M
mars_or_die
Guest
I have always been fascinated with the idea of traveling thru space, exploring "strange new worlds" and "going where no man (or women) has gone before". After years of reading, thinking and studying the concept of Faster than Light travel I had almost given up on the possibility of it ever being possible to travel thru space fast enough to make space exploration a reality. Then something hit me.<br /><br />According to our currently accepted "Theory of Relativity" and "Theory of Special Relativity" it is IMPOSSIBLE for an object to ACCELLERATE to the speed of light. Notice I capitalized ACCELLERATE. However, when you think if it like that a new question arises.<br /><br />CAN ANYTHING TRAVEL FASTER THAN LIGHT? By that I mean is there anything in the universe that in its natural state has a speed in excess of that of light. I dont mean something capable of accellerating to a ftl speed. I mean something that is ALWAYS at an FTL speed or something that can INSTANTLY be at an FTL speed.<br /><br />There have been discussions on the theoretical possibility of TACHYONS and from what I have heard/read they are at expected to be at a constant speed in excess of c. Which leads me to a slew of new and mind-boggling questions.<br /><br />1.) Is there any strong scientific basis for the belief in the existence of anything traveling ftl like Tachyons?<br />2.) What is a Tachyon theorized to be, is it energy, light, plasma, WHAT?<br />3.) Is it believed that a Tachyon has ALWAYS traveled FTL and if so WHY?<br />4.) Is it theoretically possible to create a Tachyon?<br />5.) Is it theoretically possible for a Tachyon to carry data, energy, etc. with it at FTL?<br /><br />Now back to the main subject at hand. Traveling Faster Than Light!<br /><br />Okay so we can't accellerate to FTL speeds due to an infinite mass and thus require an infinite source of energy. However, is it theoretically possible (given our current understanding) that something could go from rest to c INSTANTLY, or from rest to &g