The U.S. Department of Defense decided to conduct a top-secret study on warp drives back in 2008, and their 34-page report called Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions has just been released to the public.

Business Insider reports that the official date of the study on warp drives is listed as April 2, 2010, and the new research has concluded that scientists may be closer than the public thinks to harnessing dark energy for the purpose of using it for a warp drive.

“Control of this higher dimensional space may bе а source of technological control оvеr the dark energy density and could ultimately play а role in the development of exotic propulsion technologies; specifically, а warp drive. Trips to the planets within our own solar system would take hours rather than years, and journeys to local star system would be measured in weeks rather than hundreds of thousands of years.”

The report also goes on to describe the possibility of using wormholes and manipulating space-time, with the authors noting that if humans are to ever seriously contemplate the idea of interstellar travel, less traditional approaches to traveling in space will be needed.

“If one is to realistically entertain the notion of interstellar exploration in timeframes of а human lifespan, а dramatic shift in the traditional approach to spacecraft propulsion is necessary.”

Featured image credit: NASA Getty Images

The U.S. government study went on to describe the possibility of creating an asymmetrical warp bubble that a new form of spacecraft would be situated inside.

“The warp drive — the main focus of this paper — involves local manipulation of the fabric of space in the immediate vicinity of the spacecraft. 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.”

But when it comes to the reality of warp drives, Caltech’s Sean Carroll has said that while the study is indeed factual and grounded in real science, things could get tricky when it comes to the actual engineering and work involved in making the findings of this research a reality.

“It’s bits and pieces of theoretical physics dressed up as if it has something to do with potentially real-world applications, which it doesn’t. This is not crackpot. This is not the Maharishi saying we’re going to use spirit energy to fly off the ground — this is real physics. But this is not something that’s going to connect with engineering anytime soon, probably anytime ever.”

If you’re wondering how the new research on warp drives came about, the U.S. government created it as part of something known as “acquisition threat support,” which is what the military uses to try and stave off technology that the government’s enemies might try to use one day. The study was officially conducted by an entity known as the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program.

While the U.S. government report on warp drives that was just released to the public may not be something that scientists can harness immediately, it does make for some interesting reading.