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NASA to "Boldly Go"


Alisdair.MacDonald

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It's a bit of an exaggeration to say that the technology for warp drive is in development. They are still working on experiments to find out if it is even possible. As the article says:

Dr. White's team is trying to find proof of those loopholes. They have "initiated an interferometer test bed that will try to generate and detect a microscopic instance of a little warp bubble" using an instrument called the White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer.
(Emphasis mine).

In other words they haven't yet got evidence to support their hypothesis. This is still highly speculative scientifically. If they find those loopholes then things will start to get interesting.

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What i took out of this, is that Roddenberry was an extremely bright individual to have conceived of these types of scientific breakthroughs in the 1950's. It really is incredible.

When Science Fiction becomes science fact..

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Great times.

Microsoft is working on the holodeck technology. Nasa is working on warp drive.

All the pieces are coming together.

Some more effort and a bit of more time and we'll be building Millenium Falcons and Death Stars!

On a serious note though, this is still highly hypothetical and under study. Though not believed impossible thanks to the fundamentals of String Theory.

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Anything is possible . This one is improbable .

Edited by sergeantflynn
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Who knows in a another 100 years....

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When Star Trek re-launched in the Next Generation, some pretty serious people's help was enlisted to give the technology as firm a basis in fact as possible.

Even Stephen Hawking was a big fan and guest starred in an episode.

The problem with some of the iconic Treknology isn't simply that it's beyond our current level, it's that in order to make it work, some of it requires 'imaginary' elements to bridge gaps in what is possible.

Popularly such 'elements' are often called 'Unobtainium'

Obviously with 'Warp Drive' in the Star Trek universe, that element is 'Dilithium Crystals'.

However, even with 'Dilithium' the minds trying to make warp drive 'real' for Star Trek fans needed to attempt some other rather large problems including:

Controlled anti-matter reactions

Static Warp bubbles

Inertia dampeners

Energy shields and the navigational deflector array

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Didn't I suggest this idea a long time ago on these very forums? Every told me it can't happen? Huh... guess I was right for once.

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So often, people object to the very idea that we could be visited by extraterrestrials, because there is no way to travel to the stars in a practical length of time, and with a practical amount of energy. Interesting that some NASA scientists are now willing to openly consider, and test a possibility that would invalidate such objections.

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The military has been working in things like this for decades, if people like Ben Rich are to be believed, and I think they are.

I agree McG, thanks for teeing up Ben Rich....

here are just a few quotes from Scientist Ben Rich:

“We now know how to travel to the stars”

(source: UCLA School of Engineering Alumni speech 3/23/93)

“There is an error in the equations, and we have figured it out, and now know how to travel to the stars, and it won’t take a lifetime to do it”

(source: UCLA School of Engineering Alumni speech 3/23/93)

“It is time to end all secrecy on this, as it no longer poses a national security threat, and make the technology available for use in the private sector”.

(source: UCLA School of Engineering Alumni speech 3/23/93)

I think it prudent to also note the dates on some of the things he said.

Edited by quillius
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I agree McG, thanks for teeing up Ben Rich....

here are just a few quotes from Scientist Ben Rich:

“We now know how to travel to the stars”

(source: UCLA School of Engineering Alumni speech 3/23/93)

“There is an error in the equations, and we have figured it out, and now know how to travel to the stars, and it won’t take a lifetime to do it”

(source: UCLA School of Engineering Alumni speech 3/23/93)

“It is time to end all secrecy on this, as it no longer poses a national security threat, and make the technology available for use in the private sector”.

(source: UCLA School of Engineering Alumni speech 3/23/93)

I think it prudent to also note the dates on some of the things he said.

I think they probably started working on all this in the 1950s and so have probably made considerable progress over the years.

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Are things are possible! I still haven't figured at what the aren't using nuke power for aircraft and cars. A unlimited clean power source.

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To misuse a Guy Martin quote, I'll believe anything is possible when I see a man eat his own head! Until then, anything isn't possible.

Indeed, despite people continually claiming that anything is possible the human race doesn't get to decide that. The laws of nature are not like traffic rules, you can't break them.

The question then is "what is possible". We still don't understand everything so there may still be surprises ahead. That is why experiments like the one described in the original post are necessary. Is warp drive possible... even the people carrying out the experiments don't know that yet.

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Indeed, despite people continually claiming that anything is possible the human race doesn't get to decide that. The laws of nature are not like traffic rules, you can't break them.

The question then is "what is possible". We still don't understand everything so there may still be surprises ahead. That is why experiments like the one described in the original post are necessary. Is warp drive possible... even the people carrying out the experiments don't know that yet.

The Laws of Nature are only valid until they are disproven. Such "Laws" place restrictions on those who would try to disprove them because they do not conform to received Scientific Laws, and therefore receive no funding.

IMO - all Physical Laws represent the known state of Science at the time of formulation, and therefore should not be "Ring - Fenced" by such dogma. Einstein and Newton both made serious errors in their lifetime. No one Mathematician or Scientist should be revered to the point that contrary ideas and hypotheses are considered a Heresy to Scientific Orthodoxy.

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Are things are possible! I still haven't figured at what the aren't using nuke power for aircraft and cars. A unlimited clean power source.

I think the soviets tinkered with nuclear powered aircraft way back but the weight of the reactor and the shielding for the crew made it non-viable.

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I think the soviets tinkered with nuclear powered aircraft way back but the weight of the reactor and the shielding for the crew made it non-viable.

Maybe they know it is already too late, and that is why they are so desperately looking for a way 'off this rock'?

Edited by Mider
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Maybe they know it is already too late, and that is why they are so desperately looking for a way 'off this rock'?

Maybe they already do. Just think of it as Plan B.

Even back in the 1950s and 1960s, when many people thought there was going to be a nuclear war, wouldn't it make sense to start working on a Plan B, just in case?

[media=]http://vimeo.com/40033080[/media]

Edited by TheMacGuffin
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The Laws of Nature are only valid until they are disproven. Such "Laws" place restrictions on those who would try to disprove them because they do not conform to received Scientific Laws, and therefore receive no funding.

That statement is so wrong it deserves a whole new category of wrongness all of its own. The laws of nature are absolute. What changes is our understanding of the laws of nature. Our understanding may change and improve but the rules remain the same.

IMO - all Physical Laws represent the known state of Science at the time of formulation, and therefore should not be "Ring - Fenced" by such dogma. Einstein and Newton both made serious errors in their lifetime. No one Mathematician or Scientist should be revered to the point that contrary ideas and hypotheses are considered a Heresy to Scientific Orthodoxy.

Strawman argument. No one here is claiming that any scientists should be revered. No one here is claiming that new ideas should not be investigated. In fact had you read and understood my post you would have understood that I was making the very point we need to continue research and experimentation in order to understand the laws of nature fully.

I repeat:

The question then is "what is possible". We still don't understand everything so there may still be surprises ahead. That is why experiments like the one described in the original post are necessary. Is warp drive possible... even the people carrying out the experiments don't know that yet.

Now please point out where I am saying that we should stick to "dogma"

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If anything, there's one thing we ought to consider if this is an actual project.

Think of any of the poor scientists who are wearing any sort of colour coded uniforms. Especially red ones....

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