Send to a Friend

Yellowdog's avatar

You don't have to do a lot of 'splaining, but is "warp speed" (as in Star Trek) really possible in theory?

Asked by Yellowdog (12216points) June 3rd, 2017

I will get no more technical (in a physics sense) than this—but it is my understanding that Einstein once said that no physical object larger than neutrinos can exceed or even travel the speed of light—or maybe not without translating into energy and re-materializing at the other point or something. Granted, I’m pretty dumb when it comes to physics and equasions.

One thing I CAN comprehend that even many smart people don’t—is how far away the stars and other solar systems really are. That it would take four years even traveling AT the speed of light to reach the nearest star, and many solar systems are hundreds of times further away than that. Which makes starship travel more the topic of science fiction and not even credible science fiction.

And furthermore, traveling to even relatively close planets like Venus and Mars would take traveling several months in the fastest probes (and maybe space ships) we could make now.

So, if it would take thousands of years or even millions to reach the stars with what we have now— is it possible, really, to have spacecraft like in Star Wars and Star Trek that reach other multifarious solar systems in a “five year mission” or whatever, or fly about other systems and rebel bases or whatever in Star Wars.

You can see (and I admit) that I am kinda dumb when it comes to math and physics. So, if you know these things and are also aware of how far away the stars actually are—you don’t have to give links to high-tech articles or type out all the mathematical formulas which would be too much work for both of us. Just tell me what you think and briefly explain why (as in the bottom line, for us dummies).

Thanks.
The question again—- Is traveling to the stars possible and is warp speed possible?

Using Fluther

or

Using Email

Separate multiple emails with commas.
We’ll only use these emails for this message.