NASA working on faster than light travel; the Alcubierre Drive

[johnmiic]

"What is the Alcubierre Drive? It’s actually based on Einsteins field equations, it suggests that a spacecraft could achieve faster-than-light travel. Rather than exceed the speed of light alone in a craft, a spacecraft would leap long distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it. This would result in faster than light travel."

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/05/28/nasa-admits-they-are-working-to-travel-faster-than-the-speed-of-light/?fb_action_ids=520993167954034&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%22520993167954034%22%3A351033321686457%7D&action_type_map=%7B%22520993167954034%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

[Brazoo]

I find this stuff really fascinating!

From what I understand, the entire universe was moving faster than light speed just after the Big Bang. I know they calculate that from mathematical models based on what can be observed about the expansion of the universe now, but from what I understand this is before the "rules" of the universe had formed yet.

My suspicion is that the people who wrote this article are a lot more gung-ho about this research then NASA is. I can't imagine this is anything but theoretical mathematics at this point, and probably decades away from even proof-of-concept experiments. I mean, what would an observable experiment of this kind of thing even be?

Of course, it does seem that the authors suspect NASA of having access to alien technology, so, if true that would really help move things along!

[Brazoo]

Ahh, looking at one of the sources this article links to gives this info:

"Warp Drives", "Hyperspace Drives", or any other term for Faster-than-light travel is at the level of speculation, with some facets edging into the realm of science. We are at the point where we know what we do know and know what we don’t, but do not know for sure if faster than light travel is possible.

And this:

Is there any work being done to search for these breakthroughs? Yes, but not much.

Here's the NASA article that they linked as a source:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/technology/warp/warpstat_prt.htm

[Brazoo]

Actually, this NASA page is a really cool resource. Lots of interesting facts and links reviewing these concepts in plain English. Very cool!