16 replies to this topic

[Time_Traveller]

I was wondering if we could have technology in the future from Mass Effect 2 like: - http://masseffect.wi...ki/SSV_Normandy

[Unrequited Lust]

Good question. Awesome series, I can't wait until Mass Effect 3.

The driving force of Mass Effect is that there exists something called "element zero" (neutronium pretty much) which when subjected to an electric current, releases dark energy. Dark energy changes mass: increase in mass for a positive current, decrease in mass for a negative current. This is called "mass effect" and anything in its range is called a "mass effect field" like a gravitational field or a magnetic field. By changing the ships mass, you can accelerate it beyond the speed of light.

This is all fictional, so it's not going to happen. We're already discovered neutronium, dark energy can't be harvested or created, and even you decreased the mass of the spaceship to zero, it still wouldn't go beyond the speed of light.

Not to say all hope is lost. You can't go beyond the speed of light in the traditional sense, but you might be able to circumvent it by bending space time itself. There are already theoretical models and equations in place that would allow this, like Alcubierre drives, but the technology to realize it is still very far away. The energy required to bend space time may be too much as to be impossible.

Nonetheless, we can get very close to the speed of light, and time dilation would make our travels not take much time. Time dilation states (and it has been experimentally proven) that the faster you go, the slower time goes for you. In short, if we were to travel like 99.99999999% the speed of light, we could survey the entire universe in only 50 years, but to someone at rest, this would take 100 billion years.

I don't know if there will be bulky space ships like the one's in Mass Effect. It might be part of our humanness to do it, even if there are far more efficient means.

[Eonist1]

Unrequited Lust, on 22 September 2011 - 08:10 PM, said:

There are already theoretical models and equations in place that would allow this, like Alcubierre drives, but the technology to realize it is still very far away. The energy required to bend space time may be too much as to be impossible.

I've read that Warp Drives will be constructable, sometimes, in fact, practical, but still wouldn't accelerate the spacetime "bubble" to greater than c. The reason for that is Hawking radiation at artificial singularities created by the curvature. The radiation made of high-energy particles may, at very high curvature, destroy the spacecraft inside the bubble, smashing it to elementary particles.

Traversable wormholes are much more probable solution to interstellar FTL transport, serving as gates from system to system.

[Unrequited Lust]

Eonist1, on 12 October 2011 - 06:53 PM, said:

Unrequited Lust, on 22 September 2011 - 08:10 PM, said:

There are already theoretical models and equations in place that would allow this, like Alcubierre drives, but the technology to realize it is still very far away. The energy required to bend space time may be too much as to be impossible.

I've read that Warp Drives will be constructable, sometimes, in fact, practical, but still wouldn't accelerate the spacetime "bubble" to greater than c. The reason for that is Hawking radiation at artificial singularities created by the curvature. The radiation made of high-energy particles may, at very high curvature, destroy the spacecraft inside the bubble, smashing it to elementary particles.

Traversable wormholes are much more probable solution to interstellar FTL transport, serving as gates from system to system.

Okay, well I'm not entirely sure what you just said lol, I'll do my best to respond. Hawking radiation only comes from the matter that hits the singularity. Space is mostly a vacuum. I think the occasional molecule that hits the spaceship won't do enough damage, especially considering whatever resilient material we make our spaceships out of (diamond being a possibility because molecular assembly will be available before then).

Anyway, at the Starship symposium only a few days ago, there was quite a bit of literature on the feasibility of Alcubierre drives, and proposed experiments to test if its theoretical principles are possible in practice. http://nextbigfuture...r-from-100.html

[Eonist1]

Unrequited Lust, on 14 October 2011 - 06:26 AM, said:

Okay, well I'm not entirely sure what you just said lol, I'll do my best to respond. Hawking radiation only comes from the matter that hits the singularity. Space is mostly a vacuum. I think the occasional molecule that hits the spaceship won't do enough damage, especially considering whatever resilient material we make our spaceships out of (diamond being a possibility because molecular assembly will be available before then).

Anyway, at the Starship symposium only a few days ago, there was quite a bit of literature on the feasibility of Alcubierre drives, and proposed experiments to test if its theoretical principles are possible in practice. http://nextbigfuture...r-from-100.html

Look up vacuum energy, vacuum fluctuations... It's an interesting phenomenon. Hawking radiation is not caused by matter falling in, actually it's randomly created particle-antiparticle pairs that normally exist only for 10^-40 seconds, because they annihilate. This happens everywhere all the time. It's just too small to be noticed that much. Except by an experiment called the Casimir Effect, that proves the existence of vacuum fluctuations. If a particle-antiparticle pair is near the event horizon of a black hole (the point of no return), one particle falls in and one flies out of the black hole. The black hole therefore loses as much mass/energy as was the mass/energy of the particle. This is why black holes lose their mass and evaporate.

[Eonist1]

And the vacuum of space is not as empty as it appears. There's a lot of energy in it. This energy comes out in form of fluctuations. If you play with spacetime curvature too much it may have catastrophic effects on you. Nevertheless, warp drives, void drives, displacement drives, basically all types of space propulsion using spacetime manipulation technology will arrive some millenia from now (If we make it to Type 1 civilization, then we're pretty much safe with our technology). These propulsion systems will be at first very expensive by energetic means, but then they might become a transport at pretty impressive relativistic velocities.
I'm not saying that warp drives cannot become FTL travel, I'm just saying that I've read a couple of things about the dangers of this. This stuff is way too complicated for our species now. We need to evolve a bit more.

[Shimmy]

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In short, if we were to travel like 99.99999999% the speed of light, we could survey the entire universe in only 50 years, but to someone at rest, this would take 100 billion years.

Firstly we have no idea how big the universe is, for all we know it could well be infinite. I assume you're referring to the observable universe which admittedly yes has a radius of about 50 billion light years we think, but going across it once in a straight line is surveying? And the observable universe will change dramatically in that time, and many places will never be reachable as they are actually moving away many times faster than light. I know it was just an example of time dilation but the wording is just horrible.

Quote

Traversable wormholes are much more probable solution to interstellar FTL transport, serving as gates from system to system.

your much more probable solution is a wormhole which is a completely theoretical concept with zero evidence for their existence? And I assume by wormhole you mean some form of singularity and in order to get anywhere near it all matter will be ripped apart, protons own't be able to survive. And we're going to travel through them? If no form of information can possibly survive, then i'm fairly sure no possible technology allowed by the laws of physics is going to let "us" go through them.

[Unrequited Lust]

lol forgive me I ripped it off from Cosmos.

[Eonist1]

Well, reactionless drives in general are just theoretical concepts, despite a few experiments being run. In order to actually work as a propulsion system the technology must be far more powerful, perhaps even use exotic materials. We're going to stick with reaction drives (matter-antimatter, fusion, solar sail, catalysed pion fusion.. etc.) for some time... And actually we haven't even built any machines capable of interstellar flight, we still have a couple centuries for that to come.

This technology is for us like cromagnon men arguing about building an internal combustion engine, when they haven't even found out that oil exists and can be used for combustion.

[Shimmy]

okay, fair point, I suppose one could argue any ftl concept is similarly ridiculous and probably impossible. I shouldn't just pick on wormholes

[Craven]

ARghhh!!! Just little over 40 more days till ME3
In few day's I'm taking few days off and will do ME2 again, this time probably with DLC's

[Craven]

Finished winter stuff on university, so I started ME2 with DLC this time, and... somehow it's 4AM and I have Zaeed, Mordin and Garrus on board
Time to sleep for a moment.

[Craven]

Full version of "Take Earth Back" trailer:

[Craven]

Once again fans show they can do just as epic stuff as creators:

[Craven]

I've just got Mass Erection!

[Craven]

See you guys in few days!

[Craven]

So... anyone played? Anyone aware of what's happening on internet about ME3?