A team of physicists has discovered that it is possible to build a real, physical, and true warp drive engine without breaking any known rules of physics. However, there is a catch: the ship using the warp drive cannot exceed the speed of light, so you won’t be getting anywhere interesting anytime soon. Despite this, this research represents a significant advancement in our understanding of gravity.
Moving without moving
Einstein’s general theory of relativity is a tool for solving problems involving gravity, connecting mass and energy with deformations in space-time. In turn, these deformations in space-time tell mass and energy how to move. In almost all cases, physicists use the equations of relativity to figure out how a particular combination of objects will move. They have a physical scenario, like a planet orbiting a star or two black holes colliding, and wonder how these objects will deform space-time and what the subsequent evolution of the system should be.
But it’s also possible to run Einstein’s math backward by imagining some desired movement and asking what kind of space-time deformation can make it possible. This is how Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre discovered the physical basis for a warp drive engine, which has long been a staple of the Star Trek franchise.
