NASA's Accidental Warp Field

[FakezZ]

we can only get so much out of nuclear reactions, fusion or fission. it also looks like we arent going to get nearly the energy output from fusion as we hoped to being as they prefer neutrinos to get rid or their excess energy. granted we can and should make these things much lighter in the future shielding goes into it and all kinds of other things, material science needs to play catch up. really check out the orion project, thats completely scale able, we can lift off a continent if we make it big enough.  check out the delta v needed for you to travel to our nearest star (besides the sun)

Really? The Orion project? You think that having a series of nuclear explosions to lift a spacecraft is a good idea? There is a good reason they abandoned it back then and it is because the radiation it would spew out is a whole lot. It would have devastating results for humanity, since we are not talking about developing a one-time thing, but a technology that can push us forward years in the future and used in many launches.

[blackadder]

Really? The Orion project? You think that having a series of nuclear explosions to lift a spacecraft is a good idea? There is a good reason they abandoned it back then and it is because the radiation it would spew out is a whole lot. It would have devastating results for humanity, since we are not talking about developing a one-time thing, but a technology that can push us forward years in the future and used in many launches.

horrible idea but proven to be scale able. Microwaves aren't great for you either, they can cook you from the inside. I just want to see a replicated experiment. They dont even know what happened.

[Admire]

Have to agree with @blackadder...I think we are very far away and I doubt it will happen.

[FakezZ]

horrible idea but proven to be scale able. Microwaves aren't great for you either, they can cook you from the inside. I just want to see a replicated experiment. They dont even know what happened.

Microwaves may be able to cook you, but I don't think any reasonable person that would deserve to live would stand under a spacecraft during launch But yeah I'm with you, we need to understand why it creates propulsion so we can scale it up and make it more efficient...

[Guest Strangerbob]

Really? The Orion project? You think that having a series of nuclear explosions to lift a spacecraft is a good idea? There is a good reason they abandoned it back then and it is because the radiation it would spew out is a whole lot. It would have devastating results for humanity, since we are not talking about developing a one-time thing, but a technology that can push us forward years in the future and used in many launches.

 

https://youtu.be/p4HGaTovMMc?t=28m

[Guest Strangerbob]

horrible idea but proven to be scale able. Microwaves aren't great for you either, they can cook you from the inside. I just want to see a replicated experiment. They dont even know what happened.

 

Chemical fire isnt also good.... it can burn you into nothingness in less than a second. So we should abandon everything of our current space program.

[blackadder]

Chemical fire isnt also good.... it can burn you into nothingness in less than a second. So we should abandon everything of our current space program.

no, i was just saying i want more evidence, its not that i don't think this has potential or anything. I just want a little more proven, its not like they published results or did independent studies, this is very early stage and although its news it not the kinda of news the scientific community may want. So maybe things get dis proven or misinterpreted and changed later on, this is embarrassing for the members or this team,  When they come out with results and a sigma 4 or 5 conclusion that this is what is happening, until then im going to take it with a grain of salt. About space travel we have almost no chance of making it out of the solar system by our own devices and making it to another, we have 0% if we don't try. At one time they said the sky was the limit, yet there are foot steps on the moon today. We have been at this for a very long time, we have no plans to stop.

also what they used for rcs on some of the early space mission was some of the deadly stuff we ever made, nasa has one of the best safety records.  

[Guest Strangerbob]

no, i was just saying i want more evidence, its not that i don't think this has potential or anything. I just want a little more proven, its not like they published results or did independent studies, this is very early stage and although its news it not the kinda of news the scientific community may want. So maybe things get dis proven or misinterpreted and changed later on, this is embarrassing for the members or this team,  When they come out with results and a sigma 4 or 5 conclusion that this is what is happening, until then im going to take it with a grain of salt. About space travel we have almost no chance of making it out of the solar system by our own devices and making it to another, we have 0% if we don't try. At one time they said the sky was the limit, yet there are foot steps on the moon today. We have been at this for a very long time, we have no plans to stop.

also what they used for rcs on some of the early space mission was some of the deadly stuff we ever made, nasa has one of the best safety records.  

 

I feel like i would have a good time lighting up a joint with you.

 

Anyway, see the video link i posted a few posts earlier. I am convinced that we would be able to travel to other star systems with our current technology, but such a project would probably impoverish the world. Then again, maybe not, if all military budgets were cut entirely.

 

But of course, microwave drives or space bending drives would make things much easier, but they are also very far away from practical space missions.

[blackadder]

I feel like i would have a good time lighting up a joint with you.

Anyway, see the video link i posted a few posts earlier. I am convinced that we would be able to travel to other star systems with our current technology, but such a project would probably impoverish the world. Then again, maybe not, if all military budgets were cut entirely.

But of course, microwave drives or space bending drives would make things much easier, but they are also very far away from practical space missions.

roll up one. Sadly i think we got one horrible war left,at the end of that one im not sure we will recover. If we dont currently we make enough food to feed about twice our population, thats how bad we are at logistics and morally. We need to grow up as a species before we are ready for space. You're right we could, we could do it with ion drives today, the time it takes to get anywhere is the problem. We can travel as a colony,we won't arrive as we left, we do change, count your wisdoms teeth, we had more sets of them, they are the fastest evolving thing going on with us. Smaller jaw too. Some of us don't even have them. Back to time. You leave now with ion drives i make something faster in 100 years and pass you up, so when is the right time to leave. We already have a pretty badass ship, going damn fast. Takes us a few million years to loop the galaxy, look how we treat this one. We are safe here, we have to build something even safer to travel, or just move this rock around. All about the delta v.

Watching vid now. Damn you america, cant watch it. Carl sagan, love him. Richard feynmann is great too if you can hear his speeches.

[FakezZ]

I feel like i would have a good time lighting up a joint with you.

 

Anyway, see the video link i posted a few posts earlier. I am convinced that we would be able to travel to other star systems with our current technology, but such a project would probably impoverish the world. Then again, maybe not, if all military budgets were cut entirely.

 

But of course, microwave drives or space bending drives would make things much easier, but they are also very far away from practical space missions.

The thing is that yeah we may be able to send spaceships to alpha centauri, but they would exceed the human lifetime. Human hibernation or colonies could fix than and even if we suppose they do and we send a mission, it is very possible that in like 100 years the technology then would allow us to go there faster, possibly surpassing they previous mission. That is what we have to take into account.

[Guest Strangerbob]

roll up one. Sadly i think we got one horrible war left,at the end of that one im not sure we will recover. If we dont currently we make enough food to feed about twice our population, thats how bad we are at logistics and morally. We need to grow up as a species before we are ready for space. 

 

Totally agree. The current human condition is capable of some horrible acts, towards other humans and other species. I would not want these stupid monkeys infesting anything more, not in their current state.

Nor would i want the cancer that is religion to spread to some other self aware species that we might encounter if fast space travel suddenly becomes widely available.

 

 

I am actually glad that space travel is so damn hard to achieve. It means we will HAVE TO grow up and take care of ourselves for a few more centuries before we have the means to settle other worlds.

 

Rare visits to find out if Mars has microbes or whatever, thats fine, for the sake of science. Because i believe science will give us a way to raise everyone`s IQ, making everyone smarter, ending poverty and overpopulation, discarding all religions and "isms", and most importantly making everyone more sensitive to everything, therefore making everyone more kind to one another, and to other species.

 

 

The thing is that yeah we may be able to send spaceships to alpha centauri, but they would exceed the human lifetime. Human hibernation or colonies could fix than and even if we suppose they do and we send a mission, it is very possible that in like 100 years the technology then would allow us to go there faster, possibly surpassing they previous mission. That is what we have to take into account.

 

Ye, i know... dont remember the name for what was this effect called. But it is a valid one to take into consideration.

[dalekphalm]

horrible idea but proven to be scale able. Microwaves aren't great for you either, they can cook you from the inside. I just want to see a replicated experiment. They dont even know what happened.

Microwaves are also EXTREMELY easy to shield. Granted, it depends on the specific Wavelength they use, but generally speaking, they're much easier to shield from then say - Gamma Radiation.

[DevilishBooster]

I think people are missing the point. I wasn't sharing this as if to say, "Check this shit out, they're already building new space craft and satellites with these engines", I'm just saying it's freakin sweet that they have shown the engine can work. It says right in the article that they don't know yet how and/or why it works, they just know that it works. They state right there that the next step is figuring out how/why it works. I'll be the first to tell you, the specifics and maths for something like this are way over my head, but don't restrict yourselves by focusing on the fact that it still need 3rd party evaluations and that the power production requirements aren't totally figured out. I'm sure it will all come with time.

[907rider]

Hmmmm very very interesting! one issue that I could see they might have is power.  All of these EM drives take a lot of power, more than could be supplied with solar panels alone.  So what other option is there? Nuclear, they would basically need a nuclear reactor in the space craft to give them enough power for the drive,  I know that small enough reactor/generator combo's exist (about the size of an oil drum) but the real question is whether the scientific community and the general public will be okay with nuclear reactors in space.

 

Personally I don't have any issues with it, as a huuuuge nuclear reactor is sitting approximately 149,600,000 km from Earth

[dalekphalm]

Hmmmm very very interesting! one issue that I could see they might have is power.  All of these EM drives take a lot of power, more than could be supplied with solar panels alone.  So what other option is there? Nuclear, they would basically need a nuclear reactor in the space craft to give them enough power for the drive,  I know that small enough reactor/generator combo's exist (about the size of an oil drum) but the real question is whether the scientific community and the general public will be okay with nuclear reactors in space.

 

Personally I don't have any issues with it, as a huuuuge nuclear reactor is sitting approximately 149,600,000 km from Earth

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nuclear Power has been in space for some time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1#Power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

 

Voyager 1 probe is powered by a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, which generates electricity from the heat given off by decaying radioactive materials. It's not as powerful as a full Nuclear Reactor, but it's very powerful for the size.

[xeromynd]

Vulcans be like:

[Commander Llama]

Ye, i know... dont remember the name for what was this effect called. But it is a valid one to take into consideration.

 

It's been called the Wait Calculation, or "how long do we wait before we bother to send an interstellar ship/probe?"  Kind of makes me chuckle, like how our phones/laptops/etc are constantly eclipsed with new models by the month/year.  Maybe someday we'll have that problem with starships.  Good problem to have!

 

Anyway, don't really have time to read all the pages of the thread, so not sure if this was linked, but this Reddit thread was a really good summary of this series of events and clears up some of the misconceptions sown by all the sensationalist articles put out because WARP 9 ENGAGE:

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/34cq1b/the_facts_as_we_currently_know_them_about_the/

 

From the early experiments I was bored at work and did some simple math and if the effect was perfectly scalable, with a 500MW nuclear reactor powering a starship, this EMDrive would get something like... 12.5 kN of force.  Of course, this could turn out to be nothing.  It could also turn out to be something big.  These effects could be the result of variables not accounted for, but this effect might be better than scalable, it could be currently inefficient!  Maybe we could double the effect, triple it, etc.  I'm still very skeptical until the larger scale studies come out (higher power ratings and better controls that can rule out external sources of contamination), but I take back my much earlier post in this thread, I'm a little excited.

[KE2012]

Hmm, interesting, yet what I really want to know is when are we going to find all the sexy aliens out there? Because If movies and games have taught us anything, its that there is fit aliens ready for the taking.

[Tad Bittoomuch]

So... NASA seem to have created an engine that could take us to Mars in just 70 days, or 92 years to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.

Original article here: http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-has-trialled-an-engine-that-would-take-us-to-Mars-in-10-weeks

[DimasRMDO]

72 days? Damn fast, but the question is.... Can we handle the speed?

[Kyuubixchidori]

72 days? Damn fast, but the question is.... Can we handle the speed?

 

speed is fine, accelerating and decelearting, not so much

[blackadder]

O this again

[TheKDub]

I wanna see this in action in space, until then idc about it much

[DimasRMDO]

 

speed is fine, accelerating and decelearting, not so much

Oh ok then, what I meant was that the vehicle ran too damn fast that we became dizzy or unconscious.

[Enderman]

Oh ok then, what I meant was that the vehicle ran too damn fast that we became dizzy or unconscious.

its acceleration what makes you unconscious, not speed