US Government Reportedly Plotted to Harness Dark Energy for Star Trek-Style Warp Drives to Hunt Aliens

The US government reportedly examined dark energy as a possible means of enabling Star Trek-style warp drives in a 2010 defence study later released alongside records concerning UFOs and possible extraterrestrial life.

The study was produced under the Defense Intelligence Agency's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications programme, commonly known as AAWSAP. It considered whether faster-than-light travel could be possible, drawing on a mathematical framework proposed by physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994.

The quoted passages concern theoretical propulsion. They do not establish that the government approved an alien-search mission or developed technology capable of carrying astronauts faster than light.

The Energy Barrier to Warp Drives

The proposed system would alter space around a spacecraft. The study states, 'The basic idea is to create an asymmetric bubble of space that is contracting in front of the spacecraft while expanding behind it.

'Using this form of locomotion, the spacecraft remains stationary inside this 'warp bubble' and the movement of space itself facilitates the relative motion of the spacecraft.'

Energy was a central obstacle to translating those calculations into useful travel. Creating the bubble appeared to require far more energy than humanity could supply, leaving a substantial gap between the mathematical proposal and a functioning spacecraft.

Under one set of assumptions, the study calculated a warp-bubble speed of just 5.16 micrometres per second. 'Garden snails can crawl faster than this,' the authors wrote.

The paper explored whether harnessing dark energy could overcome that constraint and make the proposed drive suitable for space travel. Dark energy is associated with the Universe's expansion, but its nature remains poorly understood.

Warp Drives Raise Questions About Cause and Effect

Katy Clough, of Queen Mary University of London, told The Times that the paper made theoretical sense but remained highly speculative. She described using dark energy to build warp drives as a 'common crackpot notion'.

Clough said discussions about warp drives quickly enter the 'realm of bonkers', with numerous practical obstacles standing between the calculations and actual space travel.

Although faster-than-light travel could shorten journeys, she warned that it might also 'break causality and change the past', raising questions beyond whether enough energy could ever be supplied.

Her concern extended beyond propulsion technology to the possibility that such travel could challenge the established relationship between cause and effect.

NASA-Backed Nuclear Rocket Would Not Deliver Warp Drives

A separate propulsion concept, the Pulsed Plasma Rocket, or PPR, was described as a way to shorten journeys to Mars without reaching warp speed. US company Howe Industries was developing the system.

The rocket would obtain energy through fission, the controlled splitting of atoms, to generate thrust. That is a different proposal from the expanding and contracting space described in the warp-drive study.

NASA stated in its May 2024 project description that 'The PPR enables a whole new era in space exploration.' It also projected that the proposed system's efficiency could allow crewed missions to reach Mars within two months.

The two-month journey remained a projection for the proposed technology. NASA said the system could alternatively transport heavier spacecraft equipped with additional shielding against galactic cosmic rays, potentially reducing crew exposure.