Near Light Speed Travel Possible After All?

DrStrabismus writes "PhysOrg has a story about research that may indicate that close to light speed travel is possible. From the article: 'New antigravity solution will enable space travel near speed of light by the end of this century, he predicts. On Tuesday, Feb. 14, noted physicist Dr. Franklin Felber will present his new exact solution of Einstein's 90-year-old gravitational field equation to the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) in Albuquerque. The solution is the first that accounts for masses moving near the speed of light.'"

Make sure you account for everything

[LiquidCoooled]

Theres no point in travelling at close to light speed if your have no way of stopping.

Mind that planet!

What planet?

SPLAT

Can

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't

Can

Can't

Can

Can't

Wake me when someone actually accomplishes something. I'm sick and tired or the back and forth debate over ethereal concepts that can neither be proven or disproven in our lifetime.

Stock Symbol?

[gaspar ilom]

Where do I invest my Money?

now

[steelmaverick]

Wait, we can get close to light speed travel, but we cant figure out how to time travel?! This sucks.

Re:And it's not just any object

[hotdiggitydawg]

Personally I'm waiting to see how they intend to get the moonbeams home in a jar...

Re:Make sure you account for everything

[Bad D.N.A.]

Weapons don't need to stop..

They arn't weapons until they stop

Re:now

[zaphod_es]

What sucks even more is that until we can exceed the speed of light the police speed cameras are still going to catch us :)

Re:Can

[Ruff_ilb]

Actually, I believe that they're hoping the controversy will oscillate so quickly that never-before seen particles will emanate from the physicists in question.

Re:And it's not just any object

[MarkusQ]

No, we have reduced to the problem of how to accelerate only part of the ship, while the other parts can hitch a ride on the first. I suspect the sweet spot would be the first part at 2/3 of the total mass.

If you're correct, then we're done:

• To accelerate the ship to near light speed, we just need to figure out how to accelerate 2/3 of the ship to near light speed.
• To accelerate 2/3 of the ship to near light speed, we just need to figure out how to accelerate 4/9 of the ship to near light speed, and use it to accelerate the 2/3 part.
• To accelerate 4/9 of the ship to near light speed, we just need to figure out how to accelerate 8/27 of the ship to near light speed, and use it to accelerate the 4/9 part that we'll use to accelerate the 2/3 part we'll use to accelerate the whole ship.
• ...skipping a bunch of steps...
• To accelerate an unimaginably teny tiny bit of the ship to near light speed, we just need to figure out how to accelerate an even smaller bit of the ship to near light speed; we'll use a flashlight.

--MarkusQ

Oh wait, I almost forgot:

• Profit!

Near Light Speed Travel Possible

[sdo1]

I'll believe it when I see it.

Er, or maybe when I don't see it.

-S

Re:Make sure you account for everything

[minuszero]

Can't have multiple frags in one shot if it doesn't go all the way through!

Re:Make sure you account for everything

[Anonymous Coward]

It is if you spell it right [wikipedia.org].

Re:Make sure you account for everything

[dangitman]

They arn't weapons until they stop

My blender would disagree with you, as would my flamethrower. Both are pretty harmless when stopped, but when they get started can cause all kids of carnage.

Noodles

[antron-jedi]

Well, considering that the nearest star systems are greater than 4.3 light years away, you do not have to worry about it, as you would be dead from starvation. [...] a very limited diet for eight years

Solution: Ramen Noodles.

Re:Bah.

[condour75]

I've often felt the same way about 2+2 never getting up to 5. Come on science, you can put a man on the moon but you can't get 2+2 even a decimal place past goddamn 4?

Re:Make sure you account for everything

[SEWilco]

Overrated pulp science fictions writers of the mid twentieth century all look the same after a while.

Especially when thrown at near light speed.

Re:Has Slashdot become crackpot central?

[aug24]

(As a trained physicist I agree with your analysis, but as a slashdotter, I have to get a +5 funny)

This means that, all I have to do to get accelerated to a significant proportion of c is to get someone else to sling something at me at over half the speed of light, with a high degree of accuracy.

Now, who's going to volunteer to test that out?!

Justin.