Date: 1999/09/17 12.46
From: "Raistlin" <raist@ctrade.it>
To: "mailing list Pathos-Net" <pathosnet@pathos.it>
Gne' gne' gne', se non troviamo il graal ce ne possiamo andare lo stesso.
Stefano (che ormai non distingue la R1 dalla R3 :-)
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Da "STAR TREK: The official Monthly Magazine vol.1 No.56, 1999"
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The next millenium could see real-life astronauts following the example of
star trek crews by exploring the cosmos at Warp Speed.
According to a new thesis by professor Chris van den Broeck, a
StarTrek-style Warp Drive system could theoretically enable actual
spaceships to travel faster than the speed of light.
In his new paper, the belgian physicist argues that established Alcubierre
geometry can be slightly reworked to create a Warp Bubble with feasible
energy requirement.
When a spaceship is encased in such a Warp Bubble, its journey times become
much quicker as space in front of the bubble contracts while the distance
behind it expands.
To support his claims, Van den Broeck has produced an a algebraic formula
for a Warp Drive System which would probably do Scotty proud.
The physicist claims that the formula for a Warp Drive moving in x
direction is:
ds2 = - dt2 + (dx-vs(t)f(rs)dt)2 + dy2 + dz2.
Yes, it,s really that simple!
Despite this apparent breakthrough, Van den Broeck admits that there are
still several wrinkles to be ironed out of his formula before Humanity (or
should that be Zefram Cochrane?) can actually break the Warp barrier. An
obvious drawback is that he hasn't worked out how a ship can escape a Warp
Bubble once its trip is over!
Ultimately, however, Van den Broeck remains largely optimistic about the
prospect of a real-life Warp Drive system. "The first Warp Drive flight is
still a long way off", he concludes,"but maybe it has become slightly less
improbable."
To read professor Chris van den Broeck's dissertation on Warp Speed, visit
the Los Alamos National Laboratory's web site at
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9905084