funhusker
Active member
I wish they would find a way to name the robot Wall-E
https://www.space.com/space-junk-cleanup-cubesat-oscar.html
I wish they would find a way to name the robot Wall-E
The study is understandably pretty thick (read the whole thing here), but here’s the gist of the model: Where the existing paradigm uses negative energy—exotic matter that doesn’t exist and can’t be generated within our current understanding of the universe—this new concept uses floating bubbles of spacetime rather than floating ships in spacetime.
The physical model uses almost none of the negative energy and capitalizes on the idea that spacetime bubbles can behave almost however they like. And, the APL scientists say, this isn’t even the only other way warp speed could work. Making a model that’s at least physically comprehensible is a big step.
Of course, there’s one gigantic caveat here: The concept in this paper is still in the “far future” zone of possibility, made of ideas that scientists still don’t know how to construct in any sense.
“While the mass requirements needed for such modifications are still enormous at present,” the APL scientists write, “our work suggests a method of constructing such objects based on fully understood laws of physics.”
But while a physical drive may not be a reality today, tomorrow, or even a century from now—let’s hope it’s not that long—with this exciting new model, warp speed travel is now a lot more likely in a much shorter timespan than we previously thought.
"Oh but McDonald's ice cream machine still broke"