• Question: Do you think we could ever travel as fast as light in space

    Asked by yerk520rope to Viviene DC, Vicky F, Tom, Michael C, Martin M, christinaschoettler, Calum, Callum M, Alastair HH on 7 Apr 2025.
    • Photo: Christina Schoettler

      Christina Schoettler answered on 7 Apr 2025:

      I don’t think we will ever travel as fast as light, as there are so many problems with doing that based on our understanding of physics.

      As we understand it, only particles without mass can travel at light speed. Anything with mass will increase in mass, the faster it travels requiring more and more energy to further increase speed, which will then further increase mass.

      Unless we find a way around this problem, I don’t think we will ever get even close to this speed.

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 28 Apr 2025:

      No… Moving as fast as light is impossible with our current techology. However, there are solutions of Einstein’s equations that permit us to bend space and take short cuts that make it appear that we are travelling faster than light. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to develop technologies based on those solutions yet.

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