4 Sci-Fi Technologies That Would Make Space Travel Easy

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Ever since we have begun to understand our place in the universe, we have wanted to head out into space and explore as much of it as we can. Unfortunately, technology doesn't advance as fast as human desire.

It was only in 1969, that humans first landed on the Moon. Five decades later, we are still trying to get people back on the Moon and preparing to land the first humans on Mars. Sure, we have come a long way and we now have advanced satellites and rovers all over our solar system. One or two have even managed to leave the solar system.

But it is not the same, in my opinion. We are natural explorers and we want the first-hand experience with a new world. Sadly, we will just have to wait for technology to catch up to make that dream a reality.

Right now, we can only marvel at the sci-fi technologies they show in movies and tv shows and hope that maybe one day they become reality. To meaningfully explore space, which is unimaginably huge, we will need something that can bend the laws of physics themselves. Here are 4 such technologies that might do so.

Wormholes

Wormholes have long been a favourite among movie makers. They are basically a structural link between two distant points in the universe. The concept is simple. You enter the wormhole from one place and arrive at the other immediately, no matter how long the actual distance between the two points are.

The thing is, wormholes aren't complete fantasies. They have some basis in theoretical Physics and the math allows for it. It is only a matter of discovering their existence. Then, we could potentially learn to make one ourselves, if we are lucky. This could be the holy grail of space travel if ever it becomes a reality since it would allow for faster than light travel.

Warp Drive

Warp Drive is another popular term that you must be aware of if you have watched the Star Trek movies. Basically, this technology manipulates (warps) the fabric of spacetime itself to push an object forward.

So, if a spaceship has something called a 'warp engine' it would essentially be able to compress the space in front of it and expand the space behind it. This would propel the spaceship forward at faster than light speeds.

The law of Physics that no object can travel at faster than the speed of light wouldn't be broken here since the spaceship itself wouldn't be travelling at FTL speeds. It would just be riding the wave of spacetime.

Hyper Drive

This is another common term that sci-fi lovers use regularly. Like the warp drive, it allows for faster than light travel as well but in a much different way. It gets around the light speed limit but allowing an object to enter 'hyperspace'.

In movies, they don't really explain what hyperspace really is but we can infer that it could be some sort of a higher dimension. The laws of physics could be different in the higher dimensions and so the light speed limit wouldn't apply.

The spaceship with such a hyperdrive could theoretically move at much faster speeds than the speed of light and when it is close to its destination, it could simply re-enter 'normal' space.

Teleportation

This is the ultimate holy grail of travel, be it space travel or travel within a planet or a moon. The ability to just disappear from one place and appear at the other, regardless of the distances involved, is literally a dream. Many scientists have tried to poke the theories that would allow for teleportation, but so far we just have hypotheses.

It is kind of similar to wormholes, but there are subtle differences. A wormhole would basically require us entering a portal and exiting out of another portal. Teleportation would basically work on the principles of quantum physics (if they ever do), and an object would simply disappear from a point and reappear at another. No portals required.

Many believe that such a technology is impossible. But if history is anything to go by, we might be in for a surprise, thousands of years from now! If teleportation becomes a reality, we could explore any part of the universe, easier than we travel here on Earth.

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