Faster Than Light Engines

This article will differ significantly from the previous ones because, unlike previous articles, in this one we will discuss something that has been studied very little. This article will be about FTL, in other words about moving faster than light. More specifically, we will try to imagine how various FTL engines might look and operate. Since this is a very little-studied topic, it will be impossible to back it all up with any proof. But still, I will try to give some realistic scientific data to the extent possible. I also want to delve into ideas that might be more fantastic so that we can have interesting discussions about FTL. Here is a list of engines that I will discuss in this article.

• Warp engine
• Hyper engine
• Worm Holes
• Quantum drive
• Multi-Dimension drive
• Lightspeed engine

Warp engine

Warp drive is currently the most developed and popular concept for traveling between stars faster than light. Warp drive uses the concept of bending space like waves in the sea. More specifically, it compresses the space in front of the ship, which attracts the space that the ship is occupying; meanwhile, it stretches the space in back of the ship which pushes the ship’s space forward. This is like a surfer on the waves — the surfer is not really moving but simply falling down the wave. In a similar way, the ship is inside a bubble of space and the ship itself does not move. This allows the ship to avoid the laws of physics that say that it is impossible to move faster than the speed of light. Since the ship itself is not moving and only the space around it moves, the laws of physics do not interfere.

There are two theories for achieving this effect. The first theory says that, perpendicular to the back of the ship, there should be a ring consisting of a material with negative mass, which would force space to expand behind the ship and push it forward through space. The ring creates the effect of a wave by curving spacetime in the opposite way from an object with positive mass, thus creating a wave crest behind the ship instead of a trough. The second theory says that we just need a very thick substance with a high density, like that of neutron stars, and place that in front of the ship. A high-density object will create a hole (a trough) in space which will drag the ship towards itself. Ideally, we would use both solutions.

Hyper engine

A hyperdrive is a term that appeared in Star Wars as a way to travel between star systems without spending a huge amount of time. The hyperdrive is rationalized in Star Wars through the concept of hyper particles, which are never really explained at all. However, since it’s impossible for a hyperdrive to move through space faster than the speed of light, we can assume that the hyperdrive is actually a multidimensional engine. In fact, almost any FTL engine could be considered a hyper engine, since the hyper engine comes from fiction and does not actually have any scientific basis.

Worm Holes

According to work done by Einstein and Rosen in 1935, wormholes are possible in our universe. In November of 2022, physicists at CalTech may have proved the theory using a model run by a quantum computer, however, those results are still under review. A wormhole is two points in space that are connected by a tunnel. But these are just words. More specifically, imagine a straight sheet one meter long. Put two points on opposite ends of this sheet. At first glance, the shortest path from one point to another would seem to be a straight line. However, a wormhole could connect these two points in another way — it could bend the sheet of paper in half and create a tunnel directly from point to point and thus shorten the path. At the moment, we do not know for sure whether wormholes exist. but there are a huge number of theories about this. For example, there is an opinion that a black hole is a wormhole that draws matter into itself and throws it out elsewhere in space. However, the main theory at the moment states that wormholes and black holes are separate things.

Quantum drive

In quantum mechanics, space and time are one whole and they will directly turn south from each other; this is important for understanding quantum entanglement.

Quantum entanglement is the connection between two tiny particles. The special feature of this connection is that two particles located at a great distance from each other will react to each other without any delay — i.e., everything that happens to one particle will happen to the other at the same moment. This occurs because of something called “hyper position” that affects particles below a certain size. Hyper position is when a particle is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, meaning that particles remain “close” to each other regardless of where they appear to be physically, which is why huge distances will not affect them.

The quantum engine works on the same principle; it places the ship in a hyper position and makes sure that the ship ends up at the point to which we are heading. It’s difficult to say how realistic this is, since quantum mechanics is very poorly understood. However, the potential is there.

We cannot describe the problems inherent in such an engine since it is not even a realistic concept. What I described as an engine is complete fantasy. But who knows where the progress of technology will lead us?

Multi-Dimension drive

This is an engine or method of movement that involves the use of additional dimensions. I can’t say how real this is.

The laws of physics stop us from going as fast as the speed of light. The speed of light increases with every additional dimension. Therefore, we can safely go as fast as the regular speed of light if we do it in higher dimensions where the speed of light has been increased.

Moreover, this method of movement can create additional paths between two points in space. These additional paths can be compared to wormholes and there are theories that wormholes are connected to additional dimensions already.

Any problems of such an engine will come from the lack of at least some scientific data regarding dimensions other than our three spatial dimensions and our one temporal dimension. In addition, the entire ship would need to be put into a higher dimension and we have no idea what that will do to a human being.

Lightspeed engine

Although this section calls engines “lightspeed”, it is not actually possible to reach the speed of light by simple acceleration. For example, when accelerating at high speeds, the mass increases noticeably; if the speed of light is reached, the mass would need to be infinite which is physically impossible. Moreover, Einstein put forward the theory that time and space are a single continuum, which means that if an object with mass reaches the speed of light, then time for that object will stop — which is also impossible. Therefore, in this section we will talk about engines that can accelerate the ship to 99.99999999% of the speed of light.

Every engine design can get us to this speed through constant acceleration. However, they will all take a very long time to achieve this speed. Right now, there are no theories for how to do this quickly.

Another potentially unpleasant aspect is that, when a person is moving at speeds close to the speed of light, time will pass much slower for them due to relativity. This has some consequences. Let’s take the distance from the solar system to Alpha Centauri, which is 4 light years. At light speed, it would take our ship 4 years to get there. However, for the person on the ship, it will seem to take very little time (how much exactly I don’t know, but it will be much less). This happens due to the fact that for the person on the ship, time moves slower. With further acceleration, time will slow down even more for the person in the ship. However, for everyone else, the trip will still seem to take 4 years. When the trip is over, the person on the ship will seem to have traveled into the future by 4 years, since very little time passed for them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it must be said that everything listed above remains theories, and some engines are fictions. At the moment, the most realistic engine is the warp engine. I will also note the speed of light engines since they are completely realistic but have significant problems that make their use problematic and unpleasant for living beings. However, time and technological progress will reveal more about each of these engines.