New Old News: Warp Drive

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I gotta say, though...Only NASA could make something THAT cool look THAT boring.

Appropriate Press Release:

YO MOTHAFUCKA WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[Nephew Twiddleton]

 

[Elder Iptuous]

shit yeah.
we'd somehow use it to bootstrap ourselves into a post scarcity world, and then blow all our time and effort investigating other avenues of what is currently fringe/quack science....
and some of it might turn out to be true!

that's if there are no aliens.

If there are aliens, we will of course go to war with them, and assuming we manage to avoid getting ourselves obliterated, we will then teach them how to love Jesus™.

interestingly, the question was just featured today in a little piece on space.com
Should Humanity Take Religion on Interstellar Space Voyage?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Only if aliens have souls and arent allergic to unleavened bread.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

shit yeah.
we'd somehow use it to bootstrap ourselves into a post scarcity world, and then blow all our time and effort investigating other avenues of what is currently fringe/quack science....
and some of it might turn out to be true!

that's if there are no aliens.

If there are aliens, we will of course go to war with them, and assuming we manage to avoid getting ourselves obliterated, we will then teach them how to love Jesus™.

interestingly, the question was just featured today in a little piece on space.com
Should Humanity Take Religion on Interstellar Space Voyage?

How is the answer to that not obviously "Absolutely Not Are You Crazy" ?

[Elder Iptuous]

Well, as said at the end of the writeup, it's likely to happen whether we agree to forgo such, or not....

I'd be spoutin' some discordianism to those heathen lifeforms.

so, why should i disallow my fellow spacefaring humans from letting the aliens know that there is a Superbeing who created the cosmos that takes a particular interest in us, and came down to us, and we killed him, but we feel really bad about that, and they also need to apologize for being dicks or they're going to go to the molten core of our planet after they die?

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Well, as said at the end of the writeup, it's likely to happen whether we agree to forgo such, or not....

I'd be spoutin' some discordianism to those heathen lifeforms.

so, why should i disallow my fellow spacefaring humans from letting the aliens know that there is a Superbeing who created the cosmos that takes a particular interest in us, and came down to us, and we killed him, but we feel really bad about that, and they also need to apologize for being dicks or they're going to go to the molten core of our planet after they die?

Because it's Bullshit ?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, as said at the end of the writeup, it's likely to happen whether we agree to forgo such, or not....

I'd be spoutin' some discordianism to those heathen lifeforms.

so, why should i disallow my fellow spacefaring humans from letting the aliens know that there is a Superbeing who created the cosmos that takes a particular interest in us, and came down to us, and we killed him, but we feel really bad about that, and they also need to apologize for being dicks or they're going to go to the molten core of our planet after they die?

Because it's Bullshit ?

Sez YOU, apostate.

[Elder Iptuous]

again.... it's inevitable.

but, i like the fact that in the article they had some southern baptist minister saying that we really ought to leave earth-based religion on earth, and should adopt a science based space-religion.

[Doktor Howl]

Bump.

This thread, I believe, has the relevant links.

[Doktor Howl]

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20110023492

NASA/JSC is implementing an advanced propulsion physics laboratory, informally known as "Eagleworks", to pursue propulsion technologies necessary to enable human exploration of the solar system over the next 50 years, and enabling interstellar spaceflight by the end of the century. This work directly supports the "Breakthrough Propulsion" objectives detailed in the NASA OCT TA02 In-space Propulsion Roadmap, and aligns with the #10 Top Technical Challenge identified in the report. Since the work being pursued by this laboratory is applied scientific research in the areas of the quantum vacuum, gravitation, nature of space-time, and other fundamental physical phenomenon, high fidelity testing facilities are needed. The lab will first implement a low-thrust torsion pendulum (<1 uN), and commission the facility with an existing Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thruster. To date, the QVPT line of research has produced data suggesting very high specific impulse coupled with high specific force. If the physics and engineering models can be explored and understood in the lab to allow scaling to power levels pertinent for human spaceflight, 400kW SEP human missions to Mars may become a possibility, and at power levels of 2MW, 1-year transit to Neptune may also be possible. Additionally, the lab is implementing a warp field interferometer that will be able to measure spacetime disturbances down to 150nm. Recent work published by White [1] [2] [3] suggests that it may be possible to engineer spacetime creating conditions similar to what drives the expansion of the cosmos. Although the expected magnitude of the effect would be tiny, it may be a "Chicago pile" moment for this area of physics.

Here.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Whoa. 

Even though it won't get funded.

Just...whoa.