Physicist does the math on Star Trek’s “Picard maneuver”
The trick from Next Generation would be even more effective in real life.
Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the starship Enterprise-D in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, executed a maneuver known as the "Picard maneuver." Physicist Níckolas de Aguiar Alves from the Federal University of ABC in Brazil analyzed this maneuver and found a subtle detail that was overlooked by the show's writers. However, this detail actually enhances the impressiveness of the maneuver and presents a valuable opportunity to explain a lesser-known aspect of the theory of relativity.
Alves first encountered the Picard maneuver while watching the episode "The Battle" of the show's first season as a master's student. The episode features a Ferengi leader recalling a past battle when his ship, the Stargazer, was under attack. With shields down, Picard had to close with the enemy ship without taking any hits. To achieve this, Picard ordered the Stargazer to accelerate to warp speed (faster than light), then abruptly stop and fire.
The physicist explained that by traveling faster than light, Picard anticipated that the enemy ship would perceive two images of the Stargazer: one at the moment it reached warp speed and another when it stopped. If the enemy fired upon the wrong image, they would miss the Stargazer, allowing Picard to win the battle.
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