Alcubierre drive

This is a speculative idea based on general relativity named after Miguel Alcubierre, who first proposed it in 1994. In this hypothetical scenario: a spacecraft would achieve an apparent: faster than light travel, if a field with negative mass could be created. The way the spacecraft would do this, is by contracting the space in front of it and expanding the space behind it. Since objects cannot accelerate faster than light in normal spacetime, the Alcubierre drive, would shift the surrounding spacetime, allowing an object to arrive at its destination, faster than light.

This warp drive alters the topology of space by shrinking the space in front of you and expanding the space behind you. Remember, space itself, can expand faster than the speed of light. Thus, if space can be shrunk faster than the speed of light, than perhaps, it is possible to travel faster than the speed of light. According to Alcubierre, this is a real solution to Einstein's equations. It is within the laws of physics, however, you would need large amounts of positive energy (to compress the space in front of you) and negative energy (to lengthen the distance behind you) to power your ship. Also, there is a problem with using the Casimir effect to produce this negative energy. The plates would have to be a Planck length (10^-35 meters) away from each other. This is impossible by conventional means.