TRAVELLING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT

HOW SCIENCE FICTION BECAME A NASA PROJECT

A big problem with the Alcubierre drive is it needs a whole lot of energy to bend space-time. NASA scientist, Harold “Sonny” White changed the design of the drive so that it requires a lot less energy. The Alcubierre drive used to require energy equal to that produced by Jupiter’s mass. Now, the new design requires about 1,600 pounds or less than a Toyota Prius worth of energy!

If the new Alcubierre drive works in real life, then White says we could reach Alpha Centauri Bb in a few weeks.

Could there be life on other planets? What do aliens look like and are they friendly to people on Earth?

To travel to far away planets such as Alpha Centauri Bb, we need to travel faster than the speed of light. Alpha Centauri Bb is the planet closest to Earth and outside of our solar system. It is about 4 light years away. If we could travel as fast as the speed of light, then we would reach this planet in about four years.

If we could travel faster than light, we could visit our neighbors near and far!

Fun facts: A light year is how far light travels in one year. This is about 10 trillion kilometers. 1 trillion has 12 zeros!

At this stage, NASA does not think faster than light travel is scientifically possible. The ideas of Alcubierre and White are mostly mathematical. It will take many years to apply these ideas. An actual warp drive require a 100 years of work!

Still, White is beginning to test the ideas on a little scale at NASA. This is one small step toward deep space travel.

WHY TRAVELLING FASTER THAN LIGHT

IS IMPORTANT

EINSTEIN’S IDEAS

1. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/technology/warp/warp.html

2. Physics Why Matter Matters by Dan Green

3. Albert Einstein and Relativity for Kids by Jerome Pohlen

STAY TUNED

WHITE’S DESIGNS

WARP DRIVES IN THE MOVIES

FOR FURTHER READING

Figure 1. Star Trek Figure 2. Star Wars

KEY PEOPLE

ALBERT EINSTEINGREATEST PHYSICIST EVER

MIGUEL ALCUBIERRETHEORETICAL PHYSICIST

HAROLD “SONNY” WHITENASA SCIENTIST

ALCUBIERRE’S IDEAS

Miguel Alcubierre says we can build a special warp bubble around a spaceship that will make the ship look like it is moving faster than light speed. The Alcubierre warp bubble bends space-time close to the ship. If you are on the inside of the bubble, you will not see any change. Outside the bubble, space-time shrinks in the front and space-time expands in the back.

So the Alcubierre drive does not propel the ship superfast, like in the movies. Instead, this drive bends or warps space-time around the ship. This type of drive makes it seem like we are breaking the light barrier, but we are not. Einstein’s ideas still work.

In the movies, when the pilot of a spaceship wants it to go really fast, the pilot puts the ship in a high gear called a warp drive or hyper-drive. But we know that no ship can actually speed up to light speed. If it did go that fast, then strange things would happen as Einstein said.

Albert Einstein said that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light! As a rocket speeds up, three things will change:

•Time slows down on the rocket ship.

•Distance will get shorter on the rocket ship.

•The rocket’s mass (the amount of matter in it) will increase.

As the rocket’s speed reaches the speed of light, things get even stranger:

•Time will stop.

•The rocket will become so tiny you cannot see it.

•The rocket’s mass will increase to infinity.

No human has ever seen these strange things. Therefore, Einstein said that nothing can break the light barrier.

Figure 3. The Alcubierre Drive Bends Space-Time

Figure 4. White’s Redesign