The alcubierre warp drive is an idea for achieving fasterthanlight travel suggested by the mexican theoretical physicist miguel alcubierre. Positive and negative curvatures are created note1 in an elegant way that result exactly compatible with gr in a simple form and the requirement that inside the bubble spacetime is flat. Faster than the speed of light einstein and others that light is the galactic speed limit nothing in the cosmos can nsaa faster nasaa it much less 10 times faster and herein lies the key to the alcubierre drive. A detailed breakdown of an alcubierre warp drive coil. The alcubierre drive, alcubierre warp drive, or alcubierre metric referring to metric tensor is a speculative idea based on a solution of einsteins field equations in general relativity as proposed by theoretical physicist miguel alcubierre, by which a spacecraft could achieve apparent fasterthanlight travel if a configurable energydensity field lower than that of vacuum that is, negative mass could be. Constructing an alcubierre warp drive ella alderson medium. The problem definition will be considered in the context of the nasa horizon. In our first video, the alcubierre white warp drive, we explained how a warp drive works, at least in theory, but how about in practice. Alcubierre said, if there was any way in which you could come up with a geometry of spacetime that was similar to this idea of warp drive in science fiction. This includes literature about warp drives, wormholes, quantum tunneling, vacuum fluctuation energy, and the coupling of gravity and electromagnetism.
Little is known about the interactions between massive particles and the alcubierre warp drive, or the e. The alcubierre drive, alcubierre warp drive, or alcubierre metric referring to metric tensor is a. Harold whites work on warp bubble configuration and bubble thickness brought the theoretical. Nasa tests warp drive in vacuum, breaks laws of physics. Abstract it is shown how, within the framework of general relativity and without the intro.
Inspired by gene roddenberrys star trek, physicist miguel alcubierre set out to transform one of the cornerstones of science fiction iconography, the warp drive, into reality. The idea comes from the work published by miguel alcubierre in 1994. The nasa eagleworks laboratory team even put forward a hypothesis for how the em drive could produce thrust something that seems impossible according to our current understanding of the laws of physics in case youve missed the hype, the em drive, or electromagnetic drive, is a propulsion system first proposed by british inventor roger shawyer back in 1999. White and colleagues are looking to practically prove the concept of warp drive by lab experiments. Nasa reveals latest warpdrive ship designs iflscience. On paper, it is a highly speculative, but possibly valid, solution of the einstein field equations, specifically how space, time and. The nasa research team have some very specific and controlled steps to take to create a proof of concept, to see if the physics of the alcubierre warp drive actually play out in practice.
The status of the warp drive article pdf available in journal of the british interplanetary society 619. There, the scientists have setup a mini warp drive. In physics, it is what is known as the alcubierre warp drive. If you would like to know more about the theories of interstellar flight, you should visit the tau zero foundation. Unfortunately, coverage of that nasa press release has been along the lines of book your tickets now, rockets are going to obsolete by next year. Sonny white born october 8, 1965 is a mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer, and applied physicist who is the advanced propulsion team lead for the nasa engineering directorate and is known for proposing new alcubierre drive concepts and promoting advanced propulsion projects, under development at the nasa. Humanity may not need a warp drive to go interstellar. The alcubierre spacetime metric is named after a miguel alcubierre, a physicist who was also a star trek fan. A few years ago, spaceworks enterprises delivered a report to nasa on how they could use this therapeutic hypothermia for long duration spaceflight within the. Canonical form of alcubierre metric in 12003, this author published a paper that derived the canonical form of the alcubierre metric allowing for a better understanding of the physical nature, and how it might be manifested at least mathematically. Alternative future alternate history manyworlds interpretation multiverse parallel.
In 5 december 2011 nasa announced the confirmation of the. On the other hand, star trek style artificial gravity, superluminal subspace communication, force fields, phasers and vulcan telepathy are all far less plausible. Get the latest updates on nasa missions, watch nasa tv live, and learn about our quest to reveal the unknown and benefit all humankind. It describes a type of bubble in space, where you could put, for example, a spaceship named uss enterprise. Nasa has not designed a warp drive and it does not plan to in the future.
His version of a warp drive is based on the observation that, though light. The alcubierre warp drive is a very interesting arena for thought experiments to try to better understand general relativity and quantum field theory, but it should give you zero hope for actually. The painful truth about nasas warp drive spaceship from a. Here is a report of nasa research on the drive last year, sonny white revealed a new design pictured top for the alcubierre drive that reduces the energy requirement from the total massenergy of a planet the size of jupiter, down to the massenergy of voyager1 700 kilograms. Since then it has captured the attention of many sciencefiction writers. The nasa ames directors colloquium summer series was presented by the office of the. The alcubierre warp drive allows a spaceship to travel at an arbitrarily large global velocity by deforming the spacetime in a bubble around the spaceship. Will the alcubierre drive proposed by miguel alcubierre. The original author of the warp drive metric, miguel alcubierre, is a huge star trek fan w. Pbs space time is the alcubierre warp drive possible. General relativity states that no two objects in the same reference frame can go faster that the speed of light relative to each other which would otherwise cause violations of causality and time travel how alcubierre drives1 move is different. There are many absurd theories that have become reality over the years of scientific research. Within the bubble space is isnt doing anything weird, but in front of the bubble you scrunch up space and behind the bubble you stretch it out.
I say almost to hedge my bets, but i dont expect to make a retraction any time soon. In 2022, a version of this article will probably be relatively certain whether an alcubierre style warp drive is a reasonable possibility or not. Nasa discusses its warp drive research, prepares to create. Any civilization capable of producing the exotic matter required to get the thing working would have mastered the complexities of space travel tens of thousands of years ago, using much less complex and more achievable means. For years, harold sonny white has been delving into the technical details of a concept known as the alcubierre warp drive as part of his job at nasa.
The work has been described in warp field mechanics 101, a nasa paper by harold sonny white. Department of physics and astronomy, university of wales, college of cardi. While there might not be a great answer to this, i think you first want to read his original article maybe, see the pointers 1,2 at the update thread. Nasa breakthrough propulsion physics program the british. If a spaceship could be designed in such a way that it created a warp bubble, then the space in front of the ship would be compressed and the space behind would expand. Certainly, feasibility of such missions will depend on. The alcubierre drive, alcubierre warp drive, or alcubierre metric referring to metric tensor is a speculative idea based on a solution of einsteins field equations in general relativity as proposed by theoretical physicist miguel alcubierre, by which a spacecraft could achieve apparent fasterthanlight travel if a configurable energydensity field lower than that of vacuum that is, negative mass could be created. Good books books to read reading books free epub books warp drive faster than light ebook pdf audiobooks this book. Building a warp drive updated version in description. Warp drive looks more promising than ever in recent nasa. The general concept of the warp drive was first introduced by john w. The metric that is discussed in the paper is presented in equation 1. Nasa scientists may be close announcing they may have broken the speed of light.
Alcubierrewhite warp drive energy consumption physics. Let me express my view of the alcubierre drive in very simple terms. According to stateofthe art theory, a warp drive could cut the travel time between stars from tens of. Harold white has built an interferometer to try and measure a warp bubble. Nasa scientists are working with smallscale models in an effort to produce localized distortions in space, but this new aussie. Is the alcubierrefroning drive a legitimate possibility. Nasa has quietly, and successfully, tested an electromagnetic em drive in a spacelike vacuum.
York time is measure of expansion contraction of space. Alcubierre developed a model metric within the domain of general relativity that uses this physics loop hole and has almost all of the desired characteristics of a true interstellar space drive, much like what is routinely depicted in science fiction as a warp drive. Consider also that nasa has taken the alcubierre drive seriously enough to fund related projects at their advanced propulsion physics laboratory. The us military funded a report that describes using negative or dark energy to warp the fabric of space and travel 100 times the speed of light. York time is measure of expansioncontraction of space. Since time is also warped, it passes the same for both the traveler and those left behind on earth. A new line of research hopes to drastically reduce the amount of energy required for warping spacetime, and get us to alpha centauri in just. In fact, the idea of a warp drive is still, in scientific terms. Some are calling the propulsion system a warp drive for its incredible potential speeds, although researchers say it falls short of fasterthanlight travel. The warp drive is a type of propulsion system capable of driving ships at speeds higher than the speed of light. Alcubierre imagined a small volume of flat spacetime in which a spacecraft sits, surrounded by a bubble of spacetime that shrinks in the direction of. Marc millis, a former nasa glenn physicist, founded the organization to. All this recent crap about nasa working on an alcubierre drive is a stupid popsci jerkoff.
Nasa researchers recently revisited the alcubierre warp drive and concluded that its power requirements were not as impossible as once. Pdf the prospects for a realistic engineered warp drive are currently within. Categories guide to space, physics, space exploration technologies tags alcubierre drive, faster than light, featured, ftl, hyperspace, speed of light, warp drive 4 replies to what is the. After several emails and a skype conversation, he has helped me organize my thoughts on. What if nasa could figure out the math of a workable warp drive. But for the near future, warp drive remains a dream.
1480 858 1252 491 1425 1187 814 511 343 516 1162 415 293 681 352 1327 196 403 1338 489 939 224 1456 601 1582 41 724 765 1032 1560 1176 1106 805 1430 1020 1003 125 201 727 642 1118 11