AaS! 243: So Is the Warp Drive Legit or Not?
Ask a Spaceman!
Paul M. Sutter
4.8 • 853 Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is an Alcubierre warp drive? What would it take to make it work? Could it propel spacecraft even below the speed of light? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
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Hosted by Paul M. Sutter.
Transcript
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| 0:34.8 | Somehow, we all know how a warp drive works. |
| 0:41.5 | You're in your spaceship and you need to get to another star system or get the heck out of Dodge |
| 0:46.1 | and you press a button or flip a switch or pull a lever and your ship just goes fast. |
| 0:51.5 | Like really fast. |
| 0:52.7 | Faster than the speed of light. |
| 0:56.0 | Fast enough that you can get to your next destination by the end of the next commercial break. Warp drives are staples of science fiction. |
| 1:03.1 | And in 1994, they became a part of science fact. That's when Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubier, |
| 1:10.3 | who was inspired by Star Trek, decided to see if it was possible to build a warp drive. |
| 1:16.6 | Not like actually build one with wrenches and pipes, but to see if it was even possible to be allowed to build a warp drive given our current knowledge of physics. |
| 1:32.4 | And physics is just a mathematical exploration of the natural universe. |
| 1:36.3 | The natural universe appears to play by certain rules. |
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