NASA may have incidentally discovered Warp Drive?

[gourimoko]

Outside of Mars, Titan, our Moon, and potentially one of Jupiter's moons, I'm pretty sure the human race is staying put on Earth.

Great post Stark..

The only part I would contend with is this though. You listed several very interesting places already, and we're very likely to land on many of the asteroids in the asteroid belt as well.

And one last thing. If we stay put on Earth, we condemn ourselves to extinction. There is absolutely no doubt about this. The only way we can survive as a species is to colonize not only our solar system but others as well.

 

[Stark]

Great post Stark..

The only part I would contend with is this though. You listed several very interesting places already, and we're very likely to land on many of the asteroids in the asteroid belt as well.

And one last thing. If we stay put on Earth, we condemn ourselves to extinction. There is absolutely no doubt about this. The only way we can survive as a species is to colonize not only our solar system but others as well.

Yeah, since asteroids more or less are never in a consistent place, I never really thought of them in my post.

Eventually, our sun is going to burn out, but before that, it's going to expand and engulf at least the four inner planets. That's billions of years away, but by then, honestly, the world may have ended for some other reason. Nuclear War. Famine. Asteroids. Anything.

I'm studying business and finance in college, but one thing I've always been interested in is just the vastness of the universe. It literally does just go on forever. I wonder how many planets are out there just like ours. It's almost frightening to think about.

Arthur Clarke said it best:

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

 

[The Oi]

Goddamn it, the universe is awesome.

 

[Otsego Mar]

Goddamn it, the universe is awesome.

The you-niverse isn't outside of you.

The universe is inside of you(ranus).

 

[Surge]

Warp speed? We're talking about Jigo's love-making right?

 

[gourimoko]

Yeah, since asteroids more or less are never in a consistent place, I never really thought of them in my post.

Eventually, our sun is going to burn out, but before that, it's going to expand and engulf at least the four inner planets.

It might not get us.. It shouldn't get Mars. Several simulations suggest it's 50/50 for the Earth.. But either way, life on Earth would be impossible. Mars will actually re-enter an age of warmth and liquid water during this time as well (temporarily of course).

That's billions of years away, but by then, honestly, the world may have ended for some other reason. Nuclear War. Famine. Asteroids. Anything.

Asteroids are a certainty. We're going to get hit. Many many times before the Sun is an issue. The potential for asteroid impacts are the number one reason for space colonization in my opinion.

I also think it'd be advantageous for humans to exist in multiple solar systems. This is obviously less important, but FTL travel would make finding Earth-like planets more advantageous (economically) than terraforming Mars or Venus.

And as ridiculous as it may sound, if any potentially hostile alien species showed up and decided to just kill everyone on Earth, well, it's not likely they'd stop there. They'd probably go after human colonies in the solar system as well. But if people existed elsewhere, in another star system, they'd likely have no idea where to find them.

I wonder how many planets are out there just like ours. It's almost frightening to think about.

By best estimates based on Kepler research, we estimate that there are 20 billion Earth-like habitable planets in the Milky Way. Assuming that the Milky Way is fairly average in size (it's not), and that there are roughly 100 billion galaxies just in our observable universe, then we can guesstimate that there could be around 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Earth-like planets in our universe. When discussing planets that aren't Earth-like, that number goes up by several orders of magnitude.

Arthur Clarke said it best:

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

Totally.. But I think we can be fairly certain we aren't alone in the universe.

 

[Pyro]

Shit like everything posted in this thread is both fascinating and terrifying.

 

[Sebastian]

It might not get us.. It shouldn't get Mars. Several simulations suggest it's 50/50 for the Earth.. But either way, life on Earth would be impossible. Mars will actually re-enter an age of warmth and liquid water during this time as well (temporarily of course).



Asteroids are a certainty. We're going to get hit. Many many times before the Sun is an issue. The potential for asteroid impacts are the number one reason for space colonization in my opinion.

I also think it'd be advantageous for humans to exist in multiple solar systems. This is obviously less important, but FTL travel would make finding Earth-like planets more advantageous (economically) than terraforming Mars or Venus.

And as ridiculous as it may sound, if any potentially hostile alien species showed up and decided to just kill everyone on Earth, well, it's not likely they'd stop there. They'd probably go after human colonies in the solar system as well. But if people existed elsewhere, in another star system, they'd likely have no idea where to find them.



By best estimates based on Kepler research, we estimate that there are 20 billion Earth-like habitable planets in the Milky Way. Assuming that the Milky Way is fairly average in size (it's not), and that there are roughly 100 billion galaxies just in our observable universe, then we can guesstimate that there could be around 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Earth-like planets in our universe. When discussing planets that aren't Earth-like, that number goes up by several orders of magnitude.



Totally.. But I think we can be fairly certain we aren't alone in the universe.

I'd rather we be alone. The Romulans are dicks.

 

[The Oi]

Stupid question...

But if we attain the capability to travel at such tremendous speeds, don't we greatly increase the likelihood of crashing into space junk, asteroids, meteroids etc during space travel due to a lack of control of the vehicle?

 

[DougHeil]

Stupid question...

But if we attain the capability to travel at such tremendous speeds, don't we greatly increase the likelihood of crashing into space junk, asteroids, meteroids etc during space travel due to a lack of control of the vehicle?

If traveling that fast, doesn't the vehicle know the future and hence, will know what might be just ahead?

 

[Lee]

Stupid question...

But if we attain the capability to travel at such tremendous speeds, don't we greatly increase the likelihood of crashing into space junk, asteroids, meteroids etc during space travel due to a lack of control of the vehicle?

Ironically that is the nickname for Jaba's nutsack.

 

[The Oi]

If traveling that fast, doesn't the vehicle know the future and hence, will know what might be just ahead?

I don't think so?

 

[Adam]

Ironically that is the nickname for Jaba's nutsack.

Star Wars got this tight though, the falcon is so fast because it's nav computer is soo good. So it can travel the shortest path during hyperspace

 

[gourimoko]

Stupid question...

But if we attain the capability to travel at such tremendous speeds, don't we greatly increase the likelihood of crashing into space junk, asteroids, meteroids etc during space travel due to a lack of control of the vehicle?

Well if you're talking about with warp drive, then no. You're local velocity, in your local reference frame would be only 1% the speed of light, and thus, not really that dangerous. If however, your local velocity were much higher, then yes, it would be excessively dangerous.

Space is not empty, especially within solar systems; there is dust, debris, and cosmic rays. If your local velocity were to become sufficiently relativistic, then those particles would become blue-shifted relative to your spacecraft (seemingly increasing in energy). You would be in serious danger.

With warp drive however, objects passing into the bubble would be virtually at rest, as they are not imparted any momentum by the bubble itself. Understand that the concept of the warp bubble does not create acceleration either for the craft or any objects around it. Instead, the craft is already in motion at some subluminal velocity. Then space is compressed, or folded, so that the effective distance between objects in front of the craft is 1000x shorter; but those objects are not in motion, simply the space they occupy has been effectively reduced.

Therefore, the risk of impact is minimal.

 

[The Oi]

Well if you're talking about with warp drive, then no. You're local velocity, in your local reference frame would be only 1% the speed of light, and thus, not really that dangerous. If however, your local velocity were much higher, then yes, it would be excessively dangerous.

Space is not empty, especially within solar systems; there is dust, debris, and cosmic rays. If your local velocity were to become sufficiently relativistic, then those particles would become blue-shifted relative to your spacecraft (seemingly increasing in energy). You would be in serious danger.

With warp drive however, objects passing into the bubble would be virtually at rest, as they are not imparted any momentum by the bubble itself. Understand that the concept of the warp bubble does not create acceleration either for the craft or any objects around it. Instead, the craft is already in motion at some subluminal velocity. Then space is compressed, or folded, so that the effective distance between objects in front of the craft is 1000x shorter; but those objects are not in motion, simply the space they occupy has been effectively reduced.

Therefore, the risk of impact is minimal.

How do you compress space?