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In the vast majority of space-based science fiction, ships that can travel faster than the speed of light are pretty much a given. Most credit Gene Rodenberry for creating the first warp drive spacecraft for his 1967 premiere of the TV show Star Trek, but before too long, other space dramas like 1977’s Star Wars were using their own “hyperdrives” to power ships like the Millennium Falcon from planet to planet in a matter of hours, or even minutes.
Still, these technological terrors were more deus ex machina than actual hard science concepts, used by their creators to move the story seamlessly from planet to planet or star system to star system.
That all changed in 1994 when Mexican mathematician Miguel Alcubierre laid out the mathematical foundation for a real-world warp drive spacecraft. Critics immediately pointed out the shortcomings of Alcubierre’s work, primarily the mammoth amounts of energy required to power his spaceship as well as the so-called, purely theoretical “exotic” matter required to build the thing. Nonetheless, his mathematics were sound, moving at least the idea of a warp-capable spaceship from science fiction closer to science fact.
Since Alcubierre’s breakthrough, a number of physicists and engineers have laid out their own formulas for theoretical warp drives, with each design seemingly inching the concept closer and closer to reality. The Debrief has covered many of these concepts, including a 2013 refinement of Alcubierre’s model by former NASA engineer and warp pioneer Harold G. “Sonny” White which dramatically lowered the power requirements from a completely unfathomable amount to a slightly less impossible yet still unattainable (by present-day engineering standards) amount.
Star Trek is Motivating This Team of Scientists to Build a Working Warp Drive Spacecraft - The Debrief
Founder of ZC Inc., Dr. Greg Hodgin, discusses how his company is planning to build the world's first warp drive spacecraft.
thedebrief.org
