This 2–dimensional representation shows how positive mass curves spacetime (left side, blue earth) and negative mass curves spacetime in an opposite direction (right side, red earth). Proxima Centauri here we come, right? Unfortunately, Alcubierre’s method of compressing spacetime had one problem: it requires negative energy or negative mass. Alcubierre showed that the warp drive from “Star Trek” was in fact theoretically possible. In theory, this approach does not contradict the laws of relativity since you are not moving faster than light in the space around you. Then, moving through spacetime at your maximum speed of one meter per second, you would be able to reach point B in about one second. However, let’s say you could somehow compress the space between you and point B so that the interval is now just one meter. If you are standing at point A and can travel one meter per second, it would take 10 seconds to get to point B. So, what does that mean? Imagine the distance between two points is 10 meters (33 feet). In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre, a Mexican theoretical physicist, showed that compressing spacetime in front of the spaceship while expanding it behind was mathematically possible within the laws of General Relativity. What if a starship could compress space in front of it while expanding spacetime behind it? “Star Trek” took this idea and named it the warp drive. Early science fiction writers John Campbell and Asimov saw this warping as a way to skirt the speed limit. This curvature is what you feel as gravity and why many spacefaring heroes worry about “getting stuck in” or “falling into” a gravity well. General relativity also describes how mass and energy warp spacetime – hefty objects like stars and black holes curve spacetime around them. General Relativity states that space and time are fused and that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Physicists’ current understanding of spacetime comes from Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. (Image credit: AllenMcC/Wikimedia Commons) Compression and expansion This 2-dimensional representation shows the flat, unwarped bubble of spacetime in the center where a warp drive would sit surrounded by compressed spacetime to the right (downward curve) and expanded spacetime to the left (upward curve).
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