Science fiction/ fantasy space travel

[Flugel Meister]

There are alternatives to the speed of light.

Consider a sub-dimensional layer of space, which would make interstellar communication more practical. It could also be used for travel.

There's also the warping of space using gravity, and black holes. Worm holes could also come into play.

- Slipspace

- Warpspace

- Darkspace, Dark matter and a very cross Mad Hatter.

I've read Sci-fi books which rarely discuss the exact method of travel in any detail, including one by Greg Bear.

Sci-Fi, to me, is less about the travel and more about the journey.

 

[RJM Corbet]

There are alternatives to the speed of light ... Sci-Fi, to me, is less about the travel and more about the journey.

We're all looking for them, since Einstein came along to mess it up for us.

But black holes are out. Black holes won't work. Don't even go there ...

 

[goldhawk]

And all of them involved negative energy, an anti-photon if you will. So far, no-one has any idea how to create this. The only thing that comes close is decreasing the vacuum energy. But it's still positive energy.

 

[Flugel Meister]

How about using a stable super-heavy element and bombarding it with protons to produce gravitons. These are then used to warp or twist space-time by a series of specially designed gravity emitters.

Failing that, magic!

 

[goldhawk]

Sorry, that might change the rate of time but it won't produce negative energy, so no faster-than-light travel.

Magic, however, works.

 

[RJM Corbet]

Gravity is probably the way to go.

But, to me the only thing (besides perhaps gravity) that exists outside the space/time limitations is the speed of 'mind' -- so if mind can somehow interact with matter, a la Uri Geller?

Magic is only what our technology cannot yet do. An aeroplane is magic to an Amazonian indian.

It's not too far fetched, when you consider that sub-atomic particles only have a definite location because we are looking at them. An electron can be anywhere, until you observe it. Quantum mechanics is pretty weird.

EDIT: Flugel, your proton/graviton thing sounds quite adequate if it's just a sci-fi faster-than-light engine. The reader just needs enough to suspend disbelief, and that sounds fine to me ...

 

[Flugel Meister]

Actually you don't travel faster than light, you fold space-time. All theoretical, of course.

 

[RJM Corbet]

Actually you don't travel faster than light, you fold space-time. All theoretical, of course.

It's adequate to the purpose. Check Pyan's link below ...

 

[Vertigo]

But, to me the only thing (besides perhaps gravity) that exists outside the space/time limitations is the speed of 'mind'

Not sure I would go along with that comment RJM, the speed of mind or at least thought is actually pretty slow and certainly limited by all the same physics of the real world. An average computer can typically "think" a whole lot faster than us.

 

[RJM Corbet]

Not sure I would go along with that comment RJM, the speed of mind or at least thought is actually pretty slow and certainly limited by all the same physics of the real world. An average computer can typically "think" a whole lot faster than us.

Put your dog in the room next door and close the door so he can't see you, then just think 'maybe I should take the dog for a walk' -- and see what happens. I'm kinda joking, but not entirely ...

 

[RJM Corbet]

A body might be able to achieve the speed of light if it could somehow become massless via a reverse Higgs Boson, and convert itself temporally into photons or neutrinos (massless particles) for the duration of the trip?

Somehow?

By some particle transceiver sort of process, like the Stargate concept, but be able to recover its own mass at the other end without a corresponding stargate at the other end?

 

[MstrTal]

Whatever happened to the who concept of "Slinging" an object around another object of greater mass? You know for instance using the earths gravity to build up momentum to whip the ship up to speed and send it off in the proper trajectory. Of course I am a History guy not a science guy so I could be speaking out my rear.

 

[Vertigo]

You can certainly do that (in fact it's exactly how Voyager was got up to speed), however it takes time, it's a long way between planets) and you are unlikely to achieve very high speeds (close to light) that way. However if there are planets at convenient points in their orbit for you intended trajectory then you would almost certainly grab the opportunity to do something like that to save some fuel. Unless of course your drive system is so efficient that you don't need to bother.

 

[Flugel Meister]

Hydrogen collectors, much like the Bussard Collectors from Star Trek would negate the requirement to stop for fuel.

My advice would be to watch Event Horizon, but forget the mention of a black hole. Replace it with folding space using some sort of gravity propulsion.

 

[RJM Corbet]

Yes the slingshot idea is used all the time. Then they use an ion drive which adds a gradual but constant acceleration until a high velocity is reached.

One can check the figures somewhere, but the Mars Rover spacecraft passed the moon in something like a few hours compared to something like two days for the old Apollo missions.

Those 'figures' are not accurate, but give an idea of the speeds modern spacecraft can do.

The new one is a trip to Pluto, on the edge of the solar system, using particularly Jupiter's huge gravity as a slingshot, but also that of Uranus, after hanging around there for a few days to take readings. Even then it takes three years to get there.

One shouldn't knock NASA. They have to compete for funds in a tightening economy, and they also have to be very careful, of course. I think it's amazing how much man has learned about space in only 50 years or so. Those Mars rovers land, then unfold, and keep going for years after their planned missions. There is one exploring the Victoria crater on Mars (the Endeavour?) digging and analysing soil samples, and sending hundreds of beautiful high resolution pictures back to earth, day after day -- from the surface of MARS!

The pictures are available to anyone on earth who has internet access, from the NASA website, no charge.

It's not a small achievement ...

 

[Vertigo]

Not a mean achievement at all RJM and I believe that rover at Victoria crater has outlived its life expectancy by about 4 years, they were talking about on Sky at Night just the other day.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I know this might be slightly off the topic, but you've got the dead walking and you're worrying about how to explain your spaceship's FTL drive? How have you managed to get the dead up and running? That's far more central to your story, and not something that's easy to do, speaking as a biologist.

Cheers,

 

[RJM Corbet]

Have just found out that if you fire laser light into a bose-einstein concentrate, which is hydrogen cooled to a billionth of a degree above absolute zero, the light slows down to the speed of a bicycle, the accellerates again when it emerges.

Don't know if it helps?

 

[Flugel Meister]

Of course, there's no reason why you have to explain the FTL drive at all. Not every Sci-Fi novel relies heavily upon the scientific or technological aspect.

As said before, less about the travel and more about the journey.

 

[RJM Corbet]

Of course, there's no reason why you have to explain the FTL drive at all. Not every Sci-Fi novel relies heavily upon the scientific or technological aspect.

As said before, less about the travel and more about the journey.

Absolutely, but all the same, if it's reasonably credible, it can't hurt ...?