warp speed/FTL drive/hyperdrive

[Mike in Cincy]

Star Wars (hyperdrive)-it appears that hyperdrive is merely superfast travel in a straight line, hence the need to use a navigational computer to plot an unobstructed course.

Battlestar (FTL drive)-they seem to 'jump' from one coordinate to another like hopscotch

Star Trek (?)- is this more like SW's hyperdrive or BSG's FTL drive and their ability to jump????

[Fnord5]

Star Trek warp is linear travel.
There is a bubble in Space-Time (generated by the warp drive) that allows different physics to apply to the area contained within the bubble, lets it slip through normal Space-Time faster than physically possible.

Recently, scientists have figured out how to encapsulate particles in a similar way, and move them at, or near the speed of light. Warp drive is possible, but not for many years.

[Fnord5]

Oh, and for what it is worth, Warp speeds start at 2 times the speed of light, and the Star Trek Impulse drive, is just below light speed.

[rabidpotatochip]

Star Trek warp is linear travel.
There is a bubble in Space-Time (generated by the warp drive) that allows different physics to apply to the area contained within the bubble, lets it slip through normal Space-Time faster than physically possible.

Recently, scientists have figured out how to encapsulate particles in a similar way, and move them at, or near the speed of light. Warp drive is possible, but not for many years.

See, that right there is why I think Star Trek > most science fiction, look at all the cool stuff people are trying to make happen because of it. I'm not saying people haven't been trying to make FTL travel work before Star Trek, but that franchise actually made it cool. Or maybe I'm just too much of a geek to notice no one else thinks FTL travel is cool...

I guess the BSG jump would be something more like a wormhole but I never really watched it (I'm working on it though!).

[Fnord5]

Any type of "Jump" drive, is in effect a wormhole.

Making a "Jump Gate" like Babylon 5 had, would be similar to a warp drive, but instead of a traveling bubble, two gates would create a bubble between each other, opening a tunnel/wormhole, that would be connecting two points in Space-Time together, you step through one, and end up in another.

This also is possible, but the enormous amount of energy it would take to open and sustain such a passage, would drain the Sun like a Dollar Tree battery, and would increase exponentially as the distance increases.

[rabidpotatochip]

Any type of "Jump" drive, is in effect a wormhole.

Making a "Jump Gate" like Babylon 5 had, would be similar to a warp drive, but instead of a traveling bubble, two gates would create a bubble between each other, opening a tunnel/wormhole, that would be connecting two points in Space-Time together, you step through one, and end up in another.

This also is possible, but the enormous amount of energy it would take to open and sustain such a passage, would drain the Sun like a Dollar Tree battery, and would increase exponentially as the distance increases.

That's why I use a ZPM.

[tblech]

Any type of "Jump" drive, is in effect a wormhole.

Making a "Jump Gate" like Babylon 5 had, would be similar to a warp drive, but instead of a traveling bubble, two gates would create a bubble between each other, opening a tunnel/wormhole, that would be connecting two points in Space-Time together, you step through one, and end up in another.

This also is possible, but the enormous amount of energy it would take to open and sustain such a passage, would drain the Sun like a Dollar Tree battery, and would increase exponentially as the distance increases.

We think...

[Fnord5]

That's why I use a ZPM.

[theperfectstorm]

Star Trek warp is linear travel.
There is a bubble in Space-Time (generated by the warp drive) that allows different physics to apply to the area contained within the bubble, lets it slip through normal Space-Time faster than physically possible.

Recently, scientists have figured out how to encapsulate particles in a similar way, and move them at, or near the speed of light. Warp drive is possible, but not for many years.

Geek Test!!!

And you SO passed.

And let us not forget the much-vaunted "Holly-Hop Drive" from Red Dwarf.

[Fnord5]

I never watched Red Dwarf.

The most outlandish FTL drive though, is the one from Farscape. A living ship, that generates it's own warp bubble.

[rabidpotatochip]

We think...

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" Isaac Asimov.

I can't wait to see what kind of crazy crap we come up with in the next decade or two.

Couldn't help it.

[rabidpotatochip]

I never watched Red Dwarf.

The most outlandish FTL drive though, is the one from Farscape. A living ship, that generates it's own warp bubble.

I bet they generate the bubble by feeding it beans.

[Fnord5]

I bet they generate the bubble by feeding it beans.

[instpasr]

Only problem or benefit based upon your point of view with Star Trek warp speed is making sure that pesky main deflector dish is working. That thing goes offline for one minute and the next thing you know your getting hit by space debris.

[Fnord5]

Only problem or benefit based upon your point of view with Star Trek warp speed is making sure that pesky main deflector dish is working. That thing goes offline for one minute and the next thing you know your getting hit by space debris.

Not at all, the warp bubble pushes normal space-time out of the way, nothing gets in, or out of the bubble.

[instpasr]

I think thats the way they ended up going but it was covered early on that the main deflector dish pushed objects out of the way during warp speed. I know it was covered in at least one of the books I read while deployed and it was touched on only slightly during a TNG episode. Wish I could remember wish one though.

[Muirtach]

Improbability Drive or nothing. Well T.A.R.D.I.S. as well, but that is a different beast completely.

Roddenberry was very into the scientific advances, knowledge and speculation while he created his universe and after. The best of the sci-fi writers all were. How they all took that and used it is simply amazing and why I never get tired of the genre.

[rabidpotatochip]

I think thats the way they ended up going but it was covered early on that the main deflector dish pushed objects out of the way during warp speed. I know it was covered in at least one of the books I read while deployed and it was touched on only slightly during a TNG episode. Wish I could remember wish one though.

I just came back from here and let me tell you, my head is spinning...

Short story is that yes, it was used to push debris and whatnot out of the way. I assume the computer is used to avoid steering into a planet or sun though, since pushing one of those out of the way would have some unintended side effects.

[instpasr]

I just came back from here and let me tell you, my head is spinning...

Short story is that yes, it was used to push debris and whatnot out of the way. I assume the computer is used to avoid steering into a planet or sun though, since pushing one of those out of the way would have some unintended side effects.

I didn't know that site existed, my head was spinning just from seeing it. I don't know how you managed to sift through it. Thanks for verifying that though, I was beginning to think i'd gotten my tech crossed.

[rabidpotatochip]

I didn't know that site existed, my head was spinning just from seeing it. I don't know how you managed to sift through it. Thanks for verifying that though, I was beginning to think i'd gotten my tech crossed.

I'm not sure either, I think the FAQ from rec.arts.startrek numbed me a bit.