Anyone who has seen the show Star Trek knows that the Enterprise travels from one adventure to another using the warp drive, a device that allows FTL (faster than light). However, people point out that such a feat is impossible due to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which states that nothing can travel FTL. So is there any real science behind warp drive, or is it merely science fiction?

In theory, if one were to use warp drive, it would involve bending space-time. According to the Theory of Relativity, space and time are woven together to form a space-time continuum in which everything exists. Objects rest on this, thus causing a dip in space-time we call gravity. The greater the gravity, the greater the dip is. In fact, black holes have so much gravity that they cause the fabric to rip in complex ways that we call a singularity, in which the activity is so complex that we cannot understand it with current physics.

The goal of the warp drive, however, is not to rip the fabric but bend it, so that the distance between points A and B is reduced. This way, you are in fact not travelling any faster than the speed of light but are merely shortening the distance to your location. The means to do this, however, are not clear. You could create such a gravity well that it causes a rip in the fabric, but this is more in tune with subspace travel, in which you travel underneath the fabric of space. If, however, like in Star Trek, you were to contract and expand space-time, you could manipulate it to bend. How this would be achieved is unknown, but it is highly unlikely going to be by the means seen in Star Trek.

Whatever the method behind warp drive you choose to pursue, it is without reasonable doubt that unless we achieve a better understanding of physics it is beyond the realm of possibility as we know it. But who knows, one day you might want to take that vacation to Alpha Centuri or to wherever the stars beckon, and it could be due to a technology that was once considered science fiction that is now science fact.