In August 2008, the U.S. defense Department has proposed dozens of scientific groups to address issues of perspectives of studying a brand new aerospace technologies, including new methods of movement, takeoff and stealth. Among the most interesting works was listed as a 34-page report prepared by two scholars under the title “Warp drive, dark energy and the manipulation of extra dimensions”. The document was presented to the military on 2 April 2010 and has only recently been openly published Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of defense (DIA), reports Business Insider.
In this work, the authors suggest that humanity is already close to the moment when will be able to solve the mystery of a higher, hitherto invisible dimensions and negative or “dark energy” — repulsive force, which, according to physics, causing the Universe to expand with increasing speed.
“The ability to control higher spatial dimension will allow to get technological control of dark energy, which in turn will open the possibility to develop more exotic propulsion technologies. Especially wapr-engine”, — stated in the report here adds that “through this journey to other planets of the Solar system will be carried for years, but in minutes and hours, and flights within the local star clusters can be implemented in weeks, not hundreds of thousands of years.”
Despite all the optimism noted in this document, physicist, California Institute of technology Sean Carroll, specializing in dark energy and General relativity, very skeptical reacted to a published report.
“It’s only bits and fragments of theoretical physics, served as if we stand on the threshold of their applicability in the real world. Although it is not so. I can’t call it nonsense – it is not Maharishi (Indian guru, founder of transcendental meditation — approx. ed), who said that spiritual energy will allow us to rise above the ground and fly. There is real physics. But that’s not what soon will be United in a whole and propose options for use. Perhaps we never will come,” commented Carroll.
How it all began
The reason for this study is still unclear. The only thing currently known is the fact that this work has some reference to the us military research aimed at prediction of “potential threats” from potential adversaries, to develop new technologies. And more everything is very, very conditional. All studies were conducted in the framework of the “Latest software identify aviation threats (AATIP)” and its sub-projects.
In the context of the “AAWSA” (Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program), funded at least two studies in the field of engine development and space technologies that border on science fiction. The first of these studies, dated March 29, 2010 dedicated engine capable of accelerating a spaceship up to warp speed. In the study we are talking about theoretical physical concepts such as space-time curvature and the gravitational and antigravitational forces. The second study that “the Program AAWSA” published on 2 April 2010, covers the same area, but still includes dark energy and other dimensions.
The experts of AAWSA has performed work under the auspices of the alerts Service defense Intelligence Agency, which makes sense, at least conceptually. According to the official briefing, the organization first appeared in 2002, “identifying sources of emerging threats to U.S. interests in critical regions of the world.”
“This service will also identify opportunities to influence the adversary’s behavior before and in the early stages of the crisis,” the report says.
In 2003, these objectives were expanded to include “providing early warnings about technological developments that could undermine the U.S. military superiority”.
UFO sightings often is evidence of promising and secret projects in research and development of military aircraft. The mandate of the DIA team of experts could examine the reports of sightings and try to determine whether they are associated with real programs, especially those that could work potential adversaries, such as Russia or China.
Team AAWSA was able to delve into well-known development in related areas, and it also makes sense in this context. If the enemies of America are rapidly moving towards the creation of warp engines and other prospective power plants, DIA definitely would want to know about it to help US to prepare a response.
However, the applicability of these studies seems questionable, as some parts of the study. None of the reports indicated that the technology, which they have described, closer to practical application or any foreign country came close to committing a technological breakthrough.
Reports of UFO sightings in the framework of the AATIP did not cause much enthusiasm among scientists familiar with the published report. Seth Shostak (head of the SETI Institute, which searches for alien civilizations) previously expressed on the subject of why he, himself being an alien bounty hunter, does not believe that an alien civilization we had once visited.
“It’s hard to believe that the aliens will come here for hundreds and hundreds of light years, and then will show a complete standstill,” — said Shostak.
A similar skepticism on the part of eminent experts interested in the field met and the report on the warp engines, wormhole and other “Stargate” in the framework of AAWSA.
The physics of warp engines
Illustration of warp field created by the theoretical device “Alcubierre Engine”. Inside the field space ship can move faster than the speed of light due to the “grip” the fabric of space in front of him and “expand” space behind
In the report, the authors touch on several issues of interest to modern physics. Among the discussed concepts refers to dark energy (predicted but not proven the existence of which the father of General relativity albert Einstein), warp space-time, gravitational waves, about the Casimir effect, which consists in the mutual attraction of uncharged conductive bodies under the action of quantum fluctuations in vacuum, and M-theory, which refers to the possible existence of several additional dimensions, the development of which will definitely need to work on the warp engine.
The authors note that the solution to all these issues will eventually allow us to circumvent the fundamental rule of Einstein, which says about the impossibility to go faster than the speed of light.
“This document considers the possibility, even high probability that future developments in the field of advanced aerospace technologies will be associated with the effects that distort the space-time structure underlying the space vacuum. It can be called vacuum or metric engineering.”
“This is not just a fancy concept. There is specialized literature in peer-reviewed publications in physics, the subject which is studied in detail”.
“The idea that sufficiently advanced technology can interact and get direct control over spatial and temporal dimensions. This tantalizing your prospects the possibility, of course, deserves deeper examination,” the document says.
“Of course, a very long time we may not able to reach such technological heights, but now, at an early stage of the 21st century, we can consider a lot of impressive physical phenomena that we believe to be true.”
In the same document provides infographic explaining, how fast could become space travel, if humanity will be able to move in space at a speed a hundred times greater than the speed of light
The document also contained a General principle, according to which these trips could be carried out. So, according to the document, the use of a sufficient amount of dark energy will allow you to “compress” in front of the spacecraft and expand behind it space. Being in a kind of bubble, the ship will be protected from deformations. The ship itself inside the field distortion actually remains motionless — to move is itself a distorted space in which it is located. This essentially allows the ship to move faster than the speed of light, is technically not violating the physical principle of Einstein.
Carroll notes that the concept “is not absolute nonsense”, because its mathematical model was developed in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre.
“You really can’t move faster than the speed of light, however can quite imagine the possibility of effective curvature of space-time, which will allow you to overcome this barrier,” says Carroll.
“That is if you want to visit alpha Centauri, then it will be able to resort to the principle of the curvature of space-time to alpha Centauri turned out to be very close to you. Close enough to be able to get there in a day, not tens of thousands of years. If you can help in this curvature of space-time? Of course it helps. But can you make it? Doubt it.”
According to Carroll, the report of the DIA too deeply buried in the dimension.
“It discusses warp drive, extra dimensions, the Casimir effect and dark energy. All these things really, maybe someday we will open. But I am convinced that no one can understand all this within the next Millennium, not to mention how to use it all,” — says the scientist.
Why all this is unlikely
Carroll believes that we are very far from reality warp engines because nobody really knows what generally constitutes the dark energy (hence the name “dark”, i.e. incomprehensible), not to mention where it comes from, how it is stored and even more to use.
Moreover, according to the scientist, to fly to alpha Centauri – our nearest star system, located in 4,367 light-years – a couple of years with, say, a spacecraft with a volume of a hundred cubic meters, we have to talk about the astronomical amounts of negative energy.
“Take the Land and turn all the volume – to-power that much you will need. However, it is important to understand what negative energy. Now nobody has a clue how to do it,” says Carroll.
“And we’re not talking about ordinary atoms that make up the Earth, and their dispersion, as it did with the “Death Star”. We will need to find a way to erase them from this reality.”
Then this energy is necessary to collect, save and use with 100% efficiency.
“It is impossible task. The issue here is not that “we just don’t have suitable transistors” to work. We are talking about something that does not fit into the limits of principle”.
By the way, in the report and stated that all his conclusions are speculative; recognizes the necessity of using “a huge amount of negative energy” and noted that “a full understanding of the nature of dark energy may take a very long time.”
At the same time, the paper’s authors suggest that “experimental scientific breakthroughs in the research with the Large hadron Collider, as well as the further development of M-theory can lead to quantum leap in our understanding of this unusual form of energy and may direct the new technological innovation.”
After almost ten years of LHC has not found any evidence of the existence of particles that would solve the mystery around dark energy. Experiments also not contributed to the further development of M-theory.
Even assuming that some way will be discovered a method of obtaining dark energy, and how to feed it a planetary scope warp engines of the ship, select the appropriate direction for travel and even to go to him, we, or rather those who will fly will be faced with the equally important problems to solve that will be vital before the start of this journey.
Because of the curvature of space interstellar travelers may lose control of the ship back in the beginning of the flight. On the way to its goal, people can also face problems. There is a possibility that Hawking radiation, presumably located on the borders of black holes and other very warped gravity fields of space, can not only interfere with warp fields, but to kill the passengers of the ship flying by.
The deceleration of the spacecraft can also be fatal for his team. The device emerging from the warp, can turn cosmic gas and dust, stretching for several light years from the place of departure to the destination, in deadly shock wave of highly charged particles.
“Science allows me to simultaneously eliminate the possibility of warp travel, but still I think that this is impossible. I think that if we better understood physics, it would have no doubt said it was just impossible to do,” concluded Carroll.
The U.S. Department of defense led the way warp engines and dark energy
Nikolai Khizhnyak