Stephen Hawking: FTL propulsion possible

The biggest brain since Einstein talks (my emphasis):

Humans must colonize planets in other solar systems traveling there using "Star Trek"-style propulsion or face extinction, renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking said on Thursday.

Referring to complex theories and the speed of light, Hawking, the wheel-chair bound Cambridge University physicist, told BBC radio that theoretical advances could revolutionize the velocity of space travel and make such colonies possible.

"Sooner or later disasters such as an asteroid collision or a nuclear war could wipe us all out," said Professor Hawking, who was crippled by a muscle disease at the age of 21 and who speaks through a computerized voice synthesizer.

Hawking, a 64-year-old father of three who rarely gives interviews and who wrote the best-selling A Brief History of Time, suggested propulsion like that used by the fictional starship Enterprise "to boldly go where no man has gone before" could help solve the problem.

"Science fiction has developed the idea of warp drive, which takes you instantly to your destination," he said.

"Unfortunately, this would violate the scientific law which says that nothing can travel faster than light."

Warp drive? Far-fetched? Maybe not. But it's sure gonna take a lot more advances in physics, not to mention energy. But why not? Are we so arrogant to believe that the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit -- based on what we know now? Isaac Newton probably said the same thing about physics back in his day.

Another interesting tidbit about FTL (faster than light) travel is here. It actually uses the term "hyperspace" which many scifi creators have utilized, most famously perhaps in "Star Wars." (Although, in actuality, "Star Wars" -- at least the original movie -- used both "hyperspace" and "light speed" probably -- and erroneously -- synonymously. "Light speed" is just that -- the speed of light, or 186,000 miles per second. "Hyperspace" is a region "beyond" normal space where superluminal velocity is possible. Han Solo also made a big faux pas when he boasted that the Millenium Falcon could "make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs." A parsec, like a light-year, is a measure of distance, not velocity. Nice try, though, Han! How's THAT for geek points, everybody?)

Many of my fave scifi writers never really delved into the nitty gritty of FTL travel in their books. It was basically "assumed" that FTL travel was taken for granted. Isaac Asimov in his "Foundation" trilogy (and subsequent sequels) used "hyperspace" in the oft-copied vernacular the "Jump." The current "Battlestar Galactica" uses the same term, for instance. Larry Niven, in his "Known Space" stories uses "hyperspace," but throws us a twist: Humans didn't invent it. We purchased the plans for the "hyperdrive" from an alien race. And it's a good thing, too -- it allowed us to beat back an aggressive race that was on the verge of annihilating us. Robert Heinlein in Starship Troopers used the nebulous "Cherenkov Drive," named for Cherenkov radiation which is emitted when a "charged particle passes through an insulator at a speed greater than the speed of light in that medium." Joe Haldeman in The Forever War used small "collapsars," or small black holes, which acted as a sort of "stargate" or "wormhole" for FTL travel. (But in Haldeman's story, relativistic effects associated with black holes' time dilation caused thousands of years to pass in "objective time" so that when soldiers returned from a mission, Earth had aged considerably.)

Ah, what a concept. It's unlikely we'll see any concrete results in FTL propulsion in our lifetimes. But I can hope. I surely pray I'll still be kicking for -- at least -- some solid scientific advances in FTL research. It could be the dawning of the human Golden Age.

Posted by Hube at November 30, 2006 06:31 PM | TrackBack