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Is 'faster-than-light' travel possible? Researchers think so

Is 'faster-than-light' travel possible? Researchers think so

Nov 22, 2018
08:05 pm

What's the story

Despite artificial intelligence and genetic modification increasingly coming into the mainstream, one of the gems of science fiction - faster-than-light travel - has so far evaded scientific advancement. However, that impasse might not be an everlasting blemish on science - reportedly, scientists are becoming increasingly optimistic about the possibility of faster-than-light travel, at least in theoretical terms. Here's more.

Basics

A brief introduction to faster-than-light travel

What's wrong with faster-than-light travel? Well, not much, except that it's just incompatible with the fundamental laws of physics, specifically, with Einstein's general theory of relativity. That was the general idea about faster-than-light travel for decades, till 1994, when physicist Dr. Miguel Alcubierre came up with hypothetical "exotic matter", that made the idea theoretically possible within the confines of Einstein's general theory of relativity.

Solution

The idea of the warp bubble

This theoretical solution was something called a "warp bubble". The aforementioned exotic matter (which is something not known to exist yet but theoretically possible) would compress space in front of a spaceship, and would expand the space behind it, thereby allowing the spaceship to bypass general relativity - the spaceship would remain stationary inside the warp bubble, which would travel faster than light. Imagine a moving walkway in an airport - you stand still, but you still move.

Information

No speed limits exist on the expansion of space

The key to the idea of the warp bubble is that while Einstein's general theory of relativity says that no object can travel faster than light, it does not put a speed limit on the expansion of space.

Energy

How much energy would a warp bubble need?

However, there was a snag. Even if a 'warp drive' could create a warp bubble to enable faster-than-light travel, initial calculations indicated that it would take a gargantuan amount of energy - more energy than exists in the universe. Research-fuelled debate on the amount of energy required to create a warp bubble has raged since then.

Debate

The energy requirement debate

Through calculation and re-calculation, scientists eventually concluded that the amount of energy required to create a warp bubble would be equivalent to Jupiter's mass, converted to energy. Although modest compared to initial calculations, the amount of energy was still gargantuan, and impractical. Now, however, according to a story published by the New York Times, scientists have calculated that a warp drive could actually be plausible.

New calculations

Turns out, the energy requirement isn't impossible after all

Recently, some NASA scientists, led by Harold White, a physicist at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, came up with a possible way to configure 'exotic matter' so that warping can be possible with the energy contained in a ton or two of mass - equivalent to the mass of the Voyager spacecraft. While there's still a long way to go, these calculations indicate that faster-than-light travel is not just theoretically possible, it's also plausible.

Implications

Implications of the findings include space exploration and time travel

The findings, while theoretical, have massive implications. Faster-than-light travel, if and when it's actualized, would allow humans to not just spread out into seemingly unreachable corners of the universe, it would also imply that time travel is possible, thereby violating the revered notion of causality in physics. Yet, it could also turn out to be a momentary victory - further research could unravel physical laws that could rule out the possibility of faster-than-light travel.

Thoughts

Yet, we're centuries away from developing the requisite technology

Dr. Alcubierre, the mastermind behind the hypothetical warp drive (also called an Alcubierre drive), however, is skeptical about the new findings. Despite being the greatest advocate of the idea, the physicist told NYT that even if a warp drive could be constructed based on the new findings, it is well beyond the current technological capability of humans, and that we're "centuries" away from it.