Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[10ebbor10]

Just for your information.

Voyager weight: 815 kilograms (at launch)
E=MC˛
So we get an estimated energy required of around 732*10¹⁷ Joules.

This is comparable to the Yearly energy usage of the United states (94*10¹⁸). Also , the energy of 70.000 Tsar Bomba detonations.

Edit: Got ninja mathed.
Edit 2: it's better than 170*10⁴² Joules, which was the previous estimation.

At least it's possible, though. Just not with what we have. Now, with antimatter-matter reactors...

And where are you going to get the antimatter from?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

We can make and store antimatter, just not very well. Presumably we will eventually get better at it.

There may or may not be naturally existing antimatter in the universe as well.

[10ebbor10]

You can't make an energy profit out of making antimatter. That'd be like using a wood powered generator to power a lightbulb that then provides light for your tree to grow.
At least, that's how the current procedure works, I believe.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

You don't need to be making a profit. We're trying to release a lot of energy at once in a specific format to warp spacetime, not make an energy profit.

[10ebbor10]

You don't need to be making a profit. We're trying to release a lot of energy at once in a specific format to warp spacetime, not make an energy profit.

That'll work. Probably. There are easier ways to do it though.

Also, who said all the energy had to be released at once. That just sounds like the design principle of an explosive.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Not all at once. I mean gradually, which means that the energy needs to be prepared to be released beforehand. Antimatter is excellent for this.

[10ebbor10]

Not all at once. I mean gradually, which means that the energy needs to be prepared to be released beforehand. Antimatter is excellent for this.

Not really. It's highly unstable, and requires lot's of energy for containment. It does have a high energy density.  It all depends which sort of power you need, and what the limitations on the ship are. It might be possible to provide the energy with a laser from Earth, for example.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

We're talking about an FTL drive here. The energy source can't be based on Earth, by definition we will be trying to go away from Earth.

[andrea]

yes. a laser isn't going to be fast enough to keep up with the warp bubble.

[10ebbor10]

A warp bubble isn't nessecairily faster than light. There are serious problems(like Hawking radiation) coming up as soon as you go faster than light, which would make ship design even harder. Might be safer just to stay near relativistic.

Also, you can shoot in advance.

[andrea]

shooting in advance might take some math, but it is an interesting idea.
however, would it really work? you would catch up with the beam from behind. wouldn't that mean that once inside warp bubble it keeps trying to go away from you? since inside the bubble you are going slower than light.

[TheBronzePickle]

I think the point of the warp bubble is basically like every 'realistic' fictional warp technology: instead of going faster than light, make space smaller so you can just cross it faster at non-light speed.

[andrea]

that is more or less how it would work. compress space forward, and expand it backward. this propels a chunck of space forward. 

[Lightningfalcon]

Could you instead shoot the laser at it from the destination?  I remember seeing something about doing that for spacecraft before.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

That kind of defeats the purpose of having an FTL drive.