Warp Drive in Reality?

[phavoc]

With the recent verbal sparring in my other thread, I thought this might either fuel the fire some more, or maybe spark a different, less heated discussion.

Essentially NASA scientists have come up with a theoretical photon-like drive that compacts space in front of the engine and expands it behind it. Sounds in some ways like how a squid propels itself. Maybe we should name it the squid drive???

If it works outside of the lab, they think the drive would be able to cross space at 10x the speed of light - though it never actually gets faster than the speed of light, but due to warping of space-time around the craft, and, uh, blah-blah-blah... more physics gobbledey gook. Negative vacuum energy, blah-blah-blah.... Just gimme warp drive already!


http://news.yahoo.com/engage-warp-drive-could-become-reality-quantum-thruster-114310551.html

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I don't trust Yahoo for news.

 

[SSWarlock]

Requires "exotic matter", huh? I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[Ishmael]

It would might make a truely devastating weapon.
Alcubierre torpedoes are the new strategic doomsday weapon for interplanetary war?
http://sydney.edu.au/news/science/397.html?newsstoryid=8790

 

[Sigtrygg]

It's pretty much why I proposed:

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/164326-nasa-discusses-its-warp-drive-research-prepares-to-create-a-warp-bubble-in-the-lab

on the first page of the thread that shall not be mentioned as an explanation for m-drives in Traveller.

Make a gravitationally neutral bubble and you have your null g modules used in grav vehicles, in ships you add a thruster plate that can move the bubble by warping the space-time in-front/behind (note - not a gravity well ). I like the squid drive hypothesis by the way

Within the bubble you can maintain a gravity field at any orientation to the device explaining grav plates and acceleration compensators.

Canonically it was m-drive research trying to improve the performance of the gravity based drives that lead to discovering jump. So if your warp bubble becomes too strained it can pop the surface tension of the universe opening a hole in to jump space.

 

[Ishmael]

The 'Warp' drive mentioned as an alternate drive in the Traveller SRD appears to be an Alcubierre drive.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Yes, the variant for FTL travel is a warp drive

What I am proposing is that it explains STL breakthroughs instead and we keep the jump drive for FTL.

Traveller, well the OTU at least, has always had a separate technology for FTL an STL. For T:2300 they combined the STL an FTL into one drive system, the stutter warp.

 

[Infojunky]

Traveller, well the OTU at least, has always ha a separate technology for FTL an STL. For T:2300 they combined the STL an FTL into one rive system, the stutter warp.

Do they include rules in the T2300 book?

 

[Sigtrygg]

The MgT 2300 book re-writes some of the ship construction rules etc. to the stutter warp way of doing things .

There is no artificial gravity in 2300 either so spin gravity is necessary for ships and stations. Rules are in the MgT 2300 book for that too

 

[Infojunky]

The MgT 2300 book re-writes some of the ship construction rules etc. to the stutter warp way of doing things .

There is no artificial gravity in 2300 either so spin gravity is necessary for ships and stations. Rules are in the MgT 2300 book for that too

What about operations and combat rules for Warp ships?

 

[silburnl]

What about operations and combat rules for Warp ships?

Yes they are in the 2300 core book, range bands and sensor packages are tweaked a bit to match the established canon for the line.

Other than the FTL pseudovelocities granted by stutterwarp, everything is still limited by the speed of light however; so combat is only feasible within the 'shallows' where reduced stutterwarp efficiencies mean you are limited to pseudovelocities that are (a lot) lower than C.

Regards
Luke