Re: real warp drive

On May 13, 7:08 am, Willie.Moo...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Warp drive that beloved plot device of modern space fantasies has
taken on a life of its own here in the annals of usenet with more
bull*** than most - save perhaps discussions of life on inhospitable
Venus - or UFOs - but the pretense that there is actually some sort of
technical depth to the whole 'enterprise' haha - irks me no end. So
what is the answer? Yes, that's right, add my own bit of BS to the
fray...

The first problem with any sort of spacetime warping mechanism is the
energy density required to achieve it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity

Check out the Einstein Field Equations (EFE) they tell us how matter
warps space.

G(a,b) = kappa * T(a,b)

Where Gab = einstein gravitation tensor
kappa = 8 * pi * G / c^4
Tab = stress energy tensor

A tensor can be thought of as a table of numbers, kappa is a scalar
that converts a relationship into an equality. This says basically
the distribution of matter in space time (which just means moving
matter as well as stationary matter) gives you the distribution of
spacetime distortions in space time (which can move around as well).

The point here is a rather simple one despite the complicated
math... namely the factor G divided by c raised to the fourth
power. THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY SMALL NUMBER! haha.. Which means you've
got to have an incredibly large amount of massenergy!!!!

So,this is the first problem.

And there is a solution. Large populations of microscopic black holes
interacting with one another to distort spacetime.

But where to you get these?

You collide massive quantities of normal matter at 1/3 light speed.

How do you do that?

Make use of the 22nd century's version of sub-light star drive
technology.

Here's how that works -

Bob Forward popularized the notion of multi-stage laser light sail
starships. These many in the aerospace community may be the first
starships capable of large fractions of the speed of light.
Especially if multi-quadrillion watt laser beams are generated near a
stellar surface at both ends of the journey and the star's gravity
lens effect is used to project the beam efficiently - first to a
mirror 1,000 AU from the star and back around the star toward the
target.

In that case quite modest light sails can navigate through a four beam
system connecting two stars - with travel occuring at 1/3 to 1/2 light
speed. Two leans radiating out at each star,

INCOMING(sol)
OUTGOING(sol)
INCOMING(target)
OUTGOING(target)

So, you leave sol for the target and you fly your light sail in the
OUTGOING(sol) beam. When you arrive at your target you use your
nuclear pulse rocket to navigate to the INCOMING(target) beam. On
your way back you enter the OUTGOING(target) beam and fly into the
INCOMING(sol) beam as you arrive at sol. No problem.

But what if by some terrible happenstance you navigate into
OUTGOING(sol) beam onyour arrival as Sol? That's right collision -
collision at 1/2 to 1/3 light speed!

damn.

Now, a thought experiment - of which Einstein was fond -

Imagine a sphere of Iron-56 about 300 meters in diameter. Now imagine
that it is subdivided into 12 equal pyramidal pieces that assemble
into a sort of dodecahedron. Now imagine that each of teh 12 equally
massive pieces are transported several light years away to a star
system that has this sort of laser light sail technology active at
that star. Now imagine that all 12 star systems communicate with one
another by radio telescope and arrange to collide precisely shaped
massive Iron-56 dodecahedrons right here where this sphere used to
sit. And they do so, arranging a precise collision of precisely
shaped objects to create a precisely times implosion of 300 meter
diameter ball of Iron-56 - at 1/3 to 1/2 light speed.

boom!

<thwap>

An engineered black hole.

Offset the pieces of the colliding parts a little, and you end up with
a spinning black hole.

Charge the pieces before 'assembling' them and you end up with a
charged black hole

Do both and you end up with a spinning charged black hole.

Change the relative speed of the component parts as they are assembled
and you end up with a moving black hole.

Assemble twelve parts with all these variations and you can get a
charged spinning pair of black holes dancing around one another.

Increase the number of parts and increase the partners in the
dance...

Send a series of pieces and time their placement and arrival and you
can see that any sort of complex of dancing black hole parts can be
assembled in this way.

We've created a new sort of technology just now that's capable of
warping space and time.

Alright NOW WHAT?

haha..

Well, we use it to warp space and time.

One approach is a time machine.

This is created by a rotating cylinder by taking advantage of the
Lense-Thirring effect.

Lense-Thirring effect is an example of frame dragging in a rotating
object. Frame dragging is a description of what objects that have
intense surface gravities (like tiny black holes) do to nearby
spacetime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lense-Thirring_effect

This can be understood by a simple thought again. Put a cube of sugar
in a cup of tea - Earl Grey HOT perferably - haha - and watch it
float. Now, stirr the tea and watch the sugar cube float around in a
circle as the tea sworils in the cup.

Well, spacetime is the tea in this experiment and the sugar cube is an
object in space.

Now, there are limits to how fast things can move in spacetime. There
appear to be NO limits to how fast spacetime itself can move relative
to itself.

How to get spacetime to move? Thats right, frame dragging!

How to do that?

Tiny collections of black holes.

There are two approaches to warp drive using this method.

You can travel through time
You can travel through space

TIME TRAVEL - rotational (Lense Thirring)

A rotating cylinder with massive surface gravity can create a rotating
region of space time - enter it and navigate it properly and you exit
BEFORE you enter. You have a time machine. So, I advertised a warp
drive - not a freakin' time machine! What's the freakin' deal here?
Well, a time machine makes a dandy warp drive - especially if you want
to keep control of your sensitive gravitic technology (that's what I
call black hole dust based technology) by keeping it at home in your
home star. Here's how;

(1) Build a time cylinder out of black hole dusts as you leave.
(2) Fly to your target star at near light speed (taking no
shiptime)
(3) Fly back at near light speed (taking no shiptime)
(4) Enter your time cylinder and emerge just after you left (taking
care to correlate ship time with local time)

Simple.

WARP DRIVE - linear frame dragging.

Interplanetary explorers today use planetary masses as an early form
of gravity boosting. With the ability to assemble populations of
blackholes into engineered objects, this technology will reach new
levels. With intense surface gravities two tiny black hole based
objects can be placed in high speed orbits around one another and a
third object dropped between them in a controlled way, and that object
flung out at near light speed while maintaining free fall. Two such
objects at either end of a journey - in communication with the
'payload' so that small adjustments to its speed using modest rockets
- allow this object to slow down at the target star. So this is one
way to send objects at high speed long distances.

The cool part here is that the kinetic energy in the payload is
recovered with nearly 100% efficiency by the device at the target.
That energy is then used to return the payload to Sol, and the energy
is then recovered gravitically - stored for the next journey.

Check it out 1 gee for 1 year equals nearly c.
365 gees for 1 day equals nearly c
8766 gees for 1 hour equals nearly c
31.55 megagees for 1 second equals nearly c
31.55 gigagees for 1 millisecond equals nearly c
31.55 teragees for 1 microsecond equals nearly c

So, you can see that passing through a properly structured device that
has high surrface gravities can fling an object at nealry light speed
long distances.

This is not a warp drive, but its the first step to making a warp
drive.

Now, imagine something with high surface gravity - is the payload.

Imagine it to be a ring of black hole in mutual orbit around one
another (very similar to one of the rings that create the rotating
cylinder described above.

The spacetime enclosed by the moving ring - is dragged along with it

Now shoot another ring right behind the first.

Keep doing this, and guess what, you create a cylinder of dragged
space time ...

Now, shoot into this space time another gravitic slingshot device.
aligned with the first - and use the moving device in the moving
spacetime to shoot another slightly reduced in diameter - series of
rings.

Keep doing this creating a nesting of rings - and an increase in speed
of dragged spacetime.

Now at some point when you have gotten your frame dragging where you
want it - you shoot your payload into this 'rail' and the payload
flies through the 'ties' along the rail rapidly to the target.

Of course at the target all the ties (rings) and cannons (devices)
arrive and are slowed and are shot onward to another destination,
eventually ending up back at sol - creating a network of interstellar
rails - payloads freely travel at superoptical speeds.

As in the time travel version of warp drive care must be taken that
the ship time and local times do not get too far out of whack This
can all be handled automatically by a network of automated radio
telescopes that exchange timing signals. (which I call subspace (this
would make the internet an early version of subspace - albeit a tiny
one only 1/7th of alight second across))

haha..

So, interstellar warp drives occur in two flavors.

One is a rotational system - likely near the edges of exploration or
through regions of low traffic volume - that deals with time dilation
only. targets get messages and packages years after they're sent -
and time circuits occur only in the time machine.

One is linear - likely in regions well established and having lots of
traffic - that must maintain close contact - targets get messages and
packages in real time - and time circuits are commonplace.extending
across the region involved.

Both of these can apply to photons as easily as particles or payloads.
So, signals can follow packages around and vice versa.

.

Time circuits - the ability to signal through time - have a lot of
utility as well in their own right. For example, you go to the
furniture store today and you have to wait 10 weeks to get the couch
you want. In the future you go to the store choose your couch and its
waiting for you when you get home.

Today you go to a restaurant and wait to be seated and then wait to be
served. In the future you go to the restaurant and are seated right
away - since your arrival was signalled back in time 40 minutes or
so. And when you place your order, as your waitron carries the order
back to the register - your order is arriving at your table - since
the register signals the kitchen 20 minutes back in time.

Logistics of any operation - including military operations - can be
similarly improved by this technology.



.