Re: FW: starship-design: Interstellar travel-using vacuum..ur point?

["Kyle R. Mcallister" <stk@sunherald.infi.net>]

Steve VanDevender wrote:

> I'm not sure I would put it in quite those terms.  If someone
> comes up with solid, verified results of something like FTL
> propulsion of mass I'm sure we'd be the first to welcome the
> information.

But even if someone proves FTL motion of mass, it would take awhile to
develop the necessary system. Accelerating matter to FTL might not
directly lead to a 'warp drive'. I think that even if FTL is discovered
tommorow, it will be quite some time before we can seriously start
designing FTL starships. It would be interesting to discuss the results
though, and I'd be interested even if they figured out how to send
information FTL. Applying real FTL to a starship engine might take time
though.
> 
> Some discussion of speculative topics here is unavoidable; as has
> been pointed out before, even the sorts of things we're more
> inclined to consider still involve a fair amount of speculation
> (i.e. antimatter exists, but how would we make enough to fuel a
> starship?).

By speculative, I meant things that have not yet been toatlly all out
demonstrated. Antimatter is real (albeit very expensive), but FTL motion
of matter...we haven't done that yet.
> 
> I simply want to emphasize, for those people new to the list,
> that this list is intended for the discussion of practical,
> achievable methods for interstellar travel, and therefore is more
> limited in speculation than other forums might be.

Agreed.

Best regards,
Kyle R. Mcallister