What is an Alcubierre warp drive?

University of Wales physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed that by using 'exotic matter' to contract space-time ahead of a rocket you could produce any amount of acceleration you want locally. For more details on 'surfing' space-time see a summary of this proposal by Michael Szpir. Alcubierre's formal paper appeared in the May, 1996 issue of the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity.

It could probably not work in practice, because there are no situations in which the required 'exotic matter' has been detected, and by some estimates the amount of energy required to warp space in the required way would exceed the rest mass energy of our universe.

It's safer to walk.

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