Traveling at faster than the speed of light, impossible until it is achieved

Technologies that are theoretically viable and can be translated into reality in the future.

Science fiction films and series presented things that we considered impossible to achieve in reality, but with the amazing technological progress, what we used to classify as a fantasy has turned into reality and applicable facts, and traveling at speeds exceeding the speed of light as in the famous “Star Trek” series remains theoretically possible while waiting for it In the future.

BERLIN - Albert Einstein, one of the most brilliant scientists in history, learned the physical limits of the universe when he presented his theory of general relativity more than 100 years ago.

One of the key elements of Einstein's theory is summarized by Shasa Vogel, a physicist and expert in the field of science fiction: "It is not possible to move faster than light."

In other words, no spacecraft can accelerate "faster than light" depending on its own power.

But can this be achieved through a time-travel ploy?

At the end of the first episode of the famous "Star Trek" series, which was broadcast in 1966 and revolves around adventures in space, Captain Kirk issued his orders to launch "with speed and one warp." In the chapter on Star Trek's adventures, "Memory Alpha", Wikipedia defines the meaning of this term as "going faster than the speed of light."

The energy required to propel a spacecraft with a radius of 100 meters at the speed of light is 100 times greater than the mass of Jupiter

Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre says he has found a loophole that allows travel at faster than the speed of light, at least in theory.

When we study the idea of ​​the Mexican scientist called the “Alcopier operator”, which is a completely theoretical study, it becomes clear that the spaceship is not accelerating at the speed of light, but rather that the space around it is artificially bent.

This means that the craft is barely moving at all, but rather travels through space inside what is called a "Warp bubble."

This idea can be interpreted metaphorically, that the spacecraft rides a wave that folds space time, thus shortening the flight path.

Physicist Vogel believes that this idea is surrounded by "a lot of assumptions and presumptions."

A prerequisite for the validity of Alcubierre's theory, for example, is the existence of what is known as "negative energy", although it is not yet clear whether this energy exists at all, and physicists assume that negative energy bursts are emitted at the edges of the black hole.

Perhaps these obstacles should not discourage scientists, after all, "things are impossible until they come true", in the words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the pilot of the spaceship in "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

One thing is clear, that if man will one day be able to reach the distant stars without expiring his life during the journey, such an actuator as described by Alcubierre must be invented.

At the University of Göttingen in central Germany, another researcher tackles this idea, but with a different approach. “There is no presentable way” to produce negative energy, says astrophysicist Eric Lintz, and therefore instead focuses on finding an extraordinary amount of conventional energy.

On this basis, space travel to the star “Proxima Centauri”, which is about 4.2 light-years away from our solar system, will be faster compared to the methods currently in force, knowing that the journey to this star at the speed of the “Voyagar 1” space probe will take about 75,000 year.

The challenge is that the energy needed for this kind of thrust in space would be enormous. In this regard, Lintz refers to a "enormous energy resource".

He explains that “the energy required to propel a spaceship with a radius of 100 meters at the speed of light is 100 times greater than the mass of Jupiter.”

Einstein's famous equation "mass multiplied by the square of the speed of light equals its energy" indicates that mass can be converted into energy and vice versa.

It is known that Jupiter is 2.5 times heavier than the rest of the planets of our solar system together, equivalent to about 318 Earths, and this means, according to Lintz's theory, that a spacecraft with a radius of more than 100 meters must have a mass greater than Jupiter's mass or fake it .

In theory, the result of this huge mass is that space curves in front of the craft. Thus, the spaceship that will launch inside this curve, will move only in a limited way, but it will appear light years away in a distant galaxy.

Perhaps this theory is one of the reasons why Star Trek fans are celebrating, but no one really knows how to achieve this.

In any case, Einstein can rest in peace under Lintz's theory, as it will not affect his definition that an object cannot reach the speed of light depending on its own power.