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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

"SPACE: Warp Factor 10! Star Trek warp drive in the works"


Warp-speed travel at faster-than-light speeds is not impossible--as Einstein implied--but only requires sidestepping the prohibition by stretching space itself, at least according to modern string-theory physicists. Now that the possibility is known, how long will it be before somebody figure out how to implement it? I would guess about 20 years. R.C.J.
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With the latest installment of the Star Trek franchise packing theaters, researchers are again speculating about the feasibility of building a faster-than-light "warp drive" similar to the one powering Star Trek's "Enterprise" star ship. Researchers at Baylor University (Waco, Texas) claim that dark energy--the force causing the universe to expand--could power a warp drive by expanding the fabric of space behind the ship while simultaneously contracting space ahead of it. The scheme could theoretically enable a ship to traverse light years in distance without violating Einstein's prohibition on faster-than-light travel.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217400471