In Star Trek, we're all familiar with the USS Enterprise's warp engine's ability to propel the ship faster than the speed of light. Many would say the technology belongs within the Star Trek universe only. However, according to a loophole within Einstein's general theory of relativity, such a ship may be able to travel faster than light. In fact, NASA is working on practical applications for warp drive as we speak.
Einstein's theory states that an object with mass cannot travel faster than the speed of light. In the original Star Trek series, captain Kirk and crew were able to subvert this little rule through a nifty "matter-antimatter" engine. A collision between matter and antimatter resulted in untamable speed.
While an actual warp drive may not work the way it did in the original Star Trek series, it may still in fact be possible, thanks to physicist and Trek fan Miguel Alcubierre. Getting a ship to go faster than the speed of light is indeed a cunundrum. But what if, instead of moving through the universe, the universe moved around the ship? Through our own observations we know that space is moving and flexible.
In his paper The Warp Drive: Hyper-fast travel within general relativity, Alcubierre proposes a ship traveling in a warp bubble while space in front of the vehicle is contracted and space behind it is expanded. The ship is then immune to the general theory of relativity's restrictions and can travel in less time than light takes. The theory was incorporated in the 1990's with Star Trek: The Next Generation. For now it remains theoretical.
In an effort to move warp speed beyond theory, however, researchers at NASA are attempting the first step: creating their very own warp bubble. Creating this bubble requires the distortion of space-time by distorting electromagnetic waves that the Casimir effect claims exist in a vacuum. The NASA research team, led by Harold "Sonny" White at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, have attempted to induce space-time distortion in the lab. To do so, they have been comparing two laser beams, one going through a vacuum and one going through regular space, to see if one passes through a warp bubble. But because of the small size of the vacuum and the laser's precision, there is too much room for error.
White, however, remains determined, and is currently working on relocating the lab to a better location. He is convinced that warp travel will one day be possible. Perhaps what we see in Star Trek Into Darkness will one day be a matter of science fact.
"The bottom line is, nature can do it," White said. "So the salient question is, 'Can we?'"
