This would be a spaceship with no speed limit.īecause travel into space has been extremely limited due to existing means of propulsion, such a technology could blow open the possibilities of space exploration. The warp drive that White’s team has been working on would literally transcend space, shortening the distance between two points and allowing the craft to break the speed of light. ![]() His recently unveiled design has much less empty space than the first concept model, increasing its efficiency. While studying Alcubierre’s equations, White decided to design his own retooled version of the Alcubierre Drive. It’s the idea of space warps that inspired physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994 to first theorize a mathematical model of a warp drive that would be able to bend space and time. “You can actually find a way to get around what I like to call the 11th commandment: Thou shall not exceed the speed of light.” “There’s no speed limit on the expansion and contraction of space,” White said at the conference. The concept is similar to that of an escalator or moving walkway. This would essentially allow for the empty space behind the craft to expand, both pushing and pulling it forward at the same time. They work on the principle of bending space both in front of and behind a spacecraft. In his speech, White described space warps as faraway galaxies that can bend light around them. He discussed the idea of a “space warp,” a loophole in the theory of general relativity that would allow for massive distances to be traveled very quickly, reducing travel times from thousands of years to days. Kirk in the “Star Trek” TV series and movies.Īt the SpaceVision 2013 Space Conference last November in Phoenix, White talked about his design, the concepts behind it and the progress that’s been made in warp-drive development over the decades. White has fittingly named the concept spacecraft IXS Enterprise, for the starship famously piloted by Captain James T. ![]() Rademaker says creating them took more than 1,600 hours.įor now, warp speed is only possible in TV and movies, with both “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” referencing an idea that was completely speculative at the time. But interest in his project reached a new level this week when he unveiled images of what the craft might look like.Ĭreated by artist Mark Rademaker, who based them on White’s designs, the images show a technologically detailed spacecraft that wouldn’t look out of place in a “Star Trek” movie. White, who heads NASA’s Advanced Propulsion Team, spoke about his conceptual starship at a conference last fall.
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