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Ask HN: What about designing a subluminal warpdrive

6 points by JPLeRouzic 3y ago

Dear HNners, I am a bit sad about the current state of space exploration. I am thinking of an online Website that would help design with great details a warp-drive à la Alcubierre. Recently Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire claimed that, in principle, a class of subluminal, spherically symmetric warp drive spacetimes can be constructed based on physical principles, such as positive energy. This website would be a cross thing between Kerbal Space Program and a CAD program dedicated to high-energy manufacturing, the kind they may have used to design the HLC. The goal would be to design a subliminal warpdrive that could reach a speed of 1/100 of C speed. That would enable to reach Jupiter in 3 days. This website would be a serious thing, destined to attract talented people and ultimately inspire them to attract funding and build such a warp drive. Do you have any suggestions, particularly are there already some similar online efforts or efforts that could be modified and reused with not too much work (several man years?). I am thinking of online games without having anything specific in mind. Thank you!

mikewarot 3y ago
There is currently a satellite in orbit, Barry-1, which has a purely electric thruster, it uses no propellant! They will be attempting to raise its orbit by 100 Km starting in a month or two (after they get a baseline) using this new thruster. The theory of physics behind it is called "Quantized Inertia", and I give this at least a 50/50 odds of working. You can follow the orbital elements on this page, and see for yourself it it works or not: https://db.satnogs.org/satellite/QDDY-8878-5291-1819-3935#data https://db.satnogs.org/satellite/QDDY-8878-5291-1819-3935#da...
- JPLeRouzic 3y ago
  Thanks Mike, Yes, I am aware of this trial. The story of IVO’s owner, Richard Mansell is very inspiring. He is an engineer, not a scientist, he just wanted to do something with tools he knows. What is important is not that it might work or not, it is that these guys tried something in real life to clear the academic debate. Frankly, I find the people who designed this trial to be amazing.
cookiengineer 3y ago
The only website with a similar goal that comes to mind is the "build the enterprise" project that sadly got not much traction. [1] I would love seeing this as something like a crowdfunding and discovery website where people can share knowledge and help non profits to build space tech. [1] https://www.buildtheenterprise.org/ https://www.buildtheenterprise.org/
- JPLeRouzic 3y ago
  Thanks Chris, That's something similar that I have in mind. I think that somehow it's a bad idea to refer to Startrek, as discussions always shift to this old TV series which still has numerous fans. I say this because I went to the first and second "100YSS" symposiums, and from the second event it was clear that despite DARPA's $500,000 funding, it would go nowhere. It's really sad that DARPA's money got wasted as it was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Year_Starship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Year_Starship
ActorNightly 3y ago
So FTL anything isn't possible, no matter the method, full stop. Einstein's general relativity theory is pretty much demonstrated to be 100% correct, with no real evidence of it being wrong (at least on a macro scale). As per this theory, we know the relationship between space and time, time dilation, e.t.c Any FTL device can be used to create paradoxes, like sending a message back in time that prevents the message being sent in the future. These paradoxes are simply not possible, as it breaks causality. Therefore FTL is not really possible. All the FTL stuff like Alcubierre drive is just clever way of playing with math. Math is just a language that is used to express relationships in reality that we know, its not a one to one mapping of reality.
- JPLeRouzic 3y ago
  > FTL I wrote explicitly about a subluminal warp-drive at 1/100 percent of light speed. There is no hint in my text of alternative theories. On contrary I cite Bobrick and Gianni Martire: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/abdf6e https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/abdf6e There was a continuous string of serious publications since Alcubierre's work. There is no need that this warpdrive accommodate living beings, it could be a nanoprobe. What's important is to start somewhere. At some time engineers must enter the arena and discuss how to make a real warpdrive.

6 points by JPLeRouzic 3y ago

mikewarot 3y ago

There is currently a satellite in orbit, Barry-1, which has a purely electric thruster, it uses no propellant! They will be attempting to raise its orbit by 100 Km starting in a month or two (after they get a baseline) using this new thruster. The theory of physics behind it is called "Quantized Inertia", and I give this at least a 50/50 odds of working. You can follow the orbital elements on this page, and see for yourself it it works or not: https://db.satnogs.org/satellite/QDDY-8878-5291-1819-3935#data https://db.satnogs.org/satellite/QDDY-8878-5291-1819-3935#da...

JPLeRouzic 3y ago
Thanks Mike, Yes, I am aware of this trial. The story of IVO’s owner, Richard Mansell is very inspiring. He is an engineer, not a scientist, he just wanted to do something with tools he knows. What is important is not that it might work or not, it is that these guys tried something in real life to clear the academic debate. Frankly, I find the people who designed this trial to be amazing.

cookiengineer 3y ago

The only website with a similar goal that comes to mind is the "build the enterprise" project that sadly got not much traction. [1] I would love seeing this as something like a crowdfunding and discovery website where people can share knowledge and help non profits to build space tech. [1] https://www.buildtheenterprise.org/ https://www.buildtheenterprise.org/

JPLeRouzic 3y ago
Thanks Chris, That's something similar that I have in mind. I think that somehow it's a bad idea to refer to Startrek, as discussions always shift to this old TV series which still has numerous fans. I say this because I went to the first and second "100YSS" symposiums, and from the second event it was clear that despite DARPA's $500,000 funding, it would go nowhere. It's really sad that DARPA's money got wasted as it was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Year_Starship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Year_Starship

ActorNightly 3y ago

So FTL anything isn't possible, no matter the method, full stop. Einstein's general relativity theory is pretty much demonstrated to be 100% correct, with no real evidence of it being wrong (at least on a macro scale). As per this theory, we know the relationship between space and time, time dilation, e.t.c Any FTL device can be used to create paradoxes, like sending a message back in time that prevents the message being sent in the future. These paradoxes are simply not possible, as it breaks causality. Therefore FTL is not really possible. All the FTL stuff like Alcubierre drive is just clever way of playing with math. Math is just a language that is used to express relationships in reality that we know, its not a one to one mapping of reality.

JPLeRouzic 3y ago
> FTL I wrote explicitly about a subluminal warp-drive at 1/100 percent of light speed. There is no hint in my text of alternative theories. On contrary I cite Bobrick and Gianni Martire: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/abdf6e https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/abdf6e There was a continuous string of serious publications since Alcubierre's work. There is no need that this warpdrive accommodate living beings, it could be a nanoprobe. What's important is to start somewhere. At some time engineers must enter the arena and discuss how to make a real warpdrive.