Our telescopes have been gazing into the deepest parts of the universe, unraveling mysterious findings as well as hinting at others.Ā Ever since man stepped on the moon, we have envisioned to explore whatās beyond and form mankindās first mark on the un-explored planets of the solar system. While NASA plans to land humans on Mars in 2030s, Voyager 1 ā the space craft that has traveled the furthest from Earth than any man made object in existence ā has entered interstellar spaceĀ to show us the cosmos like never before.
Weāve talked enough aboutĀ interstellar travel. Literature on the topic is immense, andĀ sci-fi movies like Interstellar have explored the possibility of entering interstellar realm for search of habitable worlds. Existing technologies severely limit our ability to step out anywhere beyond Low Earth Orbit, yet we envisage ways to traverse astronomical expanses for exploration.
When Alan Eustace broke the sound barrier by skydiving from the stratosphere, the world began to speculate if we can break the light speed barrier. However, the idea of faster than light travel remained a conjecture. After all, thereās physics to cheat if we are to go FTL.
āWarp Driveā is a term used for a faster-than-light (FTL) spacecraft propulsion system. It has been widely used in many science fiction works, and is one of the fundamental features of the Star Trek franchise. The Warp Drive works on the idea that space is not empty, but a fabric (as described in the Theory of Relativity) that can be distorted by matter. Warp fields generated by this matter form a subspace bubble which envelops a space craft while distorting the space-time continuum, thus moving the star ship at greater than light velocities. This idea was firstĀ Ā suggested by a Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994
Alcubierreās idea of a warp drive included a football shaped space craft encircled by a ring of exotic matter. This ring would allow the space ship to stay in a bubble of flat space-time, whereas the region around the space-ship would be warped.
It seemed like a fantastic idea! There shall be no limit to the velocity a star-ship can attain. Enormous G-forces would not affect the star-ship and crew due to weightlessness. Moreover, the crew would not suffer the time dilation entities suffer due to traveling at near light velocities, as the passage of time inside the warp bubble and outside would be same.
Exploiting this concept, weāll get to travel large distances without having to deal with the limitations imposed by physics.
So, why havenāt we engineered such a device? Because, calculations suggestĀ that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy. Theoretically, the minimum energy required to run a warp drive is almost equivalent to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter
However, freshĀ calculations of the energy required to warp space-time suggest that the much fantasized warp drive may become a reality in the distant future.
The voracious energy calculations obtained earlier were further speculated by Harold White ā a physicist and team lead at NASAāsĀ Advanced Propulsion Team. He proposed that if the ring circling the space craft was rounded rather than kept flat, there would be tremendous energy reductions. Enough to be powered by energy equivalent to the mass of a space-craft like Voyager-1 probe of NASA.
Moreover, the energy required can be reduced even further if the intensity of the space-warps can be oscillated over time. There findings change the plausibility of a warp drive. From impractical, to worthy of further investigation.
Following this, White and his colleagues have set upĀ a mini version of the warp drive in their laboratory. Their setup includes aĀ the White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer at the Johnson Space Center that instigates micro versions of space-time warps.The team isĀ trying to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million. This is a small step towards creating a real life warp drive.
āIf weāre ever going to become a true space-faring civilization, weāre going to have to think outside the box a little bit, were going to have to be a little bit audaciousā
Sooner or later, Earth will be facing a booming population, dwindling resources and ecosystem change due to global warming. As an intelligent species, weĀ can change our environment and useĀ technologies that can transform a civilization to further survival.
We are still battling the question ā whether space exploration is a viable solution to the problems this civilization isĀ yet to face, is it an insurmountable barrier. Or is it too much work to move to another planet and establish colonies there.
Long before characters likeĀ Captain Kirk and Jean Luc Picard embodiedĀ our āsci-fi notionsā of interstellar travel, people have looked to the stars and envisioned an interstellar future. Unfortunately, their vision is all too often stymied by politics, financial limitations and social stigma, and visionaries are relegated to ādreamersā and scientists are viewed with disdain. At first, every bizarre idea receives critical slams, yet every idea implemented takes mankind to a whole different level of evolution. Ā Ā
But one thingās for sure: Interstellar travel is a possible solution to keep humanity from possible extinction scenarios. The question isnāt if, but when will we achieve interstellar travel? Although, we are far from becoming a space faring civilization, that wonāt deter us from exploring the unknown beyond.