Is the Alcubierre warp drive possible?

Alcubierre showed that the warp drive from “Star Trek” was in fact theoretically possible. Proxima Centauri here we come, right? Unfortunately, Alcubierre’s method of compressing spacetime had one problem: it requires negative energy or negative mass.

What is the concept of warp drive?

A warp drive is a device that distorts the shape of the space-time continuum. A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at speeds greater than that of light by many orders of magnitude.

How fast would an Alcubierre drive go?

A warp(Alcubierre) drive can go ~10c without being affected by time dilation. A space vessel can go up to but not as fast as the speed of light.

Does Alcubierre drive cause time dilation?

This means that even though the coordinate acceleration can be an arbitrary function of time, the proper acceleration along the spaceship’s path will always be zero. So the Drive itself causes no time dilation for the occupants of the ‘warp field bubble’.

Who invented warp drive?

Inspired by Star Trek, distinguished physicist Miguel Alcubierre developed the general relativity-based model for warp drive 20 years ago. Hear why he doubts it will ever be a reality, and learn about his current research on gravitational waves.

Can a warp drive escape a black hole?

If Alcubierre warp bubbles are physically possible, which is exceedingly unlikely, and if the equivalence principle is correct, you could definitely escape from a black hole in one, because there’s nothing locally special about the event horizon.

How long would it take to travel 70000 light-years at warp 9?

Voyager was about 70,000 light-years away from home, and crew would often use “75 years” as the time it would take to get back home at top speed. This means the Voyager series used the old method of Warp calculation. 70,000/9.9753 is roughly 71 years.

Why is warp drive impossible?

As Einstein showed, it’s impossible to accelerate any massive object beyond the speed of light. Since the galaxy is more than 100,000 light-years across, if you are traveling at less than light speed, then most interstellar distances would take more than a human lifetime to cross.

Are black holes hotter than the sun?

Black holes are freezing cold on the inside, but incredibly hot just outside. The internal temperature of a black hole with the mass of our Sun is around one-millionth of a degree above absolute zero.

Does time stand still in a black hole?

Kerr spacetime is time-independent, meaning that nothing in Kerr spacetime changes over time. In effect, time stands still. A black hole in such a state is essentially stationary. “One could say once it has reached this stage, there are no further processes taking place,” Valiente Kroon said.

Why did all the dilithium explode?

When the Discovery crew landed in 3188, they found that The Burn had, more than 100 years prior, caused starships all over the galaxy to spontaneously explode, leaving a dilithium shortage and the Federation in tatters.