Get Learnt 22

The general idea of traveling faster than the speed of light comes from John W. Campbell's 1931 novel 'Islands of Space' in which a device called a warp drive is used to travel throughout space. This idea of "warp speed" was popularized in other science fiction writings, most notably in the Star Trek series, and quickly became a well known concept to the general public.

But it's just a work of fiction right?

WELL

Over the past few decades, scientists have been hard at work trying to prove otherwise. And while we still can't say for sure quite yet, there's been tons of proposed methods on how we might be able to achieve light speed.

So hang on to your photons and tell physics to go fuck itself as we take a look at some of these theoretical machines and how they might help us beat the laws of the Universe harder than a red headed step-child

Now there's A LOT of complex information when it comes to this subject, but I'll try to make this shit as easy to understand as I can.

To start things off, in order to better understand how and why these concepts actually work you need to know a few things about space, time, and velocity

so grab a Capri-Sun and tighten your tard harnesses kids, you might actually learn something.

The speed of light in a vacuum (space) is 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers) or roughly 670,616,629 mph (1,079,252,848 kph). At this speed, you could travel from the Earth to the Sun in roughly 8 minutes, or around the Earth 7.5 times in a single second, which I'm pretty sure is too fast for your body to even shit itself in surprise.

Now when it comes to the idea of traveling at/near the speed of light, it's important to understand the quantum nature of our Universe and how the various forces work together. In fact, the "speed of light" is less about light, and more about the speed part.

When measuring a force, what you're really measuring is the effect of an electromagnetic field. Thanks to the Lorentz transformations, a set of equations in relativity physics that relate space, time, and velocity together, these measurements will be consistent. Einstein would later find that the Lorentz transformation tells us that length, time, and mass depend on the relative motion of the observer; and that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant and independent of the motion of the observer or source.

This is the Special Theory of Relativity, which leads us to the next topic:

Time Dilation

The toddler-grade image above shows how a spaceship traveling at the speed of light experiences time much slower than a person observing them from the ground. Time Dilation is a little difficult to wrap your head around, so if none of this makes sense just leave Special Relativity a bad Yelp review and bully Einstein off Twitter

So according to Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity, time can speed up or slow down depending on how fast you're moving relative to something else. For example, if you traveled away from the Earth at the speed of light, you would experience time about 60% slower than someone observing you.

This distortion of time is called Velocity Time Dilation and has actually been recorded to occur with astronauts at the International Space Station, albeit at much smaller magnitudes, with some experiencing time 20 milliseconds slower than people on Earth.

Dilation can also occur as Gravitational Time Dilation. The more gravitational force present the slower time goes by, with less force speeding time up. Astronauts on the ISS also experience this as well; As their velocity slows time down, their decrease in gravitational force speeds it back up

you know, just not enough to fully counteract their velocity dilation.

So in the lamest of terms:

Higher relative velocity = slower time

Higher relative gravitational force = faster time

In order for a spaceship to achieve light speed, it would have to rely on the manipulation of mass in some form or another. Photons make up light and have 0 mass, which allows them to move at their speed. So for a ship WITH mass to achieve light speed, some weird shit's gotta happen

And with that, let's check out some proposed methods

Alcubierre Drive

Proposed by Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, this warp drive concept proposes changing the geometry of space itself by creating a wave that would cause the fabric of space ahead of the spacecraft to contract and the space behind it to expand. In the center, the ship would then ride the wave inside a bubble of flat space called a "warp bubble". Within this bubble, passengers would experience no true acceleration or forces.

This method would theoretically allow for faster than light travel, and due to the warp bubble of flat space present, variables such as time dilation wouldn't affect the passengers the same way they would with other methods of light speed travel.

However, the Alcubierre Drive has ran into its fair share of problems, the main one being fuel.

While the amount of fuel needed isn't considered unobtainable anymore, it's still a lot. For most proposed methods of light speed travel, the biggest issue is the amount of fuel needed to operate. Because of this, it's suggested that these devices require exotic matter for fuel. Exotic matter are hypothetical particles and states of matter that defy current laws, such as having negative mass.

One proposed form of exotic matter is dark energy / dark matter, which may provide gravity repulsive negative mass. This could work, but only if the negative mass behaves the way the Drive requires it to.

Krasnikov Tube

Proposed by Sergei Krasnikov in 1995, A Krasnikov tube is a method for space travel involving the warping of spacetime into permanent superluminal tunnels. This would create a wormhole with the endpoints displaced in time as well as space. The Krasnikov tube would be several light-years long and allow for a return trip that takes travelers back to the time right after they left.

This allows for speeds close to that of light

In the image above, we see that by the time a ship on a 1.5 year flight through the tube arrives at the end, 1,500 years have gone by on Earth. However, going BACK through the tube on another 1.5 year flight puts the ship only 3 years in the future; the exact amount of time spent traversing the tube. If no tube is used to return, the time passed on Earth doubles.

Make sense?

Similar to the Alcubierre Drive, the Krasnikov Tube encounters a problem when it comes to its fuel, as it would require much more advanced technology as well as exotic matter.

There's also another issue.
In theory, if a ship created a tube from point A to point B, and rather than return through it, created ANOTHER tube back, C to D, the two instances could be used as a time machine, allowing travel from the past to the future and vice versa.

Helical Engine

The most recently proposed on this list, the Helical Engine is a concept created by David Burns in 2019. The engine is designed to work by exploiting the way mass can change at relativistic speeds, most notably speeds near that of light. The engine itself would use no fuel, have no moving parts, and instead would contain loop-shaped structures shaped like springs that contained ions.

The idea is that if the mass of weight increases in one direction, it would create a greater push in that direction, generating thrust.

Now according to the principle of the Conservation of Momentum, this shouldn't be possible because without external forces, things remain constant

Unfortunately, Special Relativity doesn't give a fuck.

In Special Relativity, objects increase in mass as they reach light speed. This would manipulate the ions into circling around their spring shaped container, losing mass on one side while gaining it on the other. In theory, the Helical Engine should be able to achieve 99% light speed.

BAM, propulsion.

But of course, there are issues. Firstly, the input to output ration of energy required is extremely poor. It could work in the vacuum of space but there's no telling how well it'll perform yet. Secondly, a lot of David's math hasn't been fully examined by experts, so there's bound to be an oopsie or two.

If anything, the groundwork has been laid for the progression of this technology. So we're sure to see updates in the future.

Black Hole Starships

Strangely, this concept seems like the most infeasible on the list but it's still an idea with work behind it so tah-dah.

First discussed in science fiction, notably in the book Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke in 1975, the concept of a Black Hole Starship involves the formation and utilization of a black hole for energy.

The concept was discussed in 2009, where the idea of a parabolic reflector used to deflect Hawking radiation from the black hole was suggested. While the idea was found to be very close to possible, unknown quantum gravity effects could either make it possible, or entirely impossible.

Using a black hole as energy would be remarkably efficient, the only issue is how to obtain one. Generating a black hole, while a massive undertaking, doesn't require any new physics.

And it’s not like the black hole would have to be large at all. It’d actually only be 0.9 attometers in radius which, take my word for it, is fuckin’ small as fuck.

According to researchers, a black hole to be used in space travel needs to meet five criteria:

1) Has a long enough lifespan to be useful
2) Is powerful enough to accelerate itself up to a reasonable fraction of the speed of light in a reasonable amount of time
3) Is small enough that we can access the energy to make it
4) Is large enough that we can focus the energy to make it
5) Has mass comparable to a starship

How we'd get a black hole, contain it, and use Hawking radiation as propulsion is still way up in the air. But funny enough, the idea seems to be almost possible.

Unfortunately, this thing is only theorized to go around 10% the speed of light.

Which is STILL fast

just not fast enough

Well look at that, you actually managed to read this to the end you huge fucking winner

In the end, I guess we can’t travel at light speed

YET

So don’t give up hope, we’ll get there some time. Just, you know, LONG after you and I are dead.

boo

I know the world isn't too fun to exist in right now, so hopefully I was able to pull you from your mortal hell for just a few minutes.

Take it easy and stay safe out there

Until next time my dudes

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