How DARPA, Star Trek, and UFOs Inspired This Engineer to Unravel the Secrets to Warp Drive Propulsion
Warp drive propulsion, the hypothetical means by which advanced spacecraft of the future may one day explore the universe by way of superluminal travel, has its origins as a concept in science fiction. Best known for its appearances in the famed 1960s TV series Star Trek, it wasn’t until 1994, when a Mexican mathematician named Miguel Alcubierre laid out the mathematics of warp theory, that some scientists–and at least one engineer–began to take the concept seriously.
Since then, a handful of experts have tried to improve on those theories, including former NASA engineer Dr. Harold G “Sonny” White. Until now, all of those ideas have remained mathematical theories that are particularly difficult–if not impossible–to construct with today’s technology.
More recently, an international think-tank of over 30 physicists called Applied Physics has inched closer to a working concept by laying out the math behind what they call a physical warp drive. But in order to overcome many of the energy violations that have haunted previous efforts, their concept is unable to go faster than the speed of light.
