. 24/7 Space News .
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space travel a boost
by Mario Borunda | Associate Professor of Physics, Oklahoma State University
Stillwater OK (SPX) Apr 24, 2021

This 2-dimensional representation shows the flat, unwarped bubble of spacetime in the center where a warp drive would sit surrounded by compressed spacetime to the right (downward curve) and expanded spacetime to the left (upward curve). AllenMcC/Wikimedia Commons

The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 4.25 light-years away, or about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km). The fastest ever spacecraft, the now- in-space Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 450,000 mph. It would take just 20 seconds to go from Los Angeles to New York City at that speed, but it would take the solar probe about 6,633 years to reach Earth's nearest neighboring solar system.

If humanity ever wants to travel easily between stars, people will need to go faster than light. But so far, faster-than-light travel is possible only in science fiction.

In Issac Asimov's Foundation series, humanity can travel from planet to planet, star to star or across the universe using jump drives. As a kid, I read as many of those stories as I could get my hands on. I am now a theoretical physicist and study nanotechnology, but I am still fascinated by the ways humanity could one day travel in space.

Some characters - like the astronauts in the movies "Interstellar" and "Thor" - use wormholes to travel between solar systems in seconds. Another approach - familiar to "Star Trek" fans - is warp drive technology. Warp drives are theoretically possible if still far-fetched technology. Two recent papers made Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space travel a boosts in March when researchers claimed to have overcome one of the many challenges that stand between the theory of warp drives and reality.

But how do these theoretical warp drives really work? And will humans be making the jump to warp speed anytime soon?

Compression and expansion
Physicists' current understanding of spacetime comes from Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity. General Relativity states that space and time are fused and that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. General relativity also describes how mass and energy warp spacetime - hefty objects like stars and black holes curve spacetime around them. This curvature is what you feel as gravity and why many spacefaring heroes worry about "getting stuck in" or "falling into" a gravity well. Early science fiction writers John Campbell and Asimov saw this warping as a way to skirt the speed limit.

What if a starship could compress space in front of it while expanding spacetime behind it? "Star Trek" took this idea and named it the warp drive.

In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre, a Mexican theoretical physicist, showed that compressing spacetime in front of the spaceship while expanding it behind was mathematically possible within the laws of General Relativity. So, what does that mean? Imagine the distance between two points is 10 meters (33 feet). If you are standing at point A and can travel one meter per second, it would take 10 seconds to get to point B. However, let's say you could somehow compress the space between you and point B so that the interval is now just one meter. Then, moving through spacetime at your maximum speed of one meter per second, you would be able to reach point B in about one second. In theory, this approach does not contradict the laws of relativity since you are not moving faster than light in the space around you. Alcubierre showed that the warp drive from "Star Trek" was in fact theoretically possible.

Proxima Centauri here we come, right? Unfortunately, Alcubierre's method of compressing spacetime had one problem: it requires negative energy or negative mass.

A negative energy problem
Alcubierre's warp drive would work by creating a bubble of flat spacetime around the spaceship and curving spacetime around that bubble to reduce distances. The warp drive would require either negative mass - a theorized type of matter - or a ring of negative energy density to work. Physicists have never observed negative mass, so that leaves negative energy as the only option.

To create negative energy, a warp drive would use a huge amount of mass to create an imbalance between particles and antiparticles. For example, if an electron and an antielectron appear near the warp drive, one of the particles would get trapped by the mass and this results in an imbalance. This imbalance results in negative energy density. Alcubierre's warp drive would use this negative energy to create the spacetime bubble.

But for a warp drive to generate enough negative energy, you would need a lot of matter. Alcubierre estimated that a warp drive with a 100-meter bubble would require the mass of the entire visible universe.

In 1999, physicist Chris Van Den Broeck showed that expanding the volume inside the bubble but keeping the surface area constant would reduce the energy requirements significantly, to just about the mass of the sun. A significant improvement, but still far beyond all practical possibilities.

A sci-fi future?
Two recent papers - one by Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire and another by Erik Lentz - provide solutions that seem to bring warp drives closer to reality.

Bobrick and Martire realized that by modifying spacetime within the bubble in a certain way, they could remove the need to use negative energy. This solution, though, does not produce a warp drive that can go faster than light.

Independently, Lentz also proposed a solution that does not require negative energy. He used a different geometric approach to solve the equations of General Relativity, and by doing so, he found that a warp drive wouldn't need to use negative energy. Lentz's solution would allow the bubble to travel faster than the speed of light.

It is essential to point out that these exciting developments are mathematical models. As a physicist, I won't fully trust models until we have experimental proof. Yet, the science of warp drives is coming into view. As a science fiction fan, I welcome all this innovative thinking. In the words of Captain Picard, things are only impossible until they are not.


Related Links
Oklahoma State University
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


STELLAR CHEMISTRY
New warp research dashes light speed travel but reveals stranger possibilities
Canberra, Australia (SPX) Apr 21, 2021
In 1994, physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a radical technology that would allow faster than light travel: the warp drive, a hypothetical way to skirt around the universe's ultimate speed limit by bending the fabric of reality. It was an intriguing idea - even NASA has been researching it at the Eagleworks laboratory - but Alcubierre's proposal contained problems that seemed insurmountable. Now, a recent paper by US-based physicists Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire has resolved many of those i ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Massive tech show set to return in person in 2022

Ushering in the next generation of technology

Alpha: Second Space Station mission for ESA's Thomas Pesquet begins

Astronaut Kate Rubins: Fresh food in space is rare, desired

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Astronauts leave ISS, begin return journey to Earth on SpaceX craft

Arianespace Vega mission set to launch EO satellites

SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts enter International Space Station

SpaceX capsule Endeavour docks at ISS

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Fourth flight postponed for Mars Ingenuity helicopter

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity completes third successful flight

Seismicity on Mars full of surprises, in first continuous year of data

NASA's Mars helicopter's third flight goes farther, faster than before

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
China ready launch new space station core module

To Mars and beyond, as China's cosmic journey continues

China's space-tracking ship departs on new mission in Pacific

China Orbiting 400 Satellites, Heading for 1,000 by 2030, US Space Command Chief Says

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Ozmens' SNC Launches Sierra Space, an independent commercial space company

OneSat Final Design Review successfully achieved

ESA awards Euroconsult and ESPI with study on the future of European space transportation

Jeff Bezos' Amazon signs rocket deal to launch network to rival SpaceX

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Fortnite maker girds for epic court clash with Apple

VR ER: tech helps UK medical students learn safely

Energy-saving gas turbines from the 3D printer

Microsoft profits jump as cloud services keep momentum

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
NASA's Webb to study young exoplanets on the edge

When the atmosphere isn't enough

As different as day and night

Researchers identify five double star systems potentially suitable for life

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
New Horizons reaches a rare space milestone

New research reveals secret to Jupiter's curious aurora activity

NASA's Europa Clipper builds hardware, moves toward assembly

First X-rays from Uranus Discovered









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.