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Warp Speed Travel Is Within Our Reach, According To An Astrophysicist

It is known in the science community that we cannot attain travel at the speed of light. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, nothing can exceed it. Well, theories are meant to be questioned, right? Astrophysicist Geraint Lewis from the University of Sydney has recently explained that theoretically warp speed travel is possible according to the theory of Einstein.

speed of light

Might it be possible to bend space to our will to be able to travel at speeds greater than light? According to Lewis, the theory of Einstein would make it possible.

“If you look at the equation that Einstein gave us, it shows you can bend and warp space so you can travel at any speed you like in the Universe,” said Lewis in a statement to ABC Science.

Now, the trick is to actually bend space. Scientists are clueless as to the practical aspect thereof. Lewis has an answer though. He says that we will not need to upgrade our rockets, but rather, we will have to find a material with “negative density energy”. Now, do we have the adequate material?

“It is not a material that we actually have in our hands, but there are signs that there are aspects of the Universe that actually have this kind of property,” he explained. “Empty space itself has a negative energy density.”

NASA is currently working on this. Its researchers are trying to determine the appearance of a potential warp drive spaceship. According to them, the spaceship would be suspended within two massive rings that would create a warp bubble bending space around it, implying that the ship would not actually be travelling faster than light speed, but it would only warp space. The trouble again is to find out HOW to bend space.

“You just have to look at the work of Newton 400 years ago, and even people who work in quantum physics 100 years ago, and those things are real today and they started off as dreams essentially,” continued Lewis. “Einstein’s theory is already a hundred years old, but we have only started to scratch the surface … I think in the next 100 or 1,000 years we will reveal a lot more about the Universe and maybe this hyper-fast travel will be realisable.”

But, were we to decode all this, we would still have many more challenges ahead though.

“Even travelling at the speed of light, it would take four years to go to the nearest star and 2 million years to go to the nearest large galaxy,” said Lewis. “[These distances] would stop you colonising the Universe … so you would need some sort of way to beat that speed limit, and Einstein’s theory of relativity gives it to you.”


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