LamaGT
Emperor
Sorry, can you name a few? I knew that quantum physics is mainly studied to discover how the universe evolved and things like that...
Possible warp drive may allow Alpha Centauri to be reached "in a mere two weeks"
- Thread starter aelf
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Sorry, can you name a few? I knew that quantum physics is mainly studied to discover how the universe evolved and things like that...
hobbsyoyo
Deity
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Modern integrated circuits and processors, everything with a laser in it, anything that uses radar, GPS just to name a few.
Ajidica
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*Starts game "Orion Trail"*
*Message Appears*
<You have died of
*Game Ends*
Crezth
i knew you were a real man of the left
Catharsis
catch u on the flip scythe
Rest in peace, POOPY.LamaGT
Emperor
There is a CRAP TON of applications that depend on quantum theory. We still need geniuses and new breakthroughs, but it's a very robust field.
Winner
Diverse in Unity
Spoiler :
Is that the Vulcan ship from ENT?
Or by altering the shape of the phone booth, it might require fewer fairies to travel in time. Progress!
Yes.
What astounds me is the sheer lack of humility in people who write these articles. OK, fine, it's interesting to pursue these thought experiments or do some calculations, but you have to keep in mind that EVEN IF this was theoretically and practically possible, it isn't something we'd be able to build in years, decades, or even centuries. Look at the state of our global space programme, for heaven's sake - we have barely climbed out of the Earth's gravity well, our space infrastructure is primitive to non-existent, we haven't landed on any of the other planets in this solar system, we spend more money on cosmetics per week than we spend on space in a year... ... and we are seriously talking about warp drives? Really?
I just laughed at the part where the guy says a warp drive might operate with about the mass-energy equivalent of Voyager 1 spacecraft. I guess it's better than that of Jupiter, yes, but it's still... how many hundreds of times more energy than is produced globally in a year? I always want to scream "get a grip!" at these people.
Yes, it isSpoiler :
Is that the Vulcan ship from ENT?
r16
not deity
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regarding Ben Rich ans the supposed US military escapades among the stars , it is really not . Whe4n he was demonstrably dying he made an appeal to the overall structure for Black programmes -as there are substantial departments that work on such things and there have been times the same thing was studied up to 5 different teams unaware of each other- and asked for a once in a life-time access . He was given , saw anything that was around and the remarks about UFOs and stuff are merely a cover of sorts , considering he couldn't report the things to his own company board , let alone media . Basic gentlemens' agreement , didn't tell Lockheed studies , didn't learn Boeing's and so on . US is away from interstellar travel as it always was .
regarding ships's names irregardless what the lead ship becomes the 1702 will be Zheng He , as reported . This being Tavern and all .
regarding ships's names irregardless what the lead ship becomes the 1702 will be Zheng He , as reported . This being Tavern and all .
LamaGT
Emperor
Spoiler :
Is that the Vulcan ship from ENT?
Or by altering the shape of the phone booth, it might require fewer fairies to travel in time. Progress!
Yes.
What astounds me is the sheer lack of humility in people who write these articles. OK, fine, it's interesting to pursue these thought experiments or do some calculations, but you have to keep in mind that EVEN IF this was theoretically and practically possible, it isn't something we'd be able to build in years, decades, or even centuries. Look at the state of our global space programme, for heaven's sake - we have barely climbed out of the Earth's gravity well, our space infrastructure is primitive to non-existent, we haven't landed on any of the other planets in this solar system, we spend more money on cosmetics per week than we spend on space in a year... ... and we are seriously talking about warp drives? Really?
I just laughed at the part where the guy says a warp drive might operate with about the mass-energy equivalent of Voyager 1 spacecraft. I guess it's better than that of Jupiter, yes, but it's still... how many hundreds of times more energy than is produced globally in a year? I always want to scream "get a grip!" at these people.
The reason space is underdeveloped is that our propulsion systems are very unefficient. Sure, we could for example make a moon base to launch further projects with relative ease, but what for? There's no economic return in doing something like that. We could try to make solar panels on the moon, but then it would be incredibly expensive (or impractical) to deliver the energy back on Earth.
We could try to devise a way to do space-mining or maybe extract Jupiter's hydrogen, but it won't be feasible until we solve the problems of cost and time. Of course, to travel in the Solar System it would be more sensible to just develop faster propulsion, but even if we do somehow reach speeds close to that of light, it will never be feasible to travel to stars simply because you would still require tremendous amounts of energy and time to do that.
If you had been a businessman in the 1840s or so, would you invest into horses to try to make them more efficient (uh, I suppose you could try genetic engineering?) or you'd invest into the steam engine? It's pretty much the same here.
Conventional means of travel won't get us anywhere, that's why we must look into alternative ways, and the fact that negative mass hasn't been found yet doesn't necessarily mean it's outright impossible that it exists. It's like Columbus saying that America can't exist because we haven't found it yet
hobbsyoyo
Deity
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Propulsion systems are a problem, but the high cost of entry to the space market is a much bigger barrier.
With regards to moon bases having no economic returns, one could say the same about early colonies in the new world. They were sent over with some vague expectations to find, exploit and export valuable commodities like gold, silver and spices. However, the knowledge the Europeans had as to where these commodities were to be found were non-existent.
So they blindly sent out expeditions hoping some would turn a profit. Some did, but for many of the rest that did not, with enough time and upfront input, those 'failures' became self-sufficient and exploited resources the Europeans never anticipated. At a critical point any big colony will take on a life of it's own and function and become economically viable because of the colonies size.
Looking into space, we actually do know where the resources are (Gold, rare Earth's, platinum, water ice, etc) and even have a vague idea of how to go about getting them. But it costs a ton of money to enter into that market and until we have made some needed investments in space infrastructure, these ventures won't be happening. Though the US at least is finally getting around to making those investments with programs like COTS.
With respect to mining, we are at least on the path toward solving these problems. Oh and you can send robots to many of the tasks for mining or other resource extraction, so time isn't so much of an issue.
GoodSarmatian
Jokerfied Western Male
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Yeah. For all we know it could just be mathematical wankery with an impossible premise and no real-world application.
Ah, this century's Reichsflugscheibe.
Winner
Diverse in Unity
Rocket engines are probably the most efficient means of propulsion there is.
Yes, there is. Space, meaning cis-lunar space in this context, has a tremendous and growing value for our everyday lives. Improving on our space infrastructure and expanding it will require access to in-situ resources. There is a clear economic rationale for it, and it increases with our growing technological capabilities and growing needs for more reliable space assets.
Conventional means of travel won't get us anywhere, that's why we must look into alternative ways, and the fact that negative mass hasn't been found yet doesn't necessarily mean it's outright impossible that it exists. It's like Columbus saying that America can't exist because we haven't found it yet
"The fact that God has not been proven not to exist means that he exists and we can rely on him to save us from incoming asteroids" - sorry, you won't get far with this line of reasoning.
Even if FTL travel was utterly impossible (I'd say there is about 98% certainty that this is the case), the mere exploitation of our Solar System with the use of pretty conventional (=meaning "plausible") methods of propulsion could yield huge benefits to the civilization on Earth, be they economic, scientific, cultural, spiritual, or otherwise.
Long story short: waiting for miraculous antigravity drives is foolish and it is a terrible excuse for not pursuing space exploration and development using existing or near term technologies.
Crezth
i knew you were a real man of the left
Efficiency has only some to do with it. We have very efficient propulsions methods that are unfeasible for other reasons, such as low thrust or technical blocks of another sort. We do need better propulsion systems, but understanding thermodynamics is enough to tell us we've got it as good as it gets when it comes to chemical rockets.
Assuming further projects are economically desirable, I'd say there's your return right there. "Sure, we could lay rails from the east coast to the west coast, but what for? There's no economic return in doing something like that." Etc.
Oh, is that all.
It's like Columbus saying that America can't exist because we haven't found it yet
bwahahahahaha
The fact that exotic matter would allow for FTL communication is a very good indicator that it can't possibly exist.
bugwar
Emperor
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Yea. And spooky action over a distance couldn't occur either.
source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/spooky-action-distance.html
Winner
Diverse in Unity
Eh, it kind of depends on whether the speed of light is exceeded locally or not. If the kind of "negative energy" space has higher speed of light than normal space, I don't think it breaks relativistic principles. I am not an expert though.
Quantum entanglement doesn't allow transmission of information, which is why Truronian said "communication". And I'm having a deja vu right now.
Winner is right, I'm rather sure that if space is distorted in a way envisioned by the Alcubierre drive there would be a timelike interval between the interacting spacetime events, preserving causality.
