Fast travel at the speed of light: is it possible?
Well, I'll admit this: I've seen a lot of Star Trek in my time. And, like most kids of my age, I was drawn to the imaginary world of Star Wars. Both series presented a time of the future where the stars could easily reach. The dream of reaching other worlds never really left me, but humanity is still 'imprisoned' on planet earth. Is the light journey fast for humans, or are we stuck here for good?
We live in a universe governed by a very complex set of rules and barriers. Light speed is one of them. The speed of light, also called C, is physically constant, and it does not just represent light. C is the maximum speed at which any particle can possibly travel, including particles of light (photons) or both at large. You may also recognize c as part of the famous E = mc2 equation.
If so, how is Warp Drive possible? It may be technically impossible to travel faster than light, but there may be ways to 'turn' the laws that govern the universe and travel faster.
This article will highlight some theoretical ways that we can travel faster than the speed of light. This includes the use of insect repellents, such as the Alcubier warp drive theory, and the Krasmikov tube.
By the way, I'm going to call Super Technical Jargon a clean and beautiful 'General'. If you're interested in the equations and things I'm talking about, just ask and I'll point you in the right direction.
Let's begin!
How fast can we keep up with current technology?
Current technology allows for what is called 'sub-luminal' travel. In other words, it's too slow. Speed is a relative thing. Voyager 1, which recently came out of the solar system, has traveled far beyond any man-made creation. It travels at a speed of 62,000 kilometers per hour, once again enveloping the whole world, but in terms of space which is really quite slow.
For example, before Voyager 1 could come close to another star, it would be some 40,000 years old. This is much longer than our recorded human history!
Here are some ideas on how we can reach and detect other solar systems and stars using conventional techniques such as constant acceleration. If a spacecraft were to move at a constant rate of 1G, you could theoretically reach nearby stars in a few years.
The Daedalus Project: It was a theoretical process to analyze how we could reach other stars in the same life using traditional technology.
The idea was simple: you build a large-scale starship that consists mostly of fuel tanks. It will use fusion rockets to increase the speed of light by more than 10%. With Bernard Starr as a target, the Daedalus spacecraft will reach the star system in about 50 years.
However, there are some drawbacks:
First, the fuel source will be mostly helium 3, which will be mined from Jupiter. Secondly, it will be around the same size as the Empire State Building, so it will be a big step.
After all, there is no way to slow down in a spaceship! It will literally be Barnard Starr's 'Flying Bai', so we only have a few days left to gather as much information as we can. Then we have to wait 5.9 years for the data to come.
Solar-powered spacecraft: You may have heard of solar-powered spacecraft before. They are used either to increase the pressure of the solar wind or the pressure of light particles.
How can a light spacecraft run? Explain that there is no (or very little) friction in space, very little pressure can move an object. Therefore, using a very large cell and laser or particle source in a home system, a spacecraft can reach incredible speed. Of course, this means that the spacecraft must be absolutely massive, perhaps at a distance of at least 100 km, and it requires a laser with unparalleled power, perhaps humanity from that location. It can go much further.
It has the ability to travel at more than 10% of the speed of light, and will not be a burden to any spacecraft of storing fuel.
What is the Alcubierre Warp Drive? Superluminal Travel at our Fingertips?
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In the mid-1990s, Miguel Alkuber developed a theoretical way in which a spacecraft could travel faster than the speed of light without breaking the basic laws of physics.
The concept is a solution to Albert Einstein's field equations. The basic idea is that you will use negative mass, or antimatter, to 'warp' the space around the spacecraft.
The idea is to contract the space in front of the craft and spread it behind it, so that the ship can be effectively placed inside a 'bubble'. With this method, the spacecraft will never travel faster than the speed of light in bubbles, but it will continue to move much faster than the outside world and observers.
Al-Kabeer theorized that this craft could achieve a speed of up to 10 times the speed of light using this method.
Disadvantages and downsides:
There is a lot of criticism about the way this travel is done. While this is theoretically possible, in practice it is largely out of reach. It requires a kind of energy that we can't believe how to use, and it requires a lot of energy. Initially, Al-Kabeer theorized that mass-energy must be equal to the planet Jupiter!
There are also fears that the Hawking radiation will be present at any moment, the ship began to travel faster than the speed of light, which will ignite the occupants and destroy the ship. In fact, they do not even believe that the ship operator will be able to communicate with the front of the ship.
Recent promotions:
In 2012, NASA decided to follow the concept of warping space to achieve a faster speed of light. It is headed by Herald White, and he will focus on exploring small-scale space. White and his team have also theorized that converting the bubble into a 'donut shape' could eliminate a large amount of energy-needed equipment, meaning the acquisition of a viable alkobeer warp drive. It requires very little foreign matter.
In any case, the purpose of current experiments is to determine feasibility, and it is unlikely that a working 'human-sized' prototype will be ready any time soon.
What is Krasnikov Tube? Use of wormholes
Another theoretical possibility of traveling faster than the speed of light without using a warp drive is the use of wormholes. Einstein theorized that space-time is twisted, and that is why there could be 'shortcuts' from one area to another. Also known as the Einstein Rosen Bridge, a worm is a place where space is attached to itself to make connections between two points.
It's hard to imagine (impossible, actually), but imagine a piece of paper with two marks on it. You can travel from .a to .b, but if you connect the pieces of paper correctly, the two points are practically in the same place.
The kind of insect digging that is required for our purposes is called 'transverse wormholes', because we will have to go through both of them. The current theory is very shaky, but it is possible that insects have a natural footprint in the early universe. Again, normal relationships are safe because nowhere will travel faster than the speed of light. Instead, space itself will be added to shorten the trip for a small amount.
To maintain and maintain open access to insects, a shell of foreign matter will probably be needed. Technically, this shell will be extremely difficult to make and maintain, and if possible it is practically some distance away.
Krasnikov Tube:
Developed by Sergei Krasenko, this tube is theoretically possible, but it uses technology that we have not yet achieved. Basically, it is important to create a 'wake' by traveling close to the speed of light. After approaching a destination at extremely high speeds, a space-time distortion can be created, and you can return to this journey immediately after your departure.
This is a very ideological concept, and it is unlikely to become a reality any time soon.
So when can I buy a Warp Drive spaceship?
Now that you've learned that warp drives are theoretically possible, you're probably thinking the same thing as I am: when will it be practical?
I guess we're still a long way from any usable warp drive system in Starship. Consider that we are still not sure what antimatter is, how to keep it without blowing yourself up, leave it.
I expect the next century to see a huge explosion in space travel, and we will start populating and mining nearby stars and planets. We can even look at a few generations of spacecraft towards the stars, especially when our telescopes are improving and we could one day start detecting a few Earth-like implants. I'm sure if you told someone living in 1913 that we would walk on the moon in 56 years, he would be ridiculed. I'm hoping for a similar surprise!