“There are now two metric tons of this stuff we’re not quite sure exactly how to make.” “Instead of just being mathematically possible in our work, we potentially move it into the category of maybe it’s plausible,” he noted with a lighthearted shrug. “So about two metric tons or just under two metric tons.”Īs White notes, even a few tons of a theoretical substance like exotic matter is still unachievable by today’s scientists and engineers, but his changes definitely improved the ultimate viability of Alcubierre’s idea. “By using that optimization technique, I was able to reduce the amount of exotic matter from a Jupiter-sized amount down to something about the size of the Voyager spacecraft,” said White. In fact, White’s geometric adjustment to the classic model dramatically reduced the amount of exotic matter required to a much more manageable concept. In the process of doing that, I discovered that by making that ring a little thicker, instead of being like a wedding band wrapped around your finger, it’s a little bit more like a lifesaver, was key.” “How thick or thin to make it, topologically? What does that do to the overall energy required? And so, during that work, I had no ‘objective’ objectives, per se, other than just to explore. “It basically comes down to how thick you make the toroidal ring and negative vacuum energy density,” he explained. Specifically, White looked at the geometry of the classic warp drive model and found something that dramatically reduced the amount of energy required by Alcubierre. I looked at what happens when you change the parameters and the mathematics.” “I did a sensitivity study on the metric. “I got asked to give a talk to DARPA and NASA at the DARPA 100-year Starship Symposium in 2011,” he told The Debrief. Years later, White was asked by NASA to present his updated warp concept, leading to his 2011 paper and the warp drive concept now known as the “Acubierre/White Warp Drive.” Theoretical Warp Bubble Structure (Image Credit LSI) “From the process of not being at warp to being at warp… what would that look like when you look at the mathematics? And the only way I could see to answer the question is to put it in the canonical form in 2003, so that’s what I talked about in that paper.” “Some things didn’t quite make sense to me, but by putting it into canonical form, helped me figure out ‘how does this concept really work?’, White told The Debrief. White immediately noted how Alcubierre’s math worked but also spotted areas he thought his own background in engineering and physics could improve the concept. And so, in 2003, I published a paper in the journal General Relativity and Gravitation.” You know, it was not published in its canonical form. I was thinking about this Alcubierre Warp metric. “While I was working in the space program, I was thinking about this Advanced Power propulsion. “I started working in the (NASA) space program in 2000,” White told The Debrief in an interview. Hoping to move Alcubierre’s metric from theory into a published, canonical form, White first looked at the idea more closely in 2003. While Alcubierre’s warp drive concept showed that traveling faster than light was mathematically possible, it was widely criticized for its massive power requirements and use of purely theoretical “exotic matter.” Still, many scientists and engineers were intrigued by his work, including former NASA engineer and physicist Dr. The Original: Alcubierre/White Warp Drive Here, The Debrief looks at three of the past most promising warp drive models, along with one brand new physics concept called the “Tri-Space Model,” which may hold the key to making faster-than-light travel possible. Since then, numerous scientists and engineers have taken a swing at their own version of a viable, real-world warp drive, including an attempt to patent one of these “out there” ideas. That idea remained in the realm of science fiction until 1994, when Mexican mathematician Miguel Alcubierre proposed a mathematically viable solution for building a real-world faster-than-light warp drive. Since Captain Kirk first ordered the Starship Enterprise to engage the warp drive back in 1967, fans of science fiction have dreamed of traveling to the stars at warp speed.
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