Exogenesis by Bruce R. Fenton

Author:Bruce R. Fenton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781632657602
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser

CHAPTER 9

WARP DRIVES AND WORMHOLES

If the black hole like Sagittarius A*, located

at the centre of our own galaxy, is large and

rotating, then the outlook for a spacecraft changes

dramatically. That's because the singularity that a

spacecraft would have to contend with is very gentle

and could allow for a very peaceful passage.

—PROFESSOR GAURAV KHANNA, physicist

For extraterrestrial entities to take any role in Earth's prehistory, history, they would require advanced technologies far beyond anything humans possess today, or at least well beyond anything visible to us in public. I can't offer conclusive evidence of how aliens reached Earth, though we can at least explore the feasibility of ancient visitations to our planet based on a look at known and theoretical space travel technologies.

My generation grew up in what has been termed the space age. I was born a year after Viking 1 sent the first images of Mars back to Earth and have lived through a range of subsequent developments, including successful artificial probe missions to all the local planetary systems. Until recently humanity has been limited to rocket technology, which has proven inadequate to allow for direct human exploration of the planets in our solar system. The moon has been our only success story until today.

In just the last couple of years, NASA has been testing a new drive system, known as the EM drive. This has caused a lot of heated debate among physicists, as it seems to break the accepted rules by producing thrust without burning fuel. Some calculations suggest that if the EM drive works as hoped it might take astronauts to Mars in as little as seventy days. The Chinese government claims to already have a working prototype of this propulsion system, and other parties are planning their own tests for this new technology.1

Scientists are also investigating the potential of nuclear thermal and nuclear electric propulsion systems. These could take us to Proxima Centauri (4.24 light-years away) in about one thousand years. Compare this capability to the currently utilized electronic ion drive system, using accelerated ions for thrust, which requires an eighty-one-thousand-year journey to the same star system.

Several theoretical propulsion systems can potentially accelerate our journeys through space, including nuclear pulse propulsion, fusion rockets, fusion ramjet, laser sails, and antimatter engines. Unfortunately, for now, all these systems are hindered by a wide range of technical problems. In some cases, we would need an enormous craft with vast reserves of highly specialized fuel. In others, the construction costs equal more money than ever available or energy beyond the output of the entire planet. That is not to say they might not be feasible in the future as human technology reaches a far higher level.2

Two theoretical technologies sound as if they might be directly linked to Alcheringa's narrative. A description of how the mothership moves might suggest something like an Alcubierre drive: “We don't move into the gateway, we are suddenly just through it. There is no linear movement as such, we are just instantly there.”3

The Alcubierre drive is close to the warp drive systems portrayed in the television show Star Trek.

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