Editing Warp drive (section)

== History and characteristics ==
Warp drive, or a drive enabling space warp, is one of [[Space travel in science fiction|several ways of travelling through space found in science fiction]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=SFE: Space Warp|url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/space_warp|access-date=2021-11-10|website=sf-encyclopedia.com}}</ref> It has been often discussed as being conceptually similar to [[hyperspace]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Stableford|first=Brian M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uefwmdROKTAC&q=science+fact+and+science+fiction|title=Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia|date=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-97460-8|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|238–239}} A warp drive is a device that distorts the shape of the [[space-time continuum]].<ref name=":42">{{Cite book|last=Prucher|first=Jeff|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJCS0reqmFUC&dq=Earthling+%22science+fiction%22&pg=PP2|title=Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction|date=2007-05-07|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988552-7|pages=|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|142}} A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at speeds greater than [[speed of light|that of light]] by many orders of magnitude. In contrast to some other fictitious [[faster-than-light]] technologies such as a [[Hyperspace|jump drive]], the warp drive does not permit instantaneous travel and transfers between two points, but rather involves a measurable passage of time which is pertinent to the concept. In contrast to hyperspace, spacecraft at warp velocity would continue to interact with objects in "normal space".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Musha |first1=Takaaki |last2=Minami |first2=Yoshinari |date=2011 |title=Field Propulsion System for Space Travel: Physics of Non-Conventional Propulsion Methods for Interstellar Travel |publisher=Bentham eBooks |page=58 |isbn=978-1-60805-270-7}}</ref><ref name="Miozzi">{{cite web |last=Miozzi |first=C. J. |date=18 June 2014 |title=5 Faster-Than-Light Travel Methods and Their Plausibility |url=https://www.escapistmagazine.com/5-faster-than-light-travel-methods-and-their-plausibility/ |access-date=11 November 2021 |website=[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]}}</ref>

The general concept of warp drive was introduced by [[John W. Campbell]] in his 1957 novel ''[[Islands of Space]].''<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|last=Gardiner|first=J.|year=2008|title=Warp Drive—From Imagination to Reality|journal=[[Journal of the British Interplanetary Society]]|volume=61|pages=353–357|bibcode=2008JBIS...61..353G}}</ref><ref name="visual">{{Cite book|last=Ash|first=Brian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-SUYAAAAIAAJ&q=Visual+Encyclopedia+of+Science+Fiction|title=The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|date=1977|publisher=Harmony Books|isbn=978-0-517-53174-7|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|77}}<ref name="spacewarp">{{Cite web|title=Themes : Space Warp : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/space_warp|access-date=2021-09-04|website=www.sf-encyclopedia.com}}</ref> ''[[Brave New Words]]'' gave the earliest example of the term "space-warp drive" as [[Fredric Brown]]'s ''Gateway to Darkness'' (1949), and also cited an unnamed story from ''[[Cosmic Stories]]'' (May 1941) as using the word "warp" in the context of space travel, although the usage of this term as a "bend or curvature" in space which facilitates travel can be traced to several works as far back as the mid-1930s, for example [[Jack Williamson]]'s ''[[The Cometeers]]'' (1936).<ref name=":42"/>{{Rp|212, 268}}