Problems with Warp Drive

After reading several articles in various magazines, newspapers and online about scientists working on the idea of a “Warp Drive” engine as envisioned by the writers of Star Trek (television series and movies), I thought I might weigh in on why Warp Drive will not work. I know that very few people read this blog and my ideas may go unnoticed by everyone but since the internet tends to keep information forever, perhaps I will one day be proved to be right.

First, for those who are unaware of how a Warp Drive would work, let me explain what I know based on my own observations of the Star Trek t.v. series, the movies and scientists’ speculation.

Since scientists tend to believe that Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is pretty much a law (NOTE: if you read my earlier blogs you will find that I do NOT agree with the Theory of Relativity as it stands at the moment), then there isn't a way to travel faster than the speed of light, making any trips to planets outside our solar system a trip that would take centuries. Since this doesn't work for a television show that is an hour long, the writers of Star Trek came up with a bold idea. What would happen if you could slip out of the universe and therefore avoid those pesky rules of physics? 

What came from this was called, “Warp Drive”, where a ship in space would create a ‘bubble’ surrounding it that would cut itself off from the rest of the universe! Using this bubble, the spaceship would be free from the constraints that the speed of light has on matter and make it possible to move many times the speed of light allowing a trip that would take centuries to be done in a few days!

The writers can’t explain fully how you could create a “Warp Bubble” or "Warp Field" other than saying it takes an anti-mater power source and some fancy engineering but apparently this “bubble” is strong enough to cut all contact off from the universe to whatever is inside the bubble. However, if there is no contact from the outside universe, how can people in the bubble see the stars as shown in all of the movies and television series?

If the rules of physics can only be generated in the universe and things in the bubble are no longer in that universe, then all rules of physics would no longer work in the bubble, not just the convenience of breaking the speed limit imposed by relativity. That means that the gravity plates under the feet of the people in the ship would not work so they would be floating in space instead of walking around freely. Plus there wouldn't be light, air, electricity, or anything that works through the laws of physics. In fact, without these laws the molecules holding together the spaceship would fall apart and so would the molecules of anyone in that spaceship! So what would actually happen if a spaceship created a bubble that was cut off from the rest of the universe and the laws of physics is that at best, the entire contents of the bubble would quickly turn into an amorphous cloud. At worst the unraveling of molecules could cause an explosion that could cause some unknown issue in that part of the universe.

Another major problem with Warp Drive is how do you move? If you could create an active Warp Field around your spaceship and figure out how to stop your spaceship from unraveling, how do you plan on moving the bubble through space? Your spaceship has no connection to the outside of the bubble, so it can't push against anything and it can't pull at anything to get it moving. You could try pushing the spaceship against the bubble to force it forward but since you are cut off from the universe how do you know you are going in the right direction and since the Warp Field is so small you won't get enough distance to move around in the bubble and generate any velocity.

Then there is the fact that, if a spaceship inside a Warp Field is beyond the laws of physics, the bubble itself is not. The bubble has to travel through the universe and obey all laws of physics just like a bubble in water cannot ignore the fact that it is in water. So the spaceship can take advantage of a lack of physics only in the bubble which makes it the bubble useless to the spaceship.

So, although the Warp Drive is a great creation of imagination from a writer, it couldn't become a reality to make spaceships fly through space at great speeds. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who grew up with Star Trek and are spending a lot of time and money trying to develop this unreachable technological advance. They believe that if the writers of Star Trek thought it up, it could be achieved. I believe that people in the future will look back at Warp research the same way people of my age look back on the study of phrenology; well-meaning but an utter waste of time.