This warp drive is not eco-friendly

I am not even close to qualified enough to critique this paper, but I did find it interesting. The authors speculate about how you could create a warp drive -- an engine for faster than light travel -- by creating a bubble of expansion and contraction in spacetime. They speculate that an advanced enough civilization could in theory do so.

However, I was particularly struck by this sentence:

Assuming some arbitrarily advanced civilization were able to create such an effect we might postulate that this civilization were able to utilize the most efficient method of energy production - matter antimatter annihilation. Using E = mc^2 this warp bubble would require around 10^28Kg of antimatter to generate, roughly the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter.

Bummer.

You know it is tough traveling between the stars when every time you want to do it you have to come up with a lump of antimatter the size of a planet. That alone might put the kiebash on this whole business.

Hat-tip: Chad

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All you need are Dilithium crystals.

It's amazing how on target Gene Rodenberry and his staff of writers were regarding technology.

Two planets: you need the anti-Jupiter plus a regular Jupiter.

It may not be eco-friendly, but look at the maximum speed: 10^32 times the speed of light! Cross the entirety of the known universe in 10^-15 seconds!

What's the secret of a successful trip? Planet!

Well, obviously. We learn from Futurama that one pound of anti-matter weighs 10,000 pounds, so this is no surprise.

By MatrixFrog (not verified) on 17 Dec 2007 #permalink