Did you really think the Neo-Cons would stop with just Earth? There's an entire galaxy to "liberate"...
According to a story in New Scientist Magazine, the U.S. military & the Department Of Energy are considering research into a theory of faster than light travel...
Every year, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awards prizes for the best papers presented at its annual conference. Last year's winner in the nuclear and future flight category went to a paper calling for experimental tests of an astonishing new type of engine. According to the paper, this hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through another dimension at enormous speeds. It could leave Earth at lunchtime and get to the moon in time for dinner. There's just one catch: the idea relies on an obscure and largely unrecognised kind of physics. Can they possibly be serious?
The AIAA is certainly not embarrassed. What's more, the US military has begun to cast its eyes over the hyperdrive concept, and a space propulsion researcher at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories has said he would be interested in putting the idea to the test...
Since the New Scientist story is subscription, it took a little googling to figure out what this is about, and how it would work. You can find the paper explaining the science behind all of it
HERE.
If we have any physicists or engineers in the house, maybe they can look it over & give an opinion?
The "technobabble" & math are way over my head, so I was lucky enough to find another story in The Scotsman that explains some of the details...
...The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine.
The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.
Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.
The US Air Force has expressed an interest in the idea and scientists working for the American Department of Energy - which has a device known as the Z Machine that could generate the kind of magnetic fields required to drive the engine - say they may carry out a test if the theory withstands further scrutiny...
I'm guessing that this relies in part on
String Theory, which says there is either
10,
11, or
26 dimensions to the Universe
(depending on which interpretation of string theory you take). Human beings can percieve 4 dimensions: 3 dimensions of space & the 1 dimension of time. However, string theory says there are supposedly
"compacted dimensions" that are beyond our perception.
One of the scientists who wrote the original paper says in the article that a testable engine based on the science "could" be developed within 5 years, albeit with some caveats. He cautioned that it would take some time to fully understand the underlying science...
...Professor Jochem Hauser, one of the scientists who put forward the idea, told The Scotsman that if everything went well a working engine could be tested in about five years.
However, Prof Hauser, a physicist at the Applied Sciences University in Salzgitter, Germany, and a former chief of aerodynamics at the European Space Agency, cautioned it was based on a highly controversial theory that would require a significant change in the current understanding of the laws of physics. "It would be amazing. I have been working on propulsion systems for quite a while and it would be the most amazing thing. The benefits would be almost unlimited," he said.
"But this thing is not around the corner; we first have to prove the basic science is correct and there are quite a few physicists who have a different opinion. "It's our job to prove we are right and we are working on that."
He said the engine would enable spaceships to travel to different solar systems. "If the theory is correct then this is not science fiction, it is science fact," Prof Hauser said.
Where does the US government come in?
"NASA have contacted me and next week I'm going to see someone from the [US] air force to talk about it further, but it is at a very early stage. I think the best-case scenario would be within the next five years [to build a test device] if the technology works."
One thing that would have to be overcome if this worked, and that is a
HUGE if, is inertia. Even if we could travel faster than light, how would you survive the g forces of such a trip? However, since this engine supposedly manipulates gravity, maybe it can compensate for this. Also, how do you navigate in this
"other" dimension once you're there? Would you be able to detect
"our" dimension & direct the craft?
Although, as Spock would say, it is "fascinating"...