Member-only story
Black Hole Travel
How to exploit an Einstein-Rosen bridge to venture deep into the universe
We’ve all seen movies or TV shows where intrepid travelers use a black hole (aka a wormhole) in the same way commuters use the New York subway system: enter at one point and emerge at another, having traveled some enormous distance (or at least a few blocks) in the blink of an eye. Because we’ve seen it depicted in popular entertainments, it must be true: we know everything we see on the screen is always an accurate representation of real life.
People really do fly backward when struck with a bullet. Defibrillators really do re-start inert hearts. DNA evidence really does identify the one person in all the world who did the crime. And black holes really are our convenient cosmic subway system, making lovely wormholes we can saunter through with blissful abandon.
So, as black holes are obviously there for our enjoyment, let’s see how we can use them to venture further than our funny little chemical rockets, futuristic ion drives, or even venture-capital-powered Muskmachines, could take us in a thousand lifetimes.
Like any good recipe, we have to start with our basic ingredients. In this case, lots and lots of mass. Admittedly this is a bit of a problem, as we’ll need to collect several thousand sun-sized stars. But…
