Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:A research paper proposes a fully physically realized model for warp drive. The colloquial term “warp drive” comes from science fiction, most famously Star Trek. The faster-​than-light warp drive of the Federation works by colliding matter and antimatter and converting the explosive energy to propulsion. One major reason for our interest is pure pragmatism: without warp drive, we’re probably never making it to a neighboring star system. NASA has been trying to build a physical warp drive through Eagleworks Laboratories for most of the last decade, but hasn’t yet made any significant strides.