Indestructible Engineer Vessel

@Theusprom Getting back to the point of the matter, I don't think we'll have to worry about FTL in Prometheus. At least, not from humans. Whether the Jockeys, or other sources, utilize it may be another matter - but, like I said, this is science fiction. Previous Alien glossed over scientific facts in regards to physics and so-on, so I don't see its inclusion as a horrid offense, especially if it uses a model like extra-dimensional or temporal assimilation; that is, imprinting a object in space over its own paradox twin in another dimension or time. All of which is based on theory. Barely. When it comes to something like this, the plot and the ideas are more important than the verifiable science behind it. Ridley Scott is a very thematic, philosophical director - the setting is simply that. I wouldn't expect, nor deplore the lack of, hard science.

@ Theusprom - I agree, please no time travel in Prometheus, otherwise next we'll have Aliens versus Terminator.

@Snorkelbottom - That's bad? Then we can finally have Aliens vs. Predator vs. Robocop vs. Terminator!

Don't forget Doctor Who, Timecop, Deaths Head etc. etc.

Well, I was combining prominent X vs. X mash-ups done in the past. Robocop vs. Terminator was an arcade game, like Aliens vs. Predator.

In that case put batman, superman, judge dredd, marvel, capcom, snk, tekken etc. into the mix. Ryu hadokens a Xenomorph, the acid burns supes cape, the resulting smoke chokes batman, he bends down, robocop trips over him (not looking where hes going), squatting spiderman like a fly, spidermans guts get on dredds visor causing him to blindly (maybe) shoot Jin Kazama in the foot, who in his pain filled reaction punches the terminator into the tardis, killing van damme.

Snorkel - where can I contact your agent?

It's a testament to Alien fans that we can skip from conversations about theoretical physics to super hero match ups with relative ease. Sorry to have harp on about this but black holes are theoretical, by their very nature they cannot be observed. Only we when we can get close enough to interact with them will they be proven. Also bring on the Dredd movie, ABC warriors next please. And lastly please no FLT travel in prometheus, the standard model is all I can get my head around at the moment.

Last comment, I promise... Black Holes by their very nature cannot be observed, but the side effects can. @ Manndroid - My agent, I wish.

#1 Black holes are a virtual certainty among the scientific community, and it's a forgone conclusion that every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at it's galactic core. Some people get all metaphysical when it comes to black holes and thus question their existence. It's simply an object that is so massive that it's escape velocity exeeds the speed of light. The one at the center of the Milky Way is about 3.7 million solar masses. We know light can be bent by gravity (see gravitational lensing), so given enough mass the light is bent back on itself and render the object invisible. Although you can't observe them visually, their effects are easily discernable. #2 FTL is a speed (faster than light). It's a simple acronym. Now it is theorized that if an object could travel FTL without using some type of special drive/trick (I hate to say it : Warp), then time travel would be a result. But Einstein says NO to that. One theoretical partical that does travel faster than light is the Tachyon, but that is completely theoretical. The reason a Tachyon could move faster than the speed of light is because it has a negative mass. The Nutrino situation is interesting because it does have a very very small non zero mass. But even if it's confirmed, you can't make real stuff (like you can with protons, neutrons, and electrons) out of nutrinos. It might make a useful communication method. IMO, the best chance we'll ever have of going FLT is using some sort of trick like warping space. Space time is contracted ahead of the vessel and expanded behind the vessel. Now back to Prometheus. FTL is used as a plot device in almost all science fiction because it would take to long to get anywhere interesting without it. If the crew of the prometheus is traveling to Zeta Reticula it would take 39 years to make the journey at the speed of light. If it takes less than 39 years in the movie--BAM--they are traveling FTL. In the grand scheme of things, 39 light years is a paultry distance. The mere center of the Milky way is around 27000 light years away. I do like how the ALIEN universe uses hypersleep to augment space travel. They don't go overboard on the FTL speed like Star Trek. In Star Trek they Would just crank up the speed to Warp 9.5 and be at Zeta Reticuli in a little over 5 days, hehe. Now on to the derelict ship. I have a strong believe that the ship(s) are at least biomechanical in nature, and quite possibly sentient life forms in their own right. Maybe they obtain power from converting organic material to energy (aka eat/digestion) which could be a creepy plot device. It might also have the capability to self repair and/or heal any damage? Sorry for the long winded response.. Sci Fi + Prometheus speculation + theoretical physics = fun conversation.

I refer to Hawkings in an exert from one of my favorite books: "When we made the bet in 1975, we were 80% certain that Cygnus was a black hole. By now, I would say that we are about 95% certain, but the bet has yet to be settled." Key sentence here: "the bet has yet to be settled" They probably do exist Snork but the fact is we just dont know :-)

It can go one of two ways. Either you allow theoretical FTL travel in the film to enable their ship to reach Zeta Ret in a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise you have to insert suspended animation. At which point they would encounter the Nostromo in Zeta Ret because it would take them nearly 37 years to get there if their velocity is near C.

The bet is yet to be settled because the other party won't pay up, most likely because they refuse to believe in the existence of black holes. Anyway, they have proved the existence of black holes as Jeffomorph stated.

@ jeffomorph nice rant! It will be interesting to see when the final results come in from those suspicious neutrinos - I personally think there will be flawed data, simply due to the effect they would have on causality. Prometheus wise - Do the sums add up? Do we know how long before Alien Prometheus takes place, has to be at least 78 years no?

Snork if Stephen Hawkings doesn't "know" of the existence of black holes then I don't think Jeffomorph does :-)

Professor Stephen Hawking is the one scientist that has stated, many times, that black holes do exist. I wasn't inferring jeffomorph knows more he states in his post that evidence of supermassive black holes have been found to exist within the centre of virtually all galaxies according to observations. And regardless of what some scientists may say verifiable and multiple observations trump any theory.

Snork there is absolutely no empirical evidence for the existence of black holes that provides the level of model-independent proof that constitutes fact. There have been a ton of exotic objects proposed that we could be mistaking black holes for but until any of theses phenomena are proven using THE SCIENTIFIC MODEL, then they are theoretical!!!

The "Standard Model" itself is a theory and a joke, for example... We've all heard of dark matter, yes? Do you know why scientists contest that it exists? because their observations of the rotational speeds of galaxies weren't predicted by their mathematical "standard model". So, instead of re-writing their precious "standard model" they added a "clause" style equation that made their equations match their observations, and this "clause" states that there must be more mass than is apparently present for their observations to work within their equation. They refuse to believe that their equation, their model, their theory could be wrong.

You think the Standard Model is a joke? Hmmm... ok I think I'll leave it there - I dont think we're ever gonna see eye to eye on this Snork Peace :-)

Half the scientific community think its a joke, its unfit for purpose, and constantly wrong. But your right we probably never gonna see eye to eye on this, but let me say one thing... Einstein, Hawking = human Standard model created by = human Scientific theories created by = human Human = young, childish, arrogant, unlearned "Scientists don't know everything, they guess. But when they guess wrong, they NEVER admit it" - Professor Albert Einstein