Could We Soon Be Traveling To Places Faster Than The Speed of Light?

The movies are one thing, but this is how science may actually get us there.

Transcript

00:00Travelling at the speed of light would likely be crucial for traversing the cosmos.

00:08After all, most vast distances in space are measured by light years.

00:11But is there any real way for mankind to ever move that fast, according to Einstein?

00:16Not really.

00:17But there could be hope.

00:18His theory of relativity explains that as an object with mass gets closer and closer

00:21to travelling at the speed of light, the more and more energy it would need to achieve it.

00:25The math works out that you would need an infinite amount of energy to ever pass the

00:29light speed threshold.

00:30But again, that's for objects with mass.

00:32ScienceAlert points out that theoretical tachyons, or particles with what is sometimes called

00:37imaginary mass, are always travelling the speed of light.

00:40These particles are theoretical, but they are also theoretically always going backwards

00:44in space-time.

00:45So, possibly good for time travel, but even if they're real, likely not going to help

00:49us with space travel.

00:50However, Einstein's theory of relativity does suggest the existence of wormholes is

00:54possible.

00:55Where we fly an object into one point in space, and are deposited elsewhere, possibly thousands,

01:00millions, or even billions of light years away.

01:02Now we just have to find one.