NASA is working on a warp drive, for real

[KingOrfeo]

The Alcubierre Drive is theoretically possible, but I did not find out until yesterday that NASA is actually doing research along those lines (at this stage, they're just trying to find out if it is possible to create "warp bubbles" on a much smaller scale than a starship would require). See the video-clips on this page, and this page from NASA itself. If they can get this thing to work (and note that their projected date is no earlier than 2100) it could go 10 times faster than light -- which would still mean a 6-month trip to the nearest star, but, any planet within the Solar System could be reached in minutes.

 

[Beco]

Anything you can imagine, can become possible. Gene Roddenberry came up with all this stuff, and here we are. In fact, I just gave someone the Spock mind meld the other day....

 

[parodyluvr75]

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4030/4718034338_e84d126331_z.jpg

The spice must flow.

 

[KingOrfeo]

To boldly split infinitives no one has split before!

 

[RjThoughts]

Anything you can imagine, can become possible. Gene Roddenberry came up with all this stuff, and here we are. In fact, I just gave someone the Spock mind meld the other day....

Roddenberry's communicators looks suspiciously like flip phones.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Roddenberry's communicators looks suspiciously like flip phones.

I'm just waiting until I have some spare money to pick up one of those smart watches. Then I'll get the Power Rangers communicator as my ring tone and never, ever answer my phone again.

Oh any my messages will have the Metal Gear Solid '!' sound.

 

[KingOrfeo]

In fact, I just gave someone the Spock mind meld the other day....

Is that what the kids are calling it now?

 

[RjThoughts]

Written on a women's bathroom wall in the starship Enterprise: Where no man has gone before

Written on a men's bathroom wall: Spock uses Vulcanized rubbers

 

[parodyluvr75]

They were always borrowing.

 

[Weird Harold]

Roddenberry's communicators looks suspiciously like flip phones.

Not suspicious at all: The designer of the original flip phone admits he was inspired by ST communicators.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Not suspicious at all: The designer of the original flip phone admits he was inspired by ST communicators.

Hm. Did Roddenberry ever sue him?

(Not that he would have had a case. He put the idea out there in the public domain.)

 

[StrangeLife]

I want my flying car and my jetpack before they start building warp drives...

 

[Skiddles2014]

I've already got one, you see.

 

[KingOrfeo]

I want my flying car and my jetpack before they start building warp drives...

Jetpacks exist. (But cannot carry enough fuel to keep you aloft for more than a few minutes.) Flying cars are called "helicopters" and nice to have if you can afford one. If you want something like George Jetson's car or Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, OTOH, you'll have to wait for some major technological breakthroughs.

 

[BotanyBoy]

http://www.macnotes.de/gimages/richie2010/picard-ipad.jpg

 

[Beco]

Roddenberry's communicators looks suspiciously like flip phones.

No shit...

 

[KingOrfeo]

I've already got one, you see.

Could we have a look?

 

[Skiddles2014]

Could we have a look?

Of course not, you're American types.

 

[dan_c00000]

Before they can do matter/anti-matter chambers they need fusion reactors.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Before they can do matter/anti-matter chambers they need fusion reactors.

Why? How does the one technology depend on the other?

 

[cleaver]

Not suspicious at all: The designer of the original flip phone admits he was inspired by ST communicators.

Hm. Did Roddenberry ever sue him?

(Not that he would have had a case. He put the idea out there in the public domain.)

the st/tos prop designers of note were:

wah ming chang : who gave us the tricorder and (flip phone) communicator as well as tribbles and other trinkets and costumes

matt jeffries : art director/ set designer and inspiration for scotty's ever important nexus, the jeffries tube...

and

irving feinberg : the propmaster - who coddled various far out salt and pepper shakers into all kinds of props, including dr. mccoy's hand held medical scanner (appropriately enough, known as the feinberger)

these unsung heroes... old school regular working hollywood stiffs... created much of the look and the iconography that have influenced the next generation's technology... the great bird of the galaxy was the show runner...

just clearing up the fogs of well intentioned interwebs fact flinging

 

[phrodeau]

We've had GNDN conduits for a while now. There are a few in the building I work in.

http://elfordstown.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Untitled-300x217.jpg

 

[dan_c00000]

Why? How does the one technology depend on the other?

Well, logic would dictate before we can build a matter/antimatter reactor we'd have to first figure out a fusion reactor (as opposed to fission reactions which is what's used in nuclear reactors today).

Also, it was a joke.

 

[Beco]

Tricorder

I just met with a firm that is developing a chip, when implanted on your body, can read vital signs, blood, etc.




http://tommytoy.typepad.com/.a/6a0133f3a4072c970b0167607876be970b-450wi

 

[phrodeau]

Sickbay.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/09/01/article-2032378-0DA7CFCA00000578-88_964x513.jpg