Attention all Star Trek science fiction fans...
Paging Zefram Cochrane: Humans have figured out how to make a warp bubble

Don't pack your bags and move to Bozeman yet. This micro-scale warp bubble won't be capable of propulsion, but it could have myriad other applications, says its discoverer Dr. Sonny White.

Discovering a warp bubble:
Fast forward to 2021, and Dr. White, whose 2012 paper was written while he worked at NASA as Advanced Propulsion Theme Lead, is doing research funded by DARPA on objects called Casimir cavities.*** These cavities are formed of two parallel plates with a pillar running between them. These things are small — mere microns in size — and they do something really interesting: Create a negative vacuum between the plates when exposed to a regular vacuum.

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Nah...

That sounds like the already well known Casimir effect...


Keep searchin'!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Yes, the Casimir Effect has been known for some time. What has changed is that someone is looking to put it to practical use, rather than just leaving it as a laboratory curiosity. Other work has been done, showing that quantum effects can be made to occur on much larger scales.

This may eventually apply to the Casimir effect, too. If so, it's conceivable that travel by space warp at global speeds faster than light may be possible. This would occur, without violating the local light speed limit imposed by Relativity Theory, or relativistic time dilation.

On the one hand I've got to say I'll believe it when I see it, on the other, if they need a volunteer I'm ready.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.