Not Gradual Disclosure, But…

[Gene Steinberg]

So we see that we are closer and closer to proving the existence of ET, even ahead of a solution to the UFO mystery:

Kepler space telescope finds Earth-size, potentially habitable planets are common - The Washington Post

 

[Randall]

So we see that we are closer and closer to proving the existence of ET, even ahead of a solution to the UFO mystery:
Kepler space telescope finds Earth-size, potentially habitable planets are common - The Washington Post

Nice one Gene. So at 50% of light speed it's about a 25 year ride to Earth. Given the will and the resources that's probably even within our own technological capability. So imagine a race a few centuries ahead of us. The ETH just gets more and more reasonable all the time. But the jury's still out .

 

[Gene Steinberg]

I am fascinated by the research into warp drive. If it is developed some day, we'll be able to get to another star system in days, not years or centuries.

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Gene,
This is good news and maybe one day they will invent warp drive

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Yes, I cannot wait for someone in the test crew to announce, "Engage!"

 

[Stagger Lee]

The thing I wonder about the idea of "warp speed" travel- how to avoid any space debris. At such a speed, even the smallest of objects would be a problem.

 

[mike]

That big, black void between planets actually is full of radiation and tiny particles which their research suggests would be “swept up” in the warp bubble and then focused into areas in front of and behind the ship. This wouldn’t actually be a danger for anyone inside the warp bubble but for anyone hanging out at the ship’s destination it would spell certain doom.

Warp Drive Is Actually A Weapon Of Mass Destruction | Giant Freakin Robot

So how to avoid disintegrating your port of call? It may be as simple as just aiming your vessel a bit off to the side… or, it may not. The research only focused on the planar space in front of and behind the warp bubble; deadly postwarp particle beams could end up blown in all directions!

Read more: Warp Drives May Come With a Killer Downside

Interstellar space is not empty It is fulfilled with photons and particle dusts and a ship at superluminal speeds would impact these obstacles in highly energetic collisions disrupting the warp field and placing the astronauts in danger.
This was pointed out by a great number of authors like Clark,Hiscock,Larson,McMonigal,Lewis,O’Byrne, Barcelo,Finazzi and Liberati.
In order to travel significant interstellar distances in reasonable amounts of time a ship would need to attain 200 times the speed of light but according to Clark,Hiscock and Larson the impact between the ship and a single photon of Cosmic Background Radiation(COBE)would release an amount of energy equal to the photosphere of a star like the Sun.And how many photons of COBE we have per cubic centimeter of space?This serious problem seems to have no solution at first sight.
However some years ago Harold White from NASA appeared with an idea that may well solve this problem:
According to him the ship never surpass the speed of light but the warp field generates a Lorentz Boost resulting in an apparent superluminal speed as seen by the astronauts on-board the ship and on the Earth while the warp bubble is always below the light speed with the ability to manoeuvre against these obstacles avoiding the lethal collisions.
In this work we examine the feasibility of the White idea using clear mathematical arguments and we arrived at the conclusion that Harold White is correct

http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/76/87/79/PDF/White-Boost.pdf

 

[stonehart]

Yes, I cannot wait for someone in the test crew to announce, "Engage!"

I can dream I guess

 

[mike]

Doctor Who’s time-traveling TARDIS could theoretically exist, says new study | ExtremeTech

[1310.7985] Traversable Achronal Retrograde Domains In Spacetime

http://arxiv-web3.library.cornell.edu/pdf/1310.7985v2.pdf

 

[mike]

Debris that may lay between the ship and her destination will appear to follow a path around the distorted space, from the perspective of the ship. From the debris perspective, nothing appears to have happened, it occupies the same space and continues on the same trajectory it held before the encounter.

The G/Em Time/Space Warp Drive by michaelm

 

[Randall]

The classic warp drive is cool, but I tend to think that a hyper jump type FTL is the most promising:

Galactica FTL Jump