Hyperdrive Propulsion Could Be Tested At the LHC

KentuckyFC writes "In 1924, the influential German mathematician David Hilbert calculated that a stationary mass should repel a particle moving towards or away from it at more than half the speed of light (as seen by a distant inertial observer). Now an American physicist has pointed out that the equal and opposite effect should also hold true: that a relativistic particle should repel a stationary mass. This, he says, could form the basis of a 'hypervelocity propulsion drive' for accelerating spacecraft to a good fraction of the speed of light. The idea is that the repulsion allows the relativistic particle to deliver a specific impulse that is greater than its specific momentum, an effect that is analogous to the elastic collision of a heavy mass with a much lighter, stationary mass, from which the lighter mass rebounds with about twice the speed of the heavy mass. Unlike other exotic hyperdrive proposals, this one can be tested using the world's largest particle accelerator, the LHC, which will generate beams of particles with the required energy (abstract). Placing a test mass next to the beam line and measuring the forces on it as the particles pass by should confirm the theory — or scupper it entirely."

Comments

! hyperdrive

[DoofusOfDeath]

I think most/all of us take the term "hyperdrive" to imply FTL speeds.

This technology doesn't claim to achieve that.

Re:! hyperdrive

[Tobor the Eighth Man]

I agree, it should be downgraded to the less impressive and more hierarchically correct megadrive or perhaps superdrive.

Re:! hyperdrive

[Random2]

Can they still go plaid at those speeds?

Re:! hyperdrive

[bughunter]

Agreed. The only 'hyper' in this story is hyperbole.

Re:! hyperdrive

[dkleinsc]

No, hyperdrive isn't sufficient to go to plaid. For that you need a system capable of ludicrous speed. </pendantic>

Re:! hyperdrive

[BirdDoggy]

Hyperdrive with SpeedBoost(tm) technology.

Re:But

[Anonymous Coward]

um... no?
kinetic energy doesn't follow that formula at relativistic speeds, which the article is explicitly about.

No, you've missed the point Re:! hyperdrive

[WolfWithoutAClause]

The point of the drive is not that it enables light speed, or that it saves energy, because it doesn't do either.

The point of the drive is that it would accelerate you and you *don't* feel it!

The drive would accelerate you by gravity. Just like the International Space Station astronauts are still falling towards the Earth, but they can't feel it- you can't feel relativistic gravity either.

So you could accelerate at 1000 times the Earth's surface gravity if you wanted, and not even spill your coffee (potentially, if it works, and it should do).

Of course scaling up an effect that is only faintly sensed on an accelerator the size of the LHC is left as an exercise to the reader ;-), but it's fundamental research and you never know where it could lead.