Mar 31, 2021 08:35 PM
(This post was last modified: Apr 1, 2021 06:35 AM by C C.)
https://thedebrief.org/new-warp-drive-mo...-build-it/
EXCERPTS: On the heels of The Debrief’s exclusive interview with a Chicago area engineer who patented a new concept for faster than light travel, a team of researchers headquartered in Sweden have come up with a design for an entirely new version of Warp drive. Known as Applied Physics (APL), the group’s designs were recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Classical and Quantum Gravity and represent the latest in an increasingly crowded field of warp proposals.
[...] In a follow-up email to The Debrief, Martire first explained the unique backgrounds of the team of researchers involved in the APL project, along with explaining the Nordic location chosen for its headquarters. “If it were not for an American, a Russian, and an Iranian, physical warp drives would never have happened. So the only way to have no borders was to make Sweden our host country.”
“Becoming interstellar,” he later added, “is a global effort, and we cannot have politics stand in the way of science.”
So, with the team assembled, Martire described how they first looked at the classical warp designs before trying to tackle the problem themselves. “[Harold] White’s paper makes heavy use of extra non-physical dimensions,” he said, “which, as you know, is incompatible with the current understanding of general relativity. Thus, the work is not usable in our reality. No warp metric was. Hence, why they were all unphysical.”
With this limitation in mind, Martire and his co-author, Lund University Astrophysicist Alexey Bobrick, set out to design an entirely new type of Warp drive, a design they term a physical warp drive. “Our paper covers all the existing warp drives and all their possible modifications (i.e., Alcubierre),” Martire said in the email, “but the APL metric stands on its own, hence why it’s the first physical class of warp.”
Of course, as a physical, material device, their drive is subject to the laws and limitations of classical physics, and as mentioned, this means no superluminal speed. Still, the researchers are quick to point out that their drive concept can approach light speed, meaning traveling throughout the cosmos is still a viable option.
“There is a common misconception that interstellar travel has to be superluminal,” Martire told The Debrief, “it doesn’t. If we can send a probe to reach another star within ten years, it is still incredibly useful.”
Fortunately, for any future passenger who may ride in a craft powered by this type of drive, Martire also explained how their design eliminates the deadly radiation emitted by previous warp concepts.
[...] When asked what the main limitations were for constructing their physical warp drive for testing, the researcher admitted that today’s equipment might not be up to the task. ... He does, however, note that along with improvements in equipment on the horizon, the researchers of the future may also be on their way. “Upon request by the department head,” Martire wrote, “Stevens.edu became the first University where “Warp Field Mechanics” was first taught to Ph.D. students.
Where the project goes from here is not immediately clear. [...] “In the far future,” Martire’s email said, “the crew will have the option of slowing down time inside the bubble. So now ten years can turn into only one month for everything inside the warp shield region.” (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: On the heels of The Debrief’s exclusive interview with a Chicago area engineer who patented a new concept for faster than light travel, a team of researchers headquartered in Sweden have come up with a design for an entirely new version of Warp drive. Known as Applied Physics (APL), the group’s designs were recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Classical and Quantum Gravity and represent the latest in an increasingly crowded field of warp proposals.
[...] In a follow-up email to The Debrief, Martire first explained the unique backgrounds of the team of researchers involved in the APL project, along with explaining the Nordic location chosen for its headquarters. “If it were not for an American, a Russian, and an Iranian, physical warp drives would never have happened. So the only way to have no borders was to make Sweden our host country.”
“Becoming interstellar,” he later added, “is a global effort, and we cannot have politics stand in the way of science.”
So, with the team assembled, Martire described how they first looked at the classical warp designs before trying to tackle the problem themselves. “[Harold] White’s paper makes heavy use of extra non-physical dimensions,” he said, “which, as you know, is incompatible with the current understanding of general relativity. Thus, the work is not usable in our reality. No warp metric was. Hence, why they were all unphysical.”
With this limitation in mind, Martire and his co-author, Lund University Astrophysicist Alexey Bobrick, set out to design an entirely new type of Warp drive, a design they term a physical warp drive. “Our paper covers all the existing warp drives and all their possible modifications (i.e., Alcubierre),” Martire said in the email, “but the APL metric stands on its own, hence why it’s the first physical class of warp.”
Of course, as a physical, material device, their drive is subject to the laws and limitations of classical physics, and as mentioned, this means no superluminal speed. Still, the researchers are quick to point out that their drive concept can approach light speed, meaning traveling throughout the cosmos is still a viable option.
“There is a common misconception that interstellar travel has to be superluminal,” Martire told The Debrief, “it doesn’t. If we can send a probe to reach another star within ten years, it is still incredibly useful.”
Fortunately, for any future passenger who may ride in a craft powered by this type of drive, Martire also explained how their design eliminates the deadly radiation emitted by previous warp concepts.
[...] When asked what the main limitations were for constructing their physical warp drive for testing, the researcher admitted that today’s equipment might not be up to the task. ... He does, however, note that along with improvements in equipment on the horizon, the researchers of the future may also be on their way. “Upon request by the department head,” Martire wrote, “Stevens.edu became the first University where “Warp Field Mechanics” was first taught to Ph.D. students.
Where the project goes from here is not immediately clear. [...] “In the far future,” Martire’s email said, “the crew will have the option of slowing down time inside the bubble. So now ten years can turn into only one month for everything inside the warp shield region.” (MORE - details)