Since I'm new to this discussion, I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but the only way I can see FTL travel being possible is if the theoretical particle, the tachyon, first proposed by physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, turned out to be real. I have read that if such a class of particles were to exist, it might be possible using an electro-magnetic field to surround a spaceship with tachyons and remove the ship from "normal" space and inject it into the hyperspace in between branes. Since the tachyon has a speed minimum of the speed of light and has the odd property of speeding up as it loses energy, it is conceivable that instantaneous travel over vast distances would be possible. The only problem is how do you know where to re-enter normal space? I mean you don't want to end up inside of a star. Another problem that arises is that if tachyons are real, then that would cause serious problems for special relativity.

Mind you, these are just musings of mine in the vane in which I interpret this discussion.

Eric

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There does not exist an energy source capable of accelerating itself and
it's enclosure (ship) to anything like 1 % of light speed . For many reasons.
And you are wise to consider the problems of astrogation, another little detail
to be considered.
Best regards,

Dan

Yes, astrogation would be a rather difficult problem to tackle, to say the least! LOL

Eric

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My Geology Site

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Brett
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This is untrue. An antimatter pion rocket may be good to perhaps 30% of lightspeed. Thermonuclear bomb based Orion style rockets may be good to perhaps 10% of light speed. Even pure fission based rockets may be good to perhaps 3% of light speed.

It's also not necessary for an energy source to accelerate itself in order to be useful. A large relativistic particle beam drone, for example, could be used to accelerate a much smaller starship.

I said possible, but not for thousands of years. The Alcubierre warp drive and generating wormholes are theoretically possible. However, it may be thousands of years or more before we could have the engineering know-how to put theory into practice, and be able to generate the titanic amounts of energy needed to power either system.

In the near term, our best option for interstellar travel will likely be some sort of fusion powered rocket that could accelerate to 10, maybe 20 percent the speed of light.