Warp Drive

Warp drive is a hypothetical faster-than-light (FTL) propulsion system in the setting of many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek. A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at apparent speeds greater than that of light by many orders of magnitude, while circumventing the relativistic problem of time dilation. In contrast to many other fictional FTL technologies, such as a "jump drive" or the Infinite Improbability Drive, the warp drive does not permit instantaneous travel between two points; instead, warp drive technology creates an artificial "bubble" of normal space-time that surrounds the spacecraft (as opposed to entering a separate realm or dimension like hyperspace, as is used in the Star Wars, Stargate franchise, Warhammer 40,000, Babylon 5 and Andromeda universes). Consequently, spacecraft at warp velocity can continue to interact with objects in "normal space". Some of the other fictions in which warp drive technology is featured include: Stars!, Freelancer, EVE Online, Earth and Beyond, StarCraft, Mass Effect, DarkSpace, Starship Troopers, Doctor Who, Halo and Star Ocean.

A valid solution for faster-than-light travel which models the warp drive concept, called the Alcubierre drive, was formulated by physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994. Subsequent calculations found that such a model would require prohibitive amounts of energy. However, it has recently been found that by changing the shape of the warp drive, much less energy could be used, making the idea of a warp drive once again feasible, and NASA scientists have begun preliminary research on such technology.