High School Can Curved Spacetime Enable Faster-Than-Light Travel?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
4K
High School Can We Create a Warp Drive for Light? - Josh's Curiousity
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
3K
Graduate Alcubierre Warp Drive: Intro Paper for GR Students
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Graduate Energy condition respecting warp drives in Einstein Cartan theory
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
3K
Graduate Latest Warp Drive Research: Examining Chronology Protection Conjecture
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
High School Any Feasible Faster-Than-Light Interstellar Travel?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Graduate A question about an alternate version of the Alcubierre Drive
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
Graduate Can Warp Drives Really Make Faster-Than-Light Travel Possible?
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
4K
Graduate Can the Warp Drive Go Faster Than Light?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K