Celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has jokingly called on Elon Musk to pour all his resources into creating ‘warp drive’ technology. His suggestion resulted in dozens of memes being launched into internet orbit.

In a tweet that received more than 120,000 likes, Tyson said that Musk should “stop dallying around” with Space X, Tesla and his other entrepreneurial ventures, and instead focus on creating the fictional propulsion system beloved by Star Trek fans.

Dear @ElonMusk,When are you going to stop dallying with Mars Rockets & Hyperloops & Electric Trucks & Brain-Computer interfaces, and turn your ample resources to developing a Warp Drive?Sincerely,Space Geeks of the World — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 6, 2019

His request sparked lively Twitter chatter – ranging from standard meme responses to serious discussions about the feasibility of the imaginary technology, which allows spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light.

Others shared their own wish list of fictional tech that they wanted Musk to develop.

And light sabers! We need light sabers!... and maybe jet packs. But light sabers first. — S3kgt (@sniper3000gt) December 6, 2019

Several netizens scolded Tyson for underestimating Musk’s ambitions, speculating that the billionaire was already working on bringing warp drive to the masses.

In contrast, critics of the Tesla CEO said that he was too busy with problems here on Earth – such as a recently settled defamation suit – to start thinking about how to zoom around the galaxy.

He's busy in a defamation trial — gigabear (@2170cell) December 6, 2019

Musk apparently took the suggestion at face value. Replying to the tweet, he highlighted how his plans to colonize Mars would incentivize the creation of technology similar to warp drive.

If we create a city on Mars, Earth-Mars travel will be a powerful forcing function for inventing something like warp drive — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2019

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