NASA unveiled their “Warp Drive” ship – Faster than Light Spaceship

Ever since the sound barrier was broken, people have turned their attention to how we can break the light speed barrier.  But “Warp Drive” or any other term for faster-than-light travel still remains at the level of speculation.

The bulk of scientific knowledge concludes that it’s impossible, especially when considering Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. There are certainly some credible concepts in scientific literature, however it’s too soon to know if they are viable.

Science fiction writers have given us many images of interstellar travel, but traveling at the speed of light is simply imaginary at present.

In the meantime, science moves forward.  And while NASA is not pursuing interstellar flight, scientists here continue to advance ion propulsion for missions to deep space and beyond using solar electric power. This form of propulsion is the fastest and most efficient to date.

There are many “absurd” theories that have become reality over the years of scientific research.  But for the near future, warp drive remains a dream.

If you would like to know more about the theories of interstellar flight, you should visit the Tau Zero Foundation.  Marc Millis, a former NASA Glenn physicist, founded the organization to consider revolutionary advancements in propulsion. 

NASA explains the idea of Alcubierre’s Warp drive through a simple example moving sidewalks at airports. The concept is made analogous to walking on a moving sidewalk, provided that the sidewalk moves faster than one’s walk. This can be executed by contracting spacetime in front of the ship and expanding spacetime behind the ship.

The requirement of negative energy is the major issue. The problem arising would be controlling an environment of negative energy and its effect which is separate to the ship’s working. The situation in which ship would move is completely unknown i.e. warp bubble exceeding speed of light. Warp drive also recalls the time travel issues as in case of Worm Hole transportation.

Mark Rademaker, artist, who worked with White in designing Warp drive ship explains that craft consists of the main ship settled between two massive rings of negative energy which would develop the warp bubble. This new version of the ship is more compact and chunkier. According to Harold White, the design accounts for the predictions made according to mathematics of an Alcubierre warp drive currently.

NASA considers the warp drive and faster-than-light travelling spaceships projects at an ‘speculation’ stage. The development cycles of NASA describe this to be an early stage for warp drive. It has only passed the initial ‘conjecture’ stage of development.

The whole concept of warp drive seems impossible to many, however, works of White have grabbed the attention of scientists across the globe. Criticism and research may lead to a positive results. Comment and debate on possibilities of this project.

Source: NASA

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