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Author Topic: Mars in Three Hours?
Fidel
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5594

posted 14 January 2006 12:23 AM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip
IAN JOHNSTON
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government.

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.


...there's more

Cool! Let's go.

[ 14 January 2006: Message edited by: Fidel ]


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Agent 204
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4668

posted 14 January 2006 09:14 AM      Profile for Agent 204   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Interesting! Of course, the article notes that it depends on some hypothetical notions that scientists aren't all in agreement about, but still...

Incidentally, this isn't the only way that some have suggested we might be able to get around the light barrier; a few others are discussed here.


From: home of the Guess Who | Registered: Nov 2003  |  IP: Logged
GreenNeck
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Babbler # 10276

posted 14 January 2006 02:43 PM      Profile for GreenNeck     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You can read more about this in the Bad Astronomer (Phil Plait) web site. under 'Spacedrive'. There is a link to the actual article, which is in PDF format. Lots of cryptic math there.

This would be great if true, however the B.A. is inclined to think this is malarkey. Anyone who can decipher quantum physics and relativity among babblers?


From: I'd rather be in Brazil | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
Geneva
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3808

posted 14 January 2006 03:07 PM      Profile for Geneva     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
3 hours, eh?

if Via Rail is involved, the on-board sandwiches will be terrible


From: um, well | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5594

posted 14 January 2006 03:09 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My upper level math notes are in the back of the closet, unfortunately. But Boeing is trying to develop a working relationship with Dr Evgeny Podkletnov, has its own internal project name: ‘GRASP’ — Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion. Evgeny is, apparently, anti-military in his thoughts.

quote:

Although he was vilified by traditionalists who claimed that gravity-shielding was impossible under the known laws of physics, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) attempted to replicate his work in the mid-1990s. Because NASA lacked Podkletnov’s unique formula for the work, the attempt failed. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama will shortly conduct a second set of experiments using apparatus built to Podkletnov’s specifications.

Boeing recently approached Podkletnov directly, but promptly fell foul of Russian technology transfer controls (Moscow wants to stem the exodus of Russian high technology to the West).


Janes


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
fast_twitch_neurons
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posted 14 January 2006 03:22 PM      Profile for fast_twitch_neurons     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The new scientist article says nothing about which controversial theory they're referring to. Additionally, even if they did, I somehow doubt we have the tools on Earth to create such a magnetic field. The largest artificial magnetic fields on Earth are on the order of 10 Teslas, and we've seen some in space around pulsars of 10^10 Teslas, and I have not read of any disturbances observed there.

So even if there is a theoretical possibility, the practical implications will be with us for a while.


From: Montreal | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5594

posted 14 January 2006 03:54 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by fast_twitch_neurons:
Additionally, even if they did, I somehow doubt we have the tools on Earth to create such a magnetic field. The largest artificial magnetic fields on Earth are on the order of 10 Teslas, and we've seen some in space around pulsars of 10^10 Teslas, and I have not read of any disturbances observed there.

There are IEEE proposals/papers that talk about achieving field strengths of 80T for brief periods using internally reinforced pulse magnets at Los Alamos labs.


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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Babbler # 214

posted 14 January 2006 07:27 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe...

Given that there is a great wieght of circumstantial evidence that more than suggests that the fabric is irony, any person utilizing it better be damn careful.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
jonomab
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posted 02 February 2006 08:11 PM      Profile for jonomab     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
if this does work, the fact that acceleration occurs when speeding up, brings about the problem of inertia, if u tried to get to mars in 3 hours, the speeds you would be going at would crush anything inside the ship, and as far as i know, we havent invented inertial dampeners yet

also istn it creepy how startrek is coming closer and closer to reality??

[ 02 February 2006: Message edited by: jonomab ]


From: London | Registered: Jan 2006  |  IP: Logged
DrConway
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posted 03 February 2006 02:25 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The PDF isn't there anymore, but the comments on the spacedrive article seem to indicate that the initial paper is a bit, er, to put it lightly, weak in aspects of explaining the new physics involved.
From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Vansterdam Kid
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posted 03 February 2006 02:54 AM      Profile for Vansterdam Kid   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Regardless of, thanks for the links, all! I won't be getting my hopes up, but still, intresting nonethless.
From: bleh.... | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged

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