TAT Blog interesting astrophysics stories

The US military released a study on warp drives and faster-than-light travel. Here's what a theoretical physicist thinks of it.

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A 1998 illustration of a spacecraft using negative energy to warp space-time and travel faster than light (digital art by Les Bossinas (Cortez III Service Corp.), 1998)

Dave Mosher May 24, 2018

  • The US Department of Defense funded a series of studies on advanced aerospace technologies, including warp drives.
  • The studies came out of a program that also funded research into UFO sightings.
  • One report describes the possibility of using dark energy to warp space and effectively travel faster than light.
  • However, a theoretical physicist says there's "zero chance that anyone within our lifetimes or the next 1,000 years" will see it happen.


Sometime after August 2008, the US Department of Defense contracted dozens of researchers to look into some very, very out-there aerospace technologies, including never-before-seen methods of propulsion, lift, and stealth.

Two researchers came back with a 34-page report for the propulsion category, titled "Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions."

The document is dated April 2, 2010, though it was only recently released by the Defense Intelligence Agency. (Business Insider first learned about in a post by Paul Szoldra at Task & Purpose.)

The authors suggest we may not be too far away from cracking the mysteries of higher, unseen dimensions and negative or "dark energy," a repulsive force that physicists believe is pushing the universe apart at ever-faster speeds.

 

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Interstellar 'should be shown in school lessons

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The film Interstellar should be shown in school science lessons, a scientific journal has urged.
They say their call follows a new insight gained into black holes as a result of producing the visual effects for the Hollywood film.
Experts have also confirmed that the portrayal of "wormholes" is scientifically accurate.
Scientific papers have been published in the American Journal of Physics and in Classical and Quantum Gravity.

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