Mars in 3 hours, 11 light years in 80 days

[Corpse]

A little more than two days ago, one of my friends told me he spotted an article on a local paper where it was talked about the possibilities of a hyperdrive which could take around 3 months to get to a star system 11 light years away.

Considering the source though I did not put too much credibility to it and dismissed it as a possible joke; especially since I had just finished reading the last book of the “World war” series by Harry Turtledove titled “Homeward Bound”.
Homeward Bound is set in 2035, 93 years after the alien invasion; the US had been working on FTL technology for the last 10 years and manage to travel to the invaders Home planet in the Tau Ceti system, 11 light years away in less than 5 months. (Looks like Harry was off by 2 months on the trip and by at least 19 years on the discovery. )

I googled around and found related articles in some rather questionable news sources but eventually I found it on new scientist so I was more willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

From the Scotsman:
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=16902006

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.
The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.
Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.
The US air force has expressed an interest in the idea and scientists working for the American Department of Energy - which has a device known as the Z Machine that could generate the kind of magnetic fields required to drive the engine - say they may carry out a test if the theory withstands further scrutiny.

Not sure if any of you remember the Z Machine but I believe I posted an article about it here 6 months ago.

Professor Jochem Hauser, one of the scientists who put forward the idea, told The Scotsman that if everything went well a working engine could be tested in about five years.
However, Prof Hauser, a physicist at the Applied Sciences University in Salzgitter, Germany, and a former chief of aerodynamics at the European Space Agency, cautioned it was based on a highly controversial theory that would require a significant change in the current understanding of the laws of physics.
"It would be amazing. I have been working on propulsion systems for quite a while and it would be the most amazing thing. The benefits would be almost unlimited," he said.
"But this thing is not around the corner; we first have to prove the basic science is correct and there are quite a few physicists who have a different opinion.
"It's our job to prove we are right and we are working on that."
He said the engine would enable spaceships to travel to different solar systems. "If the theory is correct then this is not science fiction, it is science fact," Prof Hauser said.
"NASA have contacted me and next week I'm going to see someone from the [US] air force to talk about it further, but it is at a very early stage. I think the best-case scenario would be within the next five years [to build a test device] if the technology works."
The US authorities' attention was attracted after Prof Hauser and an Austrian colleague, Walter Droscher, wrote a paper called "Guidelines for a space propulsion device based on Heim's quantum theory".

Full Story from New Scientist website:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg18925331.200.html


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/06/hyperdrive/

 

[frissy]

Now that would be cool.
________
MOTORCYCLE TIRES

 

[Hotel California]

Christ - it scares me shitless to think of what the american air force could/would/will do with this kind of tech. However - am i not the only one worried about "an intense magnetic field" above the earth? Pffft!

 

[frissy]

Christ - it scares me shitless to think of what the american air force could/would/will do with this kind of tech. However - am i not the only one worried about "an intense magnetic field" above the earth? Pffft!

American air force...well not too scared about those. Hell they can bomb you in 2h now, or in 1sec with that tech. Nothing really changes.

As for the intense magnetic field over earth. Well we already have those...magnetic storms. Not to mention when they test nukes in the athmosphere (EMP).

As for Americans being tahe "first" one in outer space. Well there will always be the military presence it doesn't matter which nation. Every army thinks the same way. KILL IT!
________
Marijuana Dispensaries

 

[S]

11 light years in 5 months.
means 11 years . speed of light (3x10^8)m/s . (time of 1 year in sec)
--> 3600 sec . 24 . 365 days = 31536000 seconds/year
--> 11 . 31536000 . 3x10^8 = total distance in metres = 1.040688E17 metres

therefore 1.040688E17 meters to cover in 5 months means it must travel: 1.040688E17 / (5 months in seconds) --> 8.03E9 m/s

or 8030000 km/s and about (2230 km/h)

which makes no sence due to speed of light being 300000 km/s
and nothing can ever travel at the speed of light

* note calculations were not checked

 

[Wooz]

You did read the part about slipping into another dimension in which light travels much faster, right?

Tsk.

 

[Ashmo]

Also, there's the whole bending the space to shorten the distance thing.

 

[alec]

Slipping into another dimension where light travels much faster, eh?

Why does this sound like complete and utter bullshit to me?

One can only hope that this other dimension where light travels much faster will be inhabited by humanoids which bullshit much less.

 

[frissy]

Well i'm not that sure they mean light travels faster as in light becomes faster. Probably more something like the bending thing. Light doesn't travel faster in that dimension, but everything else is slower. Plus other dimension don't work like the dimension were in.

I wonder how many times theories have been altered when someone came up with a thing that was faster or stronger or another thing or...

Saying that light speed is the fastest. There is no faster is the same sort of bullshit as those telling it's not the fastest. Remember the time when moonlandings were science fiction, or television was.

We should question issues, not just blindly follow them because someone says it's the only possible solution. There are ALWAYS different solutions. It's another matter if we can see them or ever will.
________
Grey'S Anatomy Forums

 

[alec]

Well i'm not that sure they mean light travels faster as in light becomes faster. Probably more something like the bending thing. Light doesn't travel faster in that dimension, but everything else is slower. Plus other dimension don't work like the dimension were in.

'The bending thing?' WTF is 'the bending thing?' Explain both the 'bending' and the 'thing' please, because I don't have a friggin' clue what you're talking about. Right now, I'm seeing a picture in my head that kind of resembles a mechanical harlequin 'bending' over a plastic fruitcake? Is that the 'bending thing' you are referring to?
Plus: 'light doesn't travel faster in that dimension, but everything else is slower,' you say. Doesn't that sound like a little retarded? And wouldn't that implicate that our virtual interdimensional spaceship would move slower as well? Because it's not made out of light and stuff? Ya know?
And: you say that 'other dimension don't work like the dimension were in.' Who knows this for sure, eh? I mean, which one of the eggheads that waste their life in laboratories and rarely set foot in the real world has visited this other dimension? Eh? Newsflash: no one! All this dimensional crapola sounds like a new religion. Some time ago I heard about these mathematicians doing calculations which involved 32 different dimensions. 32! (Or was it 33? I lost count...) And here I was, thinking that there were 3 or 4 dimensions. Jeez.

I wonder how many times theories have been altered when someone came up with a thing that was faster or stronger or another thing or...

For some reason, I always feel uncomfortable when someone uses the word 'thing' way too often. What is that exactly, a 'thing?' For all I know, you could be insulting me or my mom right now and I wouldn't know a 'thing' about it.

Saying that light speed is the fastest. There is no faster is the same sort of bullshit as those telling it's not the fastest. Remember the time when moonlandings were science fiction, or television was.

No, I do not remember the times when moonlandings and television were science fiction, because when I was born (in good ol' 1976), moonlandings and television were already facts. I have read about those pre-moonlanding and pre-television times, though. They seem like jolly good times to me. Less people roaming the streets. Less cars. Less pollution. Less bullshit that will never cease to be just that: bullshit.

We should question issues, not just blindly follow them because someone says it's the only possible solution. There are ALWAYS different solutions. It's another matter if we can see them or ever will.

There are not always different solutions. For instance: 1+1=2. Always has and always will. Another example: when I'm holding a delicious fruitcake in my hand and I'm terribly hungry, there is but one solution: I need to eat that fruitcake.
I for one only believe in what I can see, because believing in something I can't see seems terribly stupid to me. Hence, I don't believe in God or in spaceships that can reach Mars in 3 hours. I do not believe in more than 4 dimensions either, because even though I have on various occasions tried really hard to slip into another dimension (for instance, that one time when I was caught jerking off whilst wearing women's lingerie), I have not succeeded in doing so.

I have said so before and I will say so again: we are stuck on this sad and lonely planet until we as a species cease to exist or until the sun microwaves our soil, and no scientist's wet dream will ever change this fact.

Pffft... I rest my case. 8)

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

Slipping into another dimension where light travels much faster.

This is not practical, or if it is at least not for humans. And you ask why, I say E=MC^2, if the C(the speed of light) grows, the mass diminishes :arrow: your physical composition destabilizes :arrow: you'll die in a very cruel way. Or your energy grows :arrow: you'll self ignite, and dye in a cruel way, and after you return in to this dimension, you'll be a frozen pile of ashess.

 

[Brother None]

which makes no sence due to speed of light being 300000 km/s
and nothing can ever travel at the speed of light

Correct, nothing can travel at the speed of light since its mass would become infinite, which would require infinite energy, which is impossible since the universe has both finite mass and energy.

But that's not saying *anything* about going *faster* than the speed of light.

 

[Roshambo]

'The bending thing?' WTF is 'the bending thing?' Explain both the 'bending' and the 'thing' please, because I don't have a friggin' clue what you're talking about. Right now, I'm seeing a picture in my head that kind of resembles a mechanical harlequin 'bending' over a plastic fruitcake? Is that the 'bending thing' you are referring to?
Plus: 'light doesn't travel faster in that dimension, but everything else is slower,' you say. Doesn't that sound like a little retarded? And wouldn't that implicate that our virtual interdimensional spaceship would move slower as well? Because it's not made out of light and stuff? Ya know?
And: you say that 'other dimension don't work like the dimension were in.' Who knows this for sure, eh? I mean, which one of the eggheads that waste their life in laboratories and rarely set foot in the real world has visited this other dimension? Eh? Newsflash: no one! All this dimensional crapola sounds like a new religion. Some time ago I heard about these mathematicians doing calculations which involved 32 different dimensions. 32! (Or was it 33? I lost count...) And here I was, thinking that there were 3 or 4 dimensions. Jeez.

The most I've seen someone use with any substantial basis behind them is about 10, but I have heard 6 used more commonly.

With a given starting point of 0 as existence or the point, the first dimension is altered within the scope of the second (a line into a curve), and as the second is in turn altered in the third (a curve into a sphere), and the third is altered in the fourth (presence in relation to other objects), so naturally time would similarly be altered when considering the fifth (effect upon the presence in relation to other objects). Each dimension, and with time as the forth, I have to agree with this article's cited theory that our visual interpretation of light is likely the visual represenation of the fifth dimension.

According to this theory, “light” is nothing but vibrations rippling along the 5th dimension.

Along this, some think the fifth dimension is energy, built upon the effects of the previous four dimensions, as time and energy could easily be connected like width and depth, and to measure energy, you need both space and time. Light, being one form of potential energy spent over time, as the most evident form of this energy. The energy is not encapsulated or represented completely in the previous dimensions, and therefore energy is dependent upon the previous four dimensions to occur. Without time, there is no light to occur, as light also defies any of the 4 states of matter. Therefore, I have to agree on the theory that time is required for light and energy to occur in our universe, and therefore light and energy are the fifth dimension, or at least the evident examples of it.

I also have to wonder if "energy" is the right word to use, as it would more or less be cause and effect, and the event of change, that best represents the scope of the theorized fifth dimension. Now, what is after the fifth? What would energy or the event of change be a precursor to in dimensional design? The relationship between events of change? It is especially interesting and seems to fit if you apply the "0th Dimension" perspective of Existence, and therefore the 6th would be the open possiblity or potential for events utilizing the lower dimensions to occur, which include both time and space. The only remaining part of the triangle is energy, or effect.

Which brings us to the 6 dimension base (which I subscribe to more than 10 or anything else), where 4 is the mere presence of an object in time, 5 is the progression of the item in time (energy, or event of change as I explained above), and 6 is regarded as a possibility/potential/quantum state (potential for energy or event of change).

 

[frissy]

'The bending thing?' WTF is 'the bending thing?' Explain both the 'bending' and the 'thing'

'Bending': "shortcut" through space and time. Where you bend space

'Thing': wormhole (=a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime)
________
LIST OF SUZUKI ENGINES

 

[Ashmo]

The idea is essentially that you take a shortcut from A to B by bending the fabric of space and time so that the distance between A and B is shortened.

The fun thing about worm holes and similar "solutions" is that they all pose the threat of dissolving or combusting or otherwise becoming nasty while you're inside.
Then there's the whole gravity thing and all that. Like taking a walk on a black hole sun.

 

[frissy]

Fear not. We don't have to go there m'kay.

There are only four dimension m'kay.

Nothing is faster than light m'kay.

Earth is flat m'kay.
________
Mercedes-Benz L-Series Truck

 

[S]

Also, there's the whole bending the space to shorten the distance thing.

yep that is possible in theory

The fun thing about worm holes and similar "solutions" is that they all pose the threat of dissolving or combusting or otherwise becoming nasty while you're inside.
Then there's the whole gravity thing and all that. Like taking a walk on a black hole sun.

first of all i want to ask what you mean by inside ??? (inside of what? ... if you bend space you don't spend a sec inside of anything )

And you mentioned gravity???? what has it got to do with parallel dimension travel???

Slipping into another dimension where light travels much faster.

This is not practical, or if it is at least not for humans. And you ask why, I say E=MC^2, if the C(the speed of light) grows, the mass diminishes

that is solid proof man but to add to this its also due to the F=ma
as the mass increases exponentially the acceleration decreases as well.

Also, there's the whole bending the space to shorten the distance thing.

i thought the bending of space means that you are simultaneously at position A od 1 dimension and position B on a parallel dimension ...to demonstrate
A...........B--> bending of space
....AB....

Slipping into another dimension where light travels much faster, eh?

Why does this sound like complete and utter bullshit to me?

Simply because it is bullshit!

Well i'm not that sure they mean light travels faster as in light becomes faster. Probably more something like the bending thing. Light doesn't travel faster in that dimension, but everything else is slower. Plus other dimension don't work like the dimension were in.

hmm. this sounds strange. Speed is relative so if everything else travelled slower it would mean that light travels slower as well, due to relative to the dimension your in so... it doens't make light travel faster in that dimension. it makes light travel at the speed of light in. the properties of light is not affected by different dimensions, its the same like elements of the periodic table is always the same in whatever dimension your in (correct me if mistaken)

you can only say that light

 

[DirtyDreamDesigner]

Nice multipost there, S. You going for the record?

 

[S]

Nice multipost there, S. You going for the record?

sry, but couldn't delete the posts

 

[Wooz]

S, this has already been pointed out to you, and been issued a warning by an Administrator. Learn how to post or GTFO.

Strike one.