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An experiment to test the concept of warp engine
NASA is preparing an experiment to test the concept of the warp engine
Connoisseurs of science fiction (in particular, the series Star Trek) is well known that the main engine on the ships Starfleet Federation of Planets is precisely the warp engine. The sci-fi works only explain in detail how it works.
Warp field is a bubble Alcubierre, a kind of space-time curvature within which the ship can attain superluminal velocity. As the warp field compresses the space in front of and behind the ship it expands, it does not violate the prohibition on the movement faster than the speed of light in the normal space-time.
Physicists have long relish the idea of implementing Alcubierre bubble. Until now it was thought that the curvature of space-time would require unrealistically large amount of energy. Discovered and some other problems, including the possibility of annihilation of star systems in the destination of the ship's arrival.
However, NASA engineer Harold White (Harold White) believe there is a way to significantly reduce energy costs. He persuaded the NASA to conduct an experiment to create bubbles Alcubierre in the lab to test the theory, writes New Scientist.
Harold White explains that for ease of star ship with warp engine can be imagined as a ball for American football with the surrounding toroidal ring.
Illustration of the presentation Harold White for the conference "100 Year Starship Symposium" in Orlando (2011)
A ship with warp engines might look like.
The ball - is the ship itself, which contains the crew and equipment, and the ring has a kind of "negative vacuum energy", the existence of which follows from the laws of quantum mechanics. The presence of a toroidal ring of negative energy, according to mathematical and physical calculations, - a necessary condition for the creation of a warp field.
The idea was first proposed in 1994, and then the calculation shows that you need too much energy. For a long time the practical implementation of the warp engine had to be postponed. But in 2011-2012 Harold White made its own calculations - and found a way to reduce the requirements for energy consumption on many orders, so it is theoretically possible to create a warp field for the ship 10 meters in diameter with acceleration to a speed of 10x the speed of light, he said. < br />
Soon there will be an experiment to validate the mathematical and physical concepts that underpin White in their calculations. NASA engineers will try to generate microscopic bubbles warp in the laboratory - and measure their properties.
Source:
Connoisseurs of science fiction (in particular, the series Star Trek) is well known that the main engine on the ships Starfleet Federation of Planets is precisely the warp engine. The sci-fi works only explain in detail how it works.
Warp field is a bubble Alcubierre, a kind of space-time curvature within which the ship can attain superluminal velocity. As the warp field compresses the space in front of and behind the ship it expands, it does not violate the prohibition on the movement faster than the speed of light in the normal space-time.
Physicists have long relish the idea of implementing Alcubierre bubble. Until now it was thought that the curvature of space-time would require unrealistically large amount of energy. Discovered and some other problems, including the possibility of annihilation of star systems in the destination of the ship's arrival.
However, NASA engineer Harold White (Harold White) believe there is a way to significantly reduce energy costs. He persuaded the NASA to conduct an experiment to create bubbles Alcubierre in the lab to test the theory, writes New Scientist.
Harold White explains that for ease of star ship with warp engine can be imagined as a ball for American football with the surrounding toroidal ring.
Illustration of the presentation Harold White for the conference "100 Year Starship Symposium" in Orlando (2011)
A ship with warp engines might look like.
The ball - is the ship itself, which contains the crew and equipment, and the ring has a kind of "negative vacuum energy", the existence of which follows from the laws of quantum mechanics. The presence of a toroidal ring of negative energy, according to mathematical and physical calculations, - a necessary condition for the creation of a warp field.
The idea was first proposed in 1994, and then the calculation shows that you need too much energy. For a long time the practical implementation of the warp engine had to be postponed. But in 2011-2012 Harold White made its own calculations - and found a way to reduce the requirements for energy consumption on many orders, so it is theoretically possible to create a warp field for the ship 10 meters in diameter with acceleration to a speed of 10x the speed of light, he said. < br />
Soon there will be an experiment to validate the mathematical and physical concepts that underpin White in their calculations. NASA engineers will try to generate microscopic bubbles warp in the laboratory - and measure their properties.
Source:
