How close are we to warp engines ?

[rsutoratosu]

Hawking seem to think we got about 1000 years left..

Is 1000 year enough for warp engine to develop ? What development do we need to finally make space travel feasible ? or just alien intervention ?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/stephen-hawking-space-exploration-humanity_n_3061329.html

 

[darkxshade]

we're about 1001 years away

 

[IronWing]

We'd have to figure out what a warp engine is. Currently, it is a convenient plot device for making sci-fi interesting.


Taylor Swift has a bun in the oven.

 

[Train]

We're either within 20 years, or no one has any effing clue.

 

[Fritzo]

Probably within 100 years we'll have a theoretical blueprint for a warp drive. We actually know HOW to make a warp drive, but we have no idea how to harness the energy needed to create one. It would require negative energy- which is theorized to exist, but we've never seen it in a lab. Some new ideas actually solve the energy requirements by shaping the warp bubble into a specific configuration

Also, it's believed that the result of the propulsion method would create so much radiation that it would destroy anything in front of the ship---including entire planets. Not a good way to show up to an alien world

The latest info on NASA's warp research is located here:

http://consciouslifenews.com/nasa-scientist-warp-drive-doable-video/1153733/

 

[SaurusX]

NASA - Status of Warp Drive

NASA Scientists Working on Making Star Trek's Warp Drive a Reality

 

[Krazy4Real]

Not in our lifetime.

 

[Jaskalas]

1,000 years? That's ridiculous, what's so special about the next thousand years?

What we will have to face is ourselves. The population CAN NOT keep rising indefinitely. There will be either starvation / lack of resources, or population "control". War, hunger, and questions of liberty and dependence are in our future.

For other planets to even be plausible we'll first be required to create a 100% self contained and life sustaining biosphere. Maybe some terraforming methods capable of being applied to Mars. I don't expect space travel to other systems for a very long time.

Warp engine? We'd need an incredibly greater amount of available energy, and the intelligence to wield it without destroying ourselves. First question, obviously, is where are we going to get that energy?

 

[crownjules]

The energy requirement for the warp drive is our biggest barrier to creating one.

 

[Insomniator]

I think in 1000 years anything that is possible will be figured out barring any civilization resetting events.

Like if a warp drive can be done, what are we going to discover in 1500 years that we wouldn't in 1000? These are LONG times.

 

[mmntech]

There's a lot of theoretical physics behind it. The problem is energy. To travel at light speed you either need infinite energy or no mass. But if you bend space you can make the distance between two points shorter. Sort of like if you bend a piece of paper, the two edges become closet together. You're bending the laws of physics without breaking them as you're technically not going faster than light. Problem is this still requires insane amounts of energy. A lot of the proposed technologies work on paper but are extremely difficult to implement in practise.

 

[xBiffx]

50 years. Cochrane is still in preschool. Give him time.

 

[Markbnj]

It's not as if speed is the sole problem to be solved, either. Even if we were gifted an FTL drive tomorrow by some really nice alien guy we couldn't use it to travel to the nearest star unless he also gave us some technologies for avoiding collisions with random motes of dust and getting rid of generated heat, to name just two requirements. Oh, and we'd also need a hyper-intelligent and ultra-trustworthy computer to run the ship, because how the hell could you trust any human with an FTL drive?

 

[manimal]

. It would require negative energy- which is theorized to exist, but we've never seen it in a lab.
http://consciouslifenews.com/nasa-scientist-warp-drive-doable-video/1153733/

If they harness the negative energy in ATOT they could have working device in a few years.

 

[Scarpozzi]

The energy requirement for the warp drive is our biggest barrier to creating one.

It all depends on whether or not you expect to live after shooting yourself out of the 'warp drive' cannon or not.

 

[SaurusX]

Oh, and we'd also need a hyper-intelligent and ultra-trustworthy computer to run the ship, because how the hell could you trust any human with an FTL drive?

You mean you wouldn't let Wesley Crusher drive the Enterprise?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Also, it's believed that the result of the propulsion method would create so much radiation that it would destroy anything in front of the ship---including entire planets. Not a good way to show up to an alien world

Just re-write the Prime Directive and it's all good.

 

[Vdubchaos]

When we have a decent alternative energy.....maybe, BIG maybe. Wait, HUGE if not HUMONGOUS maybe.

:biggrin:

Read: I doubt it, ain't gonna happen.

 

[Baked]

If we can make flying possible in the past hundred years, it's only a matter of time in the next century that we can make sci-fi tech a reality. Imagine if an world ending alien invasion is coming. Do you think that will speed up our progress of coming up with a warp drive?

 

[manimal]

im still holding out for that fusion guy to come back and start a new thread

 

[BudAshes]

I don't think it's ever happening. I think it's more likely we will be able to extend our lives to the point that time won't matter or be able to send our selves as a digital image that can be recreated. Even then we would be limited by light speed.

 

[SKORPI0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygE01sOhzz0 :biggrin:

 

[GagHalfrunt]

What we will have to face is ourselves. The population CAN NOT keep rising indefinitely. There will be either starvation / lack of resources, or population "control". War, hunger, and questions of liberty and dependence are in our future.

While warp drives might or might not ever be possible, THAT tripe is pure sci-fi nonsense. A planet can't have population spiral out of control until it reaches a tipping point and devolves into Soylent Green. It's a natural process, without an outside agency like nuclear winter causing sudden change, things would gradually reach a stasis where population and resources balanced. And if food production dropped there would of course be small population self-corrections until another balance was reached, just like any ecosystem. Artificial population control is a pure boogie-man concoction, not a realistic possibility. The world is not close to overpopulated and never will be. Growth is slowing, population is expected to plateau in the next 100-200 years and the Earth can produce 10 times more food than is actually needed to feed that many people. As long as there isn't a catastrophe to suddenly change the balance...

 

[BudAshes]

While warp drives might or might not ever be possible, THAT tripe is pure sci-fi nonsense. A planet can't have population spiral out of control until it reaches a tipping point and devolves into Soylent Green. It's a natural process, without an outside agency like nuclear winter causing sudden change, things would gradually reach a stasis where population and resources balanced. And if food production dropped there would of course be small population self-corrections until another balance was reached, just like any ecosystem. Artificial population control is a pure boogie-man concoction, not a realistic possibility. The world is not close to overpopulated and never will be. Growth is slowing, population is expected to plateau in the next 100-200 years and the Earth can produce 10 times more food than is actually needed to feed that many people. As long as there isn't a catastrophe to suddenly change the balance...

The world is overpopulated. Think about the fact that billions of people want to become first world nations. That means all these people are going to want to use the same amount of resources we are using now. This isn't sustainable, forget food. I'm talking pollution, clean water, our oceans survival. We already have cancer epidemics our economy can barely support and it's not slowing down and we need more heavy metals, more oil and more energy every day. The oceans are filling up with plastic and waste ruining eco systems and killing keystone species. We know as the oceans go we go, and while nature can adjust most species usually die out in the process.

 

[DesiPower]

The pace of technological development is accelerating. we invented steam engine a little over 200 year ago, Integrated circuit or LSI was relatively unknown 50 years ago, We are already talking about hydrogen fuel cells and nuclear batteries.
Although to develop something like warp drive, I guess we will need to look more towards quantum physics. Some universities have started working towards those courses, I believe in 100 years or less inter planetary travel will be pretty common place.