The Warp Drive in invented tomorrow. What happens next?

[Whirligig Girl]

Suppose a hypothetical laboratory is working on a device which would be able to warp space relatively cheaply. They get several confirmed experiments. A few other labs get confirmed experiments as well. A few papers are published about it. The press goes wild with titles like "Yes, we really do have warp drive for real this time." Skeptics examine the evidence, and find that, unlike EMdrive, the math and science works out. They start bringing higher energy levels into the device. A few megawatts are put into the drive, and it suddenly whizzes out the door at a few hundred miles per hour, crashing into the wall and taking down that section of the building. Another experiment is performed outside with nothing to crash into, and the drive launches itself across a football field.

Continued experiments find that the drive works on translation, not acceleration, so that it can actually work without being a perpetual motion machine. Calculations suggest that the lightspeed barrier can be broken using a warp drive, because loopholes, and that it wouldn't take more than the power generated by a good nuclear reactor to break 1c.

The world realizes that this new space warp effect is real. It's actually happening. What do you think would happen next?

EDIT: Some more details.

THe drive is unstable deep in a gravity well. You have to get pretty far away from Earth (out to around GEO or further) for it to produce more than a few hundred miles per hour of spacewarp. Thus, it can not be used as a WMD, because it slows down near things like cities.

It also is safe, in that it does not produce huge amounts of radiation when getting out of warp.

Basically, it follows similar rules to the USI Warp Drive mod for KSP.

Edited July 30, 2015 by GregroxMun

[SargeRho]

Aliens will cower in fear as we spread freedom and democracy, probably?

Or the Shivans pay us a visit.

[Camacha]

The world realizes that this new space warp effect is real. It's actually happening. What do you think would happen next?

That depends on who has the knowledge. If it is one party, expect lots of tensions and issues. If it is pretty much open knowledge, expect an arms race to build warp capable ships. Military upgrades will probably quickly happen, since ships that can be hidden outside of your enemy's range of travel cannot be hurt. Which brings me back to my first point - I gather countries will want to keep this to themselves.

[_Augustus_]

We will spread democracy throughout our region of the galaxy. We will exterminate all aliens because they illegally immigrate to Earth and also because they look ugly. The end.

[AngelLestat]

the alarm sounds and you wake up...

[Robotengineer]

This sounds like a forum game more than a science lab thread...

[Vaporo]

Depends on how easy it is to build as well. It it requires a an empty can of spray paint and some chewing gum, you can expect every Joe Schmoe to build a starship in his back yard. If you need a thousand tons of gold-plated diamonds, building one will become a massive international effort.

[Camacha]

This sounds like a forum game more than a science lab thread...

No, not really. This is not about the funniest response, this is more of a thought experiment.

[55delta]

What happens next? It's obvious. NASA leverages this new breakthrough for the funding to send space probes to any and all rocks that they can detect in space. Why not?

[GeneralVeers]

What would happen? Same thing as with the invention of the steam engine or the jet engine. The nations of the Free World will gain new knowledge by leaps and bounds. The Voyager space probes will get left behind as ships explore far outside the solar system. Probably some smart aleck is gonna fly up to Deep Space 1 and graffiti it.

Will we encounter hostile aliens? (Don't give me that look, SargeRho already brought the subject up!) Probably not. We'll almost certainly encounter life on other planets--almost entirely microbes, plants and animals. The universe is 13 billion years old; human evolution took us from that point to our current level of technology in only a few thousand years. So whether we encounter alien civilizations depends entirely on how often that kind of evolution happens--a question we cannot answer until we go out into space and take a look.

The economic benefit will probably be pretty indirect; it all depends what valuable substances are discovered where. A deposit of platinum on a planet like Venus wouldn't be such a great find, because it would be impossible to reach, buried under 90 atmospheres of pressure laced with sulphuric acid. So most of the benefits would be in terms of new knowledge.

The military balance of power wouldn't change, even if everybody gained access to the technology at once. Because nations such as the U.S. have the wide array of other technologies needed to support this new one. So you have a warp engine. Fantastic. Do you have the economy to build a starship around it? Computers and instruments to pilot the thing? Weapons to defend it from suicide bombers? Nations such as the U.S. have all these other things. Most other nations on Earth don't. Even if North Korea had a nuclear weapon (they don't), they haven't got the technology to put it on a missile, or guide that missile accurately to Washington DC. By the time North Korea does have those technologies, the U.S. will have a fully-operational SDI network (assuming the U.S. doesn't have it already....) and North Korea's hard work will be for naught. Neener neener!

This is simply the same course of events that has already happened with past world-changing inventions.

[HoloYolo]

I read the last part of the title as "What Happens Now?", a soundtrack piece from Interstellar.

In seriousness, I think NASA would start planning Interstellar voyages. Countries will start racing to build their own to compete with the US. The military will start building warpships, and wars will occur with the US involved as people try to steal their technology. At least that's what I think.

[BagelRabbit]

The world realizes that this new space warp effect is real. It's actually happening. What do you think would happen next?

Okay, first of all, your title is misleading. I hate to be pedantic, but if someone had an idea for a warp drive ("invented" a warp drive) tomorrow, nothing would probably happen for four or five years as tests were done. There would be some initial hype from the press, but that would be quashed as people correctly stated that unless repeated attempts worked, it wouldn't be worth even a tiny bit of attention.

[speculation]

After a working warp drive was created beyond a shadow of a doubt, the military would probably seize control of all plans and methodology behind the warp drive. They would state that this could be used against the United States, pointing to the law of E=mc² turning mass into energy and thus releasing an almost unimaginably large explosion if the thing was abused. Debates about using the warp drive for war would become a household subject. North Korea would claim to have created their own warp drive, but nobody would believe them.

After years of petitioning, scientists would finally be given permission to attach a small payload to a warp drive and send it out into space. The payload would merely warp a few light-days away from Earth to test the feasibility of such a project. While the warp initially appears to have occurred successfully, no radio contact is established. It turns out that warp drives generate such intense amounts of electromagnetic radiation in all frequencies while passing the light barrier, it cannot realistically be used.

Government funding towards warp drives is finally cancelled due to the tensions it causes ("if you can't use warp drives for scientific purposes, why are you still pouring money into the program?") and the exorbitant cost. The warp drive, however, has captured the public's imagination. Forty years later, a man claims to have the original warp drive's blueprints. An amateur team of scientists attempts to follow them and ends up killing six people and wounding another three when they get something just a little wrong. The days of the warp drive are over.

[/speculation]

Yes, I overthink things. I also think, however, that this thread is more about speculation on humanity's actions than it is on spacecraft. Perhaps this thread would work better in the Space Lounge?

-Upsilon

[Camacha]

The military balance of power wouldn't change, even if everybody gained access to the technology at once.

Thing is, that would never happen exactly parallel. There will always be new countries up ahead and old powers left behind. While being up front right now certainly helps in developing ships, it will also almost certainly shift power and change the dominant nations around.

After a working warp drive was created beyond a shadow of a doubt, the military would probably seize control of all plans and methodology behind the warp drive. They would state that this could be used against the United States

Why do you assume the US invents this, or has anything to say about its inventors? Or are you suggesting the US will impose their opinion with their more traditional army?

[Nothalogh]

Suppose a hypothetical laboratory is working on a device which would be able to warp space relatively cheaply. They get several confirmed experiments. A few other labs get confirmed experiments as well. A few papers are published about it. The press goes wild with titles like "Yes, we really do have warp drive for real this time." Skeptics examine the evidence, and find that, unlike EMdrive, the math and science works out. They start bringing higher energy levels into the device. A few megawatts are put into the drive, and it suddenly whizzes out the door at a few hundred miles per hour, crashing into the wall and taking down that section of the building. Another experiment is performed outside with nothing to crash into, and the drive launches itself across a football field.

Continued experiments find that the drive works on translation, not acceleration, so that it can actually work without being a perpetual motion machine. Calculations suggest that the lightspeed barrier can be broken using a warp drive, because loopholes, and that it wouldn't take more than the power generated by a good nuclear reactor to break 1c.

The world realizes that this new space warp effect is real. It's actually happening. What do you think would happen next?

It means whoever built it possesses the means to drop big honkin rocks on the heads of anyone who doesn't dance to their tune

[Camacha]

It means whoever built it possesses the means to drop big honkin rocks on the heads of anyone who doesn't dance to their tune

Lots of nations already have something easier: atom bombs.

[SargeRho]

Not to mention you don't want to use a warp drive too close to a planet anyways. If I'm not mistaken, you might just take a bit of the planet with you.

"Whoops, did you still need that continent?"

[GeneralVeers]

Thing is, that would never happen exactly parallel. There will always be new countries up ahead and old powers left behind. While being up front right now certainly helps in developing ships, it will also almost certainly shift power and change the dominant nations around.

Disagree. If anything changes the world's power structure, it will NOT be anything having to do with space travel. As John Crichton put it: humans don't even go to the Moon any more. The U.S. is the only nation to ever put people on the Moon--no other nation is even trying.

The U.S. has the world's most advanced space program, and therefore will be first out the gate if and when warp drive is invented.

Side note: the military benefits of a warp drive will run a distant second to the civilian benefits gained from space exploration; putting craft in space is already enormously expensive (which is the number one reason nobody sends people to the Moon any more), and a ship with a warp drive on it is going to be more expensive, not less. In the end, rather than putting weapons on spacecraft, it will be far cheaper and more practical to put those weapons on unmanned drones. For the price of one Pillar of Autumn, you could have ten thousand drones or a couple dozen extremely stealthy submarines, both of which have repeatedly proven their ability to blow stuff up with a minimum of fuss. The ability to fly a starship instantly to a target area doesn't have much advantage over a submarine that can put a missile on target in six minutes.

[Nothalogh]

Lots of nations already have something easier: atom bombs.

Correct, but it means that the CEO of Asteroid Transport Inc, can just stroll in to the UNSC and pull up a chair

[Camacha]

Disagree. If anything changes the world's power structure, it will NOT be anything having to do with space travel. As John Crichton put it: humans don't even go to the Moon any more. The U.S. is the only nation to ever put people on the Moon--no other nation is even trying.

The huge difference here is that going to the Moon yields no actual benefit, while a warp ship does.

The U.S. has the world's most advanced space program, and therefore will be first out the gate if and when warp drive is invented.

Currently the US has such an advanced program that it cannot put people into space. Their program, as it stands, is not more advanced than that of Europe or Russia. Probably also not much less advanced, though. Each has slightly different capabilities, but all can but together a variety of rockets if they would really have to.

The ability to fly a starship instantly to a target area doesn't have much advantage over a submarine that can put a missile on target in six minutes.

It does. It cannot be hit by anyone that does not have warp technology. In this regard it is similar, but just slightly superior to submarines. It is MAD on a different scale.

Not to mention you don't want to use a warp drive too close to a planet anyways. If I'm not mistaken, you might just take a bit of the planet with you.

"Whoops, did you still need that continent?"

That might be a whole different type of MAD. They do not wipe the planet clean of life, they simple wipe half the planet away.

[jwenting]

The UN would quickly declare that other stars are off limits for economic activity, the EPA would rule that running it is illegal because of environmental impact, the Chinese and Russians would ignore all that and send probes out to find habitable planets to spread their empires.

If there are any aliens out there they'd recognise the threat of those highly aggressive primitives from earth and blockade the planet, maybe even decide it's time to get rid of those pests and exterminate us.

[Nothalogh]

decide it's time to get rid of those pests and exterminate us

And that's where the real fun begins

[SargeRho]

That might actually be rather hard. Warp Drives destroy everything they fly into, and there is no defense against it. You could warp-orize all those alien ships.

[Camacha]

That might actually be rather hard. Warp Drives destroy everything they fly into, and there is no defense against it. You could warp-orize all those alien ships.

Would the same not apply in reverse?

[SargeRho]

No. K^2 can probably explain it better than I can, but basically, warp drives accumulate everything they fly through in the front of the bubble basically in the form of energy or subatomic particles. Upon shutting down the drive, all of that is emitted as forward facing gamma rays.

[Camacha]

No. K^2 can probably explain it better than I can, but basically, warp drives accumulate everything they fly through in the front of the bubble basically in the form of energy or subatomic particles. Upon shutting down the drive, all of that is emitted as forward facing gamma rays.

I am not sure you understand what I mean. If aliens are capable to pay us a visit with ships, they are likely warp capable. This in turn means they can do all the nasty stuff to us we would do to them and they do not just have our ships, they know where we live.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Camacha