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Space

We could detect a malfunctioning warp drive on an alien starship

Faster-than-light warp drives are theoretically possible to build, and if aliens are using them, we should be able to detect the gravitational waves produced when one goes wrong

By Matthew Sparkes

12 June 2024

HDB7EX STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, Starship Enterprise, 1987-1994. Paramount/Courtesy:Everett Collection.

A failing warp drive could release gravitational waves

Everett Collection Inc / Alamy

There is no evidence that aliens are flying around the galaxy in starships powered by faster-than-light warp drives – but if they were, we could detect such a ship breaking down using our current Earth-based technology, say researchers. Such a discovery could confirm the existence of alien life, though sadly any crew aboard the ship would be torn apart by forces similar to a black hole.

While warp drives are best known from Star Trek, theoretical physicists have found it should be possible to create a bubble of…

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