The Latest UFO News...

FASTER THAN LIGHT POWER-IS IT ON THE WAY?

A Warped View of Time Travel

In 1994 Alcubierre used general relativity to propose a way of curving space and time around a spacecraft so that it could reach speeds arbitrarily greater than that of light (4). The gravity- free flat space of special relativity prohibits superluminal travel, but in the general theory, the story is quite different. The flexibility of space-time introduced by gravity allows it the freedom to stretch, causing relative motion between two otherwise stationary observers. Alcubierre found that there is no limit to the rate at which space can change its size and shape in this way. His model involves a hypothetical spaceship surrounded by a bubble of warped space-time. This bubble is capable of contracting the space in front of the craft and expanding the space behind it, the net effect being to sweep the vessel swiftly to its destination. In between the expanding and contracting regions and far away from the craft, space-time is flat; the spaceship and its crew as well as distant observers are safely situated in zero-gravity flat space, through which the bubble of warped space containing the spaceship can move at LIMITLESS speeds.