[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')Scientists in the EU report that neutrino particles can go faster than light---something that violates the paradigms of "standard physics."

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', 'M')ore likely there is a systematic error or alternatively an ultimate speed limit is marginally higher than speed of light and dictated by maximum permissible speed of neutrinos.
In latter case some minor modification for relativity would be called upon.

[EnergyUnlimited]

@ Agent,
There are 3 types of neutrino (electron, muon and tau neutrino) which are flipping from one to another as they travel.
These flippings are known as neutrino oscillations.

Experiments with neutrino oscillations are confirming that each form of neutrino has a mass, albeit there is much confusion there and I am aware of claims that they might have only an ill defined mass.
Perhaps a property which might be talked about in terms of mass but yet not a mass really.
http://wwwphy.princeton.edu/borexino/nu-mass.html
Confusing enough by now...

As per all what we know about photon, it has a rest mass 0, albeit mass equivalent of its energy might be quite high, often few MeV for gamma rays and this is more than rest mass of electron which has a mass of only 0.5 MeV.
However in vacuum photons are travelling at the same speed, regardless how much energy they are carrying.
Incidentally that is a good argument for the rest mass of photon to be zero...
For comparison masses which can be assigned to neutrinos are only in range of a fraction of eV, say 0.1 eV, entirely insignificant comparing to mass of electron.

I am aware of a theory proposed some time ago by quite a respected physicist, long before current revelations, that neutrinos are moving FTL due to interactions with some exotic force field not accessible to other particles.
(I can find a reference if it is of anyone's interest).
In such situation the ultimate speed limit would be a maximum speed of neutrinos marginally above c.
So minor correction to special relativity would deal with that and causality would be safe.

You will also note that in simplest scenario (where neutrinos are tachyons born above speed limit or rather speed barrier separating FTL world and ordinary world) naive application of Lorentz equation you have mentioned would leave you with imaginary mass of neutrinos.
Interaction of such particles with ordinary matter would be in breach of causality albeit one of other seemingly knowledgeable members of this forum (evilgenius) have placed some well reasoned (but not necessarily true...) arguments against that.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')Ech, that stupid Obama...
He even cannot remember to switch off light in the fridge.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')owever in vacuum photons are travelling at the same speed, regardless how much energy they are carrying.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', 'B')ut I also don't like the idea of things moving above c, that can be detected by normal things; that kinda bugs me. Perhaps I'm just falling into a modern equivalent of being used to the way I think things are. The Lorentz factor just feels so natural and elegant to me, I guess I just accept it as the "shape of the verse" without really poking it all that much.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', ' ')that possibility of some faster-than-the-speed-barrier objects interacting with ordinary matter would make a whole mess of physics.

[ralfy]

Reminds me of this article:

"6 Reasons Space Travel Will Always Suck"

http://www.cracked.com/article_18547_6- ... -suck.html

[JohnRM]

SETI was set-up in the early 1980s. For 30 years, it hasn't been able to find any intelligent life, beyond our own. The most likely reason for this is that although there probably are a multitude of intelligent species out there, they have either not accessed fossil fuels or have already exhausted them, or they've destroyed themselves. Given the distances in time and space, out there, it is extremely likely that it would rare, if ever, that two intelligent species would have their fossil fuel ages overlap.

[JohnRM]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ralfy', 'R')eminds me of this article:

"6 Reasons Space Travel Will Always Suck"

http://www.cracked.com/article_18547_6- ... -suck.html

[Graeme]

The Milky Way contains at least 100 billion planets according to survey

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')ur Milky Way galaxy contains a minimum of 100 billion planets according to a detailed statistical study based on the detection of three extrasolar planets by an observational technique called microlensing.

Kailash Sahu, of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., is part of an international team reporting today that our galaxy contains a minimum of one planet for every star on average. This means that there is likely to be a minimum of 1,500 planets within just 50 light-years of Earth.

The results are based on observations taken over six years by the PLANET (Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork) collaboration, which Sahu co-founded in 1995. The study concludes that there are far more Earth-sized planets than bloated Jupiter-sized worlds. This is based on calibrating a planetary mass function that shows the number of planets increases for lower mass worlds. A rough estimate from this survey would point to the existence of more than 10 billion terrestrial planets across our galaxy.

The results are being published in the January 12 issue of the British science journal Nature.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnRM', '
')(b) Propulsion system that can achieve a speed of minimum of 7.125 x 10^7 mph

[ralfy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnRM', '
')
Bottom line. It is very possible, but it would take serious determination. The purpose of this kind of starship would be for a one-way trip out of the Solar System. It is NEVER coming back. It is a matter of saving our species from extinction. The reality is that even when you reach your destination, you may not find an inhabitable planet. If it does have a friendly atmosphere and water, it may be too small or too large to support human life (gravity-wise). So, multiple generations being born and living their entire lives on this ship is probable. That is why it would not be like a cruise ship. It would have to be better.

[JohnRM]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnRM', '
')(b) Propulsion system that can achieve a speed of minimum of 7.125 x 10^7 mph

[ralfy]

Except that we had fewer people and a lot more resources back then.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnRM', 'E')ven as the Wright Brothers tested their first powered aircraft, at Kitty Hawk, most of the world believed that humans would never achieve powered flight.

[Graeme]

Fission rockets, the gen next in space exploration

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ission rockets could be a vital stepping-stone technology towards the next generation of interstellar space exploration, researchers say.


The fission rocket being referred to here is the Nuclear Thermal Rocket, or NTR. An NTR uses nuclear fission as an energy source instead of chemical combustion, and uses just hydrogen as a propellant, allowing it to achieve a very high exhaust velocity and high thrust, Discovery News reported.

Starting this month, Icarus Interstellar Inc., the managing company for Project Icarus, is collaborating with General Propulsion Sciences, a small propulsion research company based in Washington D.C., for a new effort to pursue the development of NTRs and other fission-based space technologies.

The program, dubbed Project Bifrost, which was initiated by Research Lead Tabitha Smith (Strategic Officer of General Propulsion Science) and Brad Appel (Program Manager of Nuclear Propulsion at General Propulsion Science) identifies fission as a crucial stepping-stone technology towards the next generation of space travel, and will take steps to advance the technological maturity of NTRs.

In the coming decades, sending humans to Mars is believed by many to be the Holy Grail for space exploration, a mission that NTRs are ideally suited for.

[dissident]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', '[')b]Fission rockets, the gen next in space exploration

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ission rockets could be a vital stepping-stone technology towards the next generation of interstellar space exploration, researchers say.

[rangerone314]

Even if you find a habitable planet, who is to say there isn't some regular cycle that every 150 years it reaches temperatures like -150 C and after you land and create a colony the freeze sets in and stays that way for a few years.

Every year, the more I think about it, the more unlikely I see interstellar travel as being, let alone colonization. Probably a good thing for the universe, seeing as how we're handling this planet.

Best not to give the keys to a new car to someone who wrecked the old one driving drunk.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissident', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', '[')b]Fission rockets, the gen next in space exploration

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ission rockets could be a vital stepping-stone technology towards the next generation of interstellar space exploration, researchers say.