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More space news!


tkdguy

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Re: More space news!

 

 

I was just reading about this. One of comments mentioned the TR-3B, which is interesting in a tin foil hat sense of the word. Might have to swipe for a campaign.

 

ETA: Oh, and I liked how much the energy needed changed with a little rethinking

 

"However, space-time is really stiff, so to create the expansion and contraction effect in a useful manner in order for us to reach interstellar destinations in reasonable time periods would require a lot of energy."

 

And indeed, early assessments published in the ensuing scientific literature suggested horrific amounts of energy — basically equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter (what is 1.9 × 1027 kilograms or 317 Earth masses). As a result, the idea was brushed aside as being far too impractical. Even though nature allowed for a warp drive, it looked like we would never be able to build one ourselves.

 

He presented the results of his Alcubierre Drive rethink a year later at the 100 Year Starship conference in Atlanta where he highlighted his new optimization approaches — a new design that could significantly reduce the amount of exotic matter required. And in fact, White says that the warp drive could be powered by a mass that's even less than that of the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

 

 

That's a significant change in calculations to say the least. The reduction in mass from a Jupiter-sized planet to an object that weighs a mere 1,600 pounds has completely reset White's sense of plausibility — and NASA's.

 

"Significantly reduce" indeed...a change from the mass of Jupiter to less than a ton... :nonp:

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Re: More space news!

 

"Significantly reduce" indeed...a change from the mass of Jupiter to less than a ton... :nonp:

 

FWIW, the mass of Jupiter is about the mass of four moles of Voyager 1's. Yes, four times Avogadro's number of Voyagers.

 

I have made bigger mistakes than that (a factor of 10^66 in the case I'm thinking of) but that was on an exam with an algebra error, not something that got published.

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Re: More space news!

 

FWIW, the mass of Jupiter is about the mass of four moles of Voyager 1's. Yes, four times Avogadro's number of Voyagers.

 

I have made bigger mistakes than that (a factor of 10^66 in the case I'm thinking of) but that was on an exam with an algebra error, not something that got published.

 

Was there a problem in the math? I thought he just proposed a different configuration to generate the warping field that resulted in a reduction in the energy required from the mass energy of Jupiter down to the Voyager space probe. Where is the math error?

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