This appears to be the original paper: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/2011001... and follow up: http://www.icarusinterstellar.org/daydreaming-beyond-the-sol...
Fine links indeed. I tip my hat to you.
Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
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Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#12Warp speed is only 1/10th the speed of light. As far as some news about faster than light travel, refer to: http://xkcd.com/955/
Well if you read the paper the effective speed is 10c, not .1c. They postulate 'boosting' the effective speed by contorting space-time around the craft, see this quote in the paper:
"assume the spacecraft heads out towards Alpha Centauri and has a conventional propulsion system capable of reaching 0.1c. The spacecraft initiates a boost field with a value of 100 which acts on the initial velocity resulting in an apparent speed of 10c. The spacecraft will make it to Alpha Centauri in 0.43 years as measured by an earth observer and an observer in the flat space-time volume encapsulated by the warp bubble. "
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#13As much as it pains me to say this, but I think we have to invent some more advanced weapons before we start poking our heads out of our galaxy. Don't get me wrong, this is fantastic and I'm all tingly from excitement (this is the first time I've read about warp drives in the context of real science) ... but like I said, taking a stroll trough the galaxy with our bombs and finding a hostile alien world. Well we'd be…
I think that developing "advanced" weapons in isolation would be an exercise in futility. If there's a race that's experienced in interstellar war out there, their weapons would be much more refined than ours. You can't create any product independent of its context.
If we were to meet a hostile alien race, unless they were at a similar developmental stage (which seems unlikely), we'd be at their mercy either way due to the extent of the other side's settlements.
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#14Warp speed is only 1/10th the speed of light. As far as some news about faster than light travel, refer to: http://xkcd.com/955/
The article says 10x, not 1/10x.
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#15As much as it pains me to say this, but I think we have to invent some more advanced weapons before we start poking our heads out of our galaxy. Don't get me wrong, this is fantastic and I'm all tingly from excitement (this is the first time I've read about warp drives in the context of real science) ... but like I said, taking a stroll trough the galaxy with our bombs and finding a hostile alien world. Well we'd be…
Seeing how if we use our warp drives to 'colonize' space, other creatures would have far more to fear from us than we from them (think Independence day with roles reversed). If a space faring species encounters non-space faring species, the one with warp is probably (not necessary) in the better position. Even without the weapons, FTL drive implies a magnitudes greater technology than anything a non-FTL race would have. In fact atm we might be the most dangerous creature out there, so in future (if we get that far) I probably see human species branching out into several subspecies and then waging endless war against each other.
Halo is a work of fiction, not a real life based drama. We'll probably be lucky if we find anything more interesting than a microbe. First encounter will probably be more like Solaris than Halo. We'll most likely find an organism that we can't even perceive as one.
So no, we don't need guns in space. Best weapon in space is Newton's second law (i.e. Kinetic bombardment). Cheap and easy to set up, hard to defend if your target is in a gravitation well.
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#16As much as it pains me to say this, but I think we have to invent some more advanced weapons before we start poking our heads out of our galaxy. Don't get me wrong, this is fantastic and I'm all tingly from excitement (this is the first time I've read about warp drives in the context of real science) ... but like I said, taking a stroll trough the galaxy with our bombs and finding a hostile alien world. Well we'd be…
Seeing how if we use our warp drives to 'colonize' space, other creatures would have far more to fear from us than we from them (think Independence day with roles reversed). If a space faring species encounters non-space faring species, the one with warp is probably (not necessary) in the better position. Even without the weapons, FTL drive implies a magnitudes greater technology than anything a non-FTL race would ha…
Makes me think of Sphere (the novel, not the mediocre movie).
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#17As much as it pains me to say this, but I think we have to invent some more advanced weapons before we start poking our heads out of our galaxy. Don't get me wrong, this is fantastic and I'm all tingly from excitement (this is the first time I've read about warp drives in the context of real science) ... but like I said, taking a stroll trough the galaxy with our bombs and finding a hostile alien world. Well we'd be…
Interesting thoughts you bring up there, and if we ever did colonize other planets, I've absolutely no doubt they would all start warring and civil warring and fighting each other. All one needs for evidence of this fact is a quick look at how we behave on planet Earth, and what we do with just one planet...
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#18How about we first build a space ship that travels anywhere near the speed of light?
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#19Infinite Improbability Drive
http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Infinite_Improbability_Dri...
Re: Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
#20Why, I always get my science from Yahoo news.