Loeb Links Pentagon UAPs to Warp Drives as Physicists Fault Math

Sabine Hossenfelder

Atmospheric wake and glow depend entirely on an object's size and velocity rather than exotic spacetime curvature, rendering warp-drive explanations for military sightings scientifically redundant.

AI-assisted summary of Some UAPs Might Be Warp Drives, Physicists Say — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2026-08-29

Key ideas

A Pentagon-investigated October 2023 UAP incident dubbed "orbs launching orbs" involved six federal agents witnessing an orange orb repeatedly materialize to eject smaller red orbs that maneuvered silently for hours, ruling out known drones, weather anomalies, and military tests. (0:00)
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb and a co-author proposed in an arXiv preprint that these unexplained aerial sightings could be micrometer-scale spacetime warp bubbles traveling at just a few times the speed of sound. (1:40)
Atmospheric modeling showed that a macroscopic 25-to-100-meter relativistic warp drive would superheat air into a blinding, meteor-like plasma streak visible across the US, forcing the authors to shrink the hypothetical craft to microscopic dimensions to match the faint glow reported. (1:40)
Sabine Hossenfelder rates the paper an "8 out of 10 on the bullshit meter," noting that an object's atmospheric glow depends strictly on its size and speed regardless of propulsion, and that warp drive concepts still fail to bypass conservation of momentum or negative energy hurdles. (4:08)

Detailed notes

## Background Published on YouTube by Sabine Hossenfelder on August 29, 2026, this video reviews a preprint paper by an astrophysicist claiming that certain unidentified anomalous phenomena observed in the United States might be warp drives. Hossenfelder summarizes the author's mathematical models of atmospheric warp bubble signatures and provides a reality check on the underlying physics.

## TL;DR The video analyzes an October 2023 sighting in the western United States investigated by the Pentagon as 'orbs launching orbs,' which baffled investigators after ruling out drones, weather anomalies, and weapons tests. In response, astrophysicist Avi Loeb published a preprint proposing that the objects could be microscopic Alcubierre-style warp bubbles, calculating that micrometer-sized bubbles moving at modest supersonic speeds would match the reported faint red glows rather than blazing like blinding meteors. Hossenfelder awards the hypothesis an 8 out of 10 on her 'bullshit meter,' explaining that any object of that size and speed would create identical atmospheric signatures regardless of propulsion. She further criticizes the uncritical physics behind warp drive concepts, noting that bending spacetime does not bypass conservation laws or resolve the requirement for negative energy densities.

## Atmosphere & style The video carries Sabine Hossenfelder's hallmark deadpan, sardonic, and analytically sharp tone. It transitions smoothly from the intriguing intrigue of military UAP documentation into an entertaining, no-nonsense dismantling of sensational theoretical physics. Watching the segment feels like sitting in on a crisp academic reality check that uses dry wit and grounded mechanics to puncture speculative alien propulsion hype.

## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=0s) A Pentagon-investigated October 2023 UAP incident dubbed "orbs launching orbs" involved six federal agents witnessing an orange orb repeatedly materialize to eject smaller red orbs that maneuvered silently for hours, ruling out known drones, weather anomalies, and military tests. - [01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb and a co-author proposed in an arXiv preprint that these unexplained aerial sightings could be micrometer-scale spacetime warp bubbles traveling at just a few times the speed of sound. - [01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) Atmospheric modeling showed that a macroscopic 25-to-100-meter relativistic warp drive would superheat air into a blinding, meteor-like plasma streak visible across the US, forcing the authors to shrink the hypothetical craft to microscopic dimensions to match the faint glow reported. - [04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) Sabine Hossenfelder rates the paper an "8 out of 10 on the bullshit meter," noting that an object's atmospheric glow depends strictly on its size and speed regardless of propulsion, and that warp drive concepts still fail to bypass conservation of momentum or negative energy hurdles.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=0s) In October 2023, six federal agents across two teams in the western United States observed an "orange mother orb" briefly materialize for one to two seconds, eject two to four smaller red orbs, and vanish over two consecutive evenings. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=0s) The newly spawned red orbs maneuvered silently, changed altitudes at will, and one reportedly hovered completely stationary above a mountain ridge for multiple hours. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=0s) The Pentagon's "orbs launching orbs" investigation ruled out conventional drones due to extreme flight duration, ball lightning due to weather conditions, and domestic military tests such as infrared weapons systems. - [01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb co-authored an arXiv preprint proposing that the unexplained Pentagon orbs might be tiny spacetime warp drive bubbles. - [01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) Theoretical Alcubierre-style warp drives use general relativity to compress spacetime in front of a craft and expand it behind, bypassing the speed-of-light limit that applies only to objects moving through spacetime. - [01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) Loeb's calculations show that a 25-to-100-meter warp bubble traveling through the atmosphere near the speed of light would create a violent shock wave and superheated plasma emitting X-rays and gamma rays, producing a blinding meteor-like glow across the entire US. - [01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) To match the faint, modest red glow actually observed by the federal agents, the authors scaled the hypothetical warp bubble down to a few micrometers across moving at only a few times the speed of sound. - [04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) Hossenfelder scores the paper an "8 out of 10 on the bullshit meter," arguing that while modeling atmospheric signatures is a valid exercise, attributing the orbs to warp drives is fundamentally hollow. - [04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) An object's atmospheric shock wave and optical glow are dictated almost entirely by its physical size and speed, meaning a micrometer-scale projectile moving at supersonic speeds produces the exact same signature regardless of its propulsion mechanism. - [04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) Invoking spacetime curvature does not bypass the conservation of momentum—which still requires expelling mass-energy in the opposite direction to accelerate—nor does it resolve the need for exotic negative-energy matter for faster-than-light travel. - [04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) While crediting Loeb for remaining open-minded, Hossenfelder cautions that because the US military actively shows interest in warp drives and hyperdrives, physicists must be more candid about the severe theoretical shortcomings of these concepts.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=0s) The "Orbs Launching Orbs" Sighting in the Western US

In October 2023, six federal agents operating across two distinct teams in the western United States witnessed a bizarre aerial display that repeated over the course of two consecutive evenings. According to witness reports and an official Pentagon investigation, what the agents described as an "orange mother orb" would suddenly materialize for just one or two seconds, eject a cluster of between two and four smaller red orbs, and instantly vanish. This cycle occurred repeatedly over several hours. The newly spawned red objects maneuvered silently, changed altitudes at will, and one of them reportedly hovered completely stationary above a mountain ridge for multiple hours. No direct video recordings of the encounters have been made public, leaving investigators to rely on reconstructions drawn from the agents' eyewitness accounts.

The Pentagon formally dubbed the incident "orbs launching orbs" and opened an investigation to determine what technology or natural phenomenon could be responsible. Conventional explanations, however, quickly hit dead ends. Drones were considered highly implausible because no known unmanned aerial systems in 2023 possessed the endurance to remain airborne for that duration. Weather conditions during both evenings ruled out rare atmospheric anomalies such as ball lightning. Furthermore, military investigators verified that the sightings could not be attributed to domestic test programs, such as infrared weapons systems being trialed in the region at the time. With standard military and meteorological explanations exhausted, the case remained classified as completely unidentified.

- **Witnesses:** Six federal agents divided into two separate observation teams. - **Location & Date:** Western United States, October 2023 (occurring over two consecutive evenings). - **Core Observation:** An orange orb appeared for 1–2 seconds, ejected 2–4 red orbs, then vanished; red orbs flew silently, shifted altitudes, and one stayed parked above a ridge for hours. - **Pentagon Case Designation:** "Orbs launching orbs." - **Ruled-out Explanations:** Commercial or military drones (due to extreme flight duration), ball lightning or unusual weather, and classified military tests (including infrared weapons).

---

[01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) Avi Loeb's Microscopic Warp Drive Hypothesis

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb took a keen interest in the baffling Pentagon report and co-authored a preprint paper uploaded to arXiv proposing an unconventional answer: the phenomena could be tiny spacetime warp drive bubbles. In theoretical physics, an Alcubierre-style warp drive utilizes Einstein's general relativity to compress spacetime ahead of a craft while expanding spacetime behind it. Because the speed of light limit applies only to physical objects moving *through* spacetime rather than the deformation of spacetime itself, a warp bubble could theoretically achieve apparent faster-than-light travel. In their paper, Loeb and his collaborator calculated what would physically happen if such a warp bubble plowed directly through Earth's atmosphere.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Atmospheric Impact of Macroscopic vs Microscopic Warp Bubbles accDescr: Diagram contrasting how large, relativistic warp bubbles create massive meteor-like plasma glows while micrometer-sized slow bubbles produce modest glows.

subgraph Macro["Macroscopic Warp Bubble (25–100 m)"] A["Relativistic Travel through Atmosphere"] --> B["Violent Shock Wave & Superheated Plasma"] B --> C["Invisible X-rays & Gamma Rays Emitted"] C --> D["Absorption in Lower Atmosphere"] D --> E["Blinding Glow Across Entire US (Meteor-like)"] end

subgraph Micro["Loeb's Microscopic Model (Micrometer-Scale)"] F["Tiny Bubble (Several Micrometers)"] --> G["Sub-Relativistic Speed (Few x Speed of Sound)"] G --> H["Drastically Reduced Radiation Output"] H --> I["Faint, Modest Red Glow (Matches Sighting)"] end ```

The researchers first modeled a macroscopic bubble between 25 and 100 meters in diameter cruising at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The physical consequences would hardly be subtle: the bubble would generate a massive shock wave, flash-heating the surrounding air into an ultra-hot plasma emitting intense X-rays and gamma rays. As this high-energy radiation was absorbed and re-emitted by the lower atmosphere as visible and ultraviolet light, anyone on the ground across nearly the entire United States would see a blinding, blazing atmospheric streak. As Sabine dryly points out, advanced extraterrestrial technology at that scale would merely be "doing an excellent impression of a meteor"—which looks nothing like the faint, hovering lights the federal agents reported.

To make the physics match the Pentagon's observations, Loeb and his co-author scaled the mathematics down dramatically. Because the radiated brightness plummets rapidly as the bubble's dimensions shrink, they found that a warp bubble measuring only a few micrometers across, traveling at relatively modest velocities of just a few times the speed of sound, would emit only the faint, modest glow observed by the agents. Under this model, Loeb argues that if the unexplained orbs are indeed alien warp drives, they must be microscopic bubbles drifting along at leisurely aerodynamic speeds.

---

[04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) The "Bullshit Meter" Rating and Physics Reality Check

Sabine awards the paper a blunt rating of "8 out of 10 on the bullshit meter." While she acknowledges that calculating the hypothetical atmospheric signatures of exotic physics is a valid intellectual exercise, the paper's core deduction is fundamentally hollow. Any optical or shock signature generated by an object pushing through ambient air is dictated almost entirely by its physical size and speed, not by whatever propulsion system lurks under the hood. A microscopic sphere moving at a few times the speed of sound will yield the exact same wake and glow regardless of whether it is propelled by an alien spacetime bubble or an ordinary miniature projectile.

Beyond that, Sabine highlights that the paper remains completely uncritical of the foundational physics of warp drives. Simply invoking spacetime curvature does not magically exempt an object from the conservation of momentum. In physics, to accelerate an object in one direction, mass-energy must inevitably be thrown out in the opposite direction; achieving faster-than-light travel under general relativity notoriously requires exotic matter with negative energy densities, which creates immense theoretical roadblocks rather than solving them. A warp bubble does not actually perform the mechanical work of accelerating the craft—it acts as little more than "superfluous decoration for people who are intimidated by general relativity."

Sabine grants Loeb some credit for attempting to remain open-minded in a discipline where age and academic pedigree often lead to rigid narrow-mindedness. However, she notes that multiple independent sources have confirmed the US military's active interest in warp drives and hyperdrives. Because of this defense interest, she cautions that physicists have frequently failed to be candid about the severe theoretical shortcomings and impossibilities embedded in these concepts, leaving it to independent commentators to point out the scientific reality.

## Notable quotes > [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=0s) orange mother orb — Sabine Hossenfelder

> [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=0s) orbs launching orbs — Sabine Hossenfelder

> [01:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=100s) doing an excellent impression of a meteor — Sabine Hossenfelder

> [04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) 8 out of 10 on the bullshit meter — Sabine Hossenfelder

> [04:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958&t=248s) superfluous decoration for people who are intimidated by general relativity — Sabine Hossenfelder

## Mentioned Avi Loeb, Sabine Hossenfelder, Pentagon, Alcubierre warp drive, Albert Einstein, arXiv, Harvard University

## Video description Support me on Patreon ➜ https://www.patreon.com/Sabine or right here by joining this channel ➜ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yNl2E66ZzKApQdRuTQ4tw/join 🙏

An astrophysicist has claimed that some unidentified anomalous phenomena that were observed in recent years in the United States might be warp drives. He has written a paper about it in which he calculates how such a warp drive would look. I have a brief summary.

Paper: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.10800

#science #sciencenews #physics #uap #spacetime

👕T-shirts, mugs, posters and more: ➜ https://sabines-store.dashery.com/ 💌 Support me on Donorbox ➜ https://donorbox.org/swtg 👉 Transcript with links to references on Patreon ➜ https://www.patreon.com/Sabine 📝 Transcripts and written news on Substack ➜ https://sciencewtg.substack.com/ 📩 Free weekly science newsletter ➜ https://sabinehossenfelder.com/newsletter/ 👂 Audio only podcast ➜ https://open.spotify.com/show/0MkNfXlKnMPEUMEeKQYmYC 🔗 Join this channel to get access to perks ➜ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yNl2E66ZzKApQdRuTQ4tw/join 📚 Buy my book ➜ https://amzn.to/3HSAWJW

[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZB1ztm9958)

中文简报

勒布将五角大楼UAP目击与曲速引擎联系起来，物理学家指出其计算存在缺陷大气尾迹和发光完全取决于物体的尺寸与速度，而非奇异的时空弯曲，这使得将曲速引擎用于解释军方目击事件在科学上显得毫无必要。该视频分析了2023年10月发生在美国西部、被五角大楼调查为“球体释放球体”的目击事件。在排除了无人机、天气异常和武器测试后，该现象令调查人员大为不解。对此，天体物理学家阿维·勒布（Avi Loeb）发表了一篇预印本论文，提出这些物体可能是微观的阿库别瑞式曲速泡；经计算，以温和超音速移动的微米级曲速泡会符合目击报告中微弱的红光，而不是像流星那样发出耀眼光芒。霍森菲尔德（Hossenfelder）在她的“胡扯指数”中给这一假说打了8分（满分10分），并解释称，任何相同尺寸和速度的物体无论采用何种推进方式，都会产生完全相同的大气特征。她进一步批评了曲速引擎概念背后缺乏批判性的物理学，指出弯曲时空并不能绕过守恒定律，也无法解决需要负能量密度的难题。五角大楼调查的2023年10月一起被称为“球体释放球体”的UAP事件中，六名联邦特工目击到一个橙色球体反复显现，并释放出较小的红色球体无声机动数小时，排除了已知的无人机、天气异常和军事测试。 (0:00) 哈佛大学天体物理学家阿维·勒布（Avi Loeb）与一名合著者在一篇arXiv预印本中提出，这些无法解释的空中目击现象可能是以仅数倍音速飞行的微米级时空曲速泡。 (1:40) 大气建模表明，一个25至100米大小的宏观相对论曲速引擎会将空气过热成如同耀眼流星般的等离子体条纹，并在全美可见，这迫使作者将假设的飞行器缩小到微观尺寸，以符合所报告的微弱光芒。 (1:40) 萨宾·霍森菲尔德（Sabine Hossenfelder）将该论文评为“胡扯指数8分（满分10分）”，并指出无论推进方式如何，物体的大气发光完全取决于其尺寸和速度，而且曲速引擎概念依然未能绕过动量守恒或负能量的障碍。 (4:08)

Reading summary

Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder critiques a preprint paper by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb that proposes an unexplained October 2023 aerial sighting could be microscopic spacetime warp bubbles. Hossenfelder argues that the hypothesis is physically hollow, as an object's atmospheric shock and glow are determined purely by its size and speed rather than exotic spacetime propulsion. The October 2023 'Orbs Launching Orbs' Encounter (0:00) In October 2023, six federal agents divided into two separate observation teams in the western United States witnessed an anomalous aerial display across two consecutive evenings. According to witness statements and an official Pentagon investigation, an "orange mother orb" repeatedly materialized for one to two seconds, ejected two to four smaller red orbs, and vanished. The smaller red objects flew silently and changed altitudes, with one hovering stationary over a mountain ridge for several hours. Because no direct video recordings were released publicly, investigators relied on eyewitness reconstructions. The Pentagon designated the incident "orbs launching orbs" and investigated possible origins. Conventional explanations were ruled out: commercial and military drones lacked the endurance to remain airborne for that duration in 2023, weather conditions excluded ball lightning or unusual meteorological phenomena, and military inquiries confirmed that domestic tests, such as infrared weapons trials, were not responsible. The incident remained classified as completely unidentified. Atmospheric Signatures of Theoretical Warp Bubbles (1:40) In response to the Pentagon case, Avi Loeb co-authored an arXiv preprint modeling whether the objects could be Alcubierre-style warp drive bubbles, which compress spacetime ahead of an object and expand it behind to enable apparent faster-than-light motion. Loeb and his collaborator calculated the hydrodynamic and radiation effects of a warp bubble moving through Earth's atmosphere. They determined that a macroscopic bubble measuring 25 to 100 meters across traveling at relativistic speeds would produce an extreme shock wave and superheated plasma, radiating X-rays and gamma rays that would appear as a blinding, meteor-like streak across the entire United States. Because this macroscopic model bore no resemblance to the faint hovering lights reported by the agents, the authors scaled the parameters down. They found that a microscopic bubble measuring only a few micrometers across, moving at sub-relativistic speeds a few times the speed of sound, would drastically reduce radiation output and generate only a faint, modest red glow matching the sightings. Aerodynamic Equivalence and Fundamental Physics Objections (4:08) Hossenfelder assigns the paper an "8 out of 10 on the bullshit meter," noting that any atmospheric wake or glow produced by an object moving through air depends strictly on its physical dimensions and velocity. A micrometer-scale projectile traveling at low Mach numbers produces the exact same signature regardless of whether it is driven by a spacetime bubble or conventional propulsion, making the warp hypothesis an unnecessary attribution. Hossenfelder further criticizes the preprint for ignoring the severe theoretical roadblocks of general-relativistic warp drives. Deforming spacetime does not bypass the conservation of momentum, which still requires throwing mass-energy in the opposite direction to achieve acceleration. Moreover, faster-than-light warp bubbles require unphysical exotic matter with negative energy densities. Hossenfelder notes that while the US military maintains an active interest in warp drives and hyperdrives, physicists have often avoided being candid about these theoretical impossibilities. Although the October 2023 sightings remain formally unexplained, Hossenfelder concludes that invoking microscopic warp drives provides no unique explanatory power beyond standard aerodynamic effects while ignoring the severe theoretical flaws of faster-than-light physics.

Source quotes

[0:00] Sabine Hossenfelder: orange mother orb [0:00] Sabine Hossenfelder: orbs launching orbs [1:40] Sabine Hossenfelder: doing an excellent impression of a meteor [4:08] Sabine Hossenfelder: 8 out of 10 on the bullshit meter [4:08] Sabine Hossenfelder: superfluous decoration for people who are intimidated by general relativity

Original transcript

[0:00] An astrophysicist has claimed that some unidentified anomalous phenomena that were [0:06] observed in recent years in the United States might be warp drives. And he's written a paper [0:13] about it. And his name is Avi Loeb. Well, let's have a look. In October 2023, six federal agents [0:22] in the western United States saw an orange glowing orb appear, release clusters of smaller red orbs, [0:30] and vanish. We have no videos of the incident, but we have this reconstruction from the witness [0:36] reports. It's happened repeatedly over two evenings. According to the Pentagon report, [0:41] there were two different teams of agents which observed the same thing. What they called an [0:47] orange mother orb appeared for one or two seconds, released between two and four smaller red orbs, [0:54] and then disappeared. This pattern repeated several times over a period of hours. The [0:59] red objects moved silently, appeared to change altitude, and one reportedly remained stationary [1:05] about a ridge for several hours. The Pentagon has called the case orbs launching orbs and launched [1:12] an investigation, but they couldn't come up with any plausible explanation. Drones, they said, [1:17] were unlikely because they can't remain airborne for that long, or at least none that could do [1:23] this were known in 2023. Weather conditions did not favor ball lightning or other unusual [1:29] atmospheric effects and they couldn't explain it with any of their own technologies either [1:34] like infrared weapons which they tested in the area at the time. So they don't know what it is. [1:40] The Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has now taken an interest in the case and says that the objects [1:46] could be explained by tiny space-time bubbles on the scale of several micrometers. The anomalous [1:54] orbs reported by the Pentagon indeed move at slow speeds and could be explained by tiny space-time [2:00] bubbles on the scale of several micrometers. And he has written a paper about this with a colleague [2:06] that appeared as a preprint on the arxive. So it hasn't been peer-reviewed. In the paper they [2:12] look at what it would look like if a warp drive bubble were to move through Earth's atmosphere. [2:19] A warp drive for a physicist is a type of space-time deformation in Einstein's theory of [2:25] general relativity. The idea is that an object is propelled forward by contracting spaceime [2:31] before it and expanding it behind it. This could in principle allow the object to move faster than [2:37] the speed of light because that barrier exists only for objects moving in space-time. It [2:43] doesn't extend to the deformation of space-time itself. In their paper now, the astrophysicists [2:50] calculate what happens if such a war drive bubble of size between 25 and 100 meters diameter travels [2:56] through the atmosphere at a significant fraction of the speed of light. What happens is not very [3:01] mysterious. It creates a shock wave. The air heats up and turns into an extremely hot plasma which [3:08] emits X-rays and gamma rays which we can't see. But much of this high energy radiation is absorbed [3:15] further down in the atmosphere where it's partly converted into visible and ultraviolet light. [3:21] An observer on the ground will therefore see an intense atmospheric glow below the bubbles path [3:27] and you'd see that basically all across the United States. To make a long story short, the advanced [3:33] extraterrestrial technology is doing an excellent impression of a meteor, which well is not what the [3:40] agent saw. However, the observed brightness of the warp drive falls very rapidly as the warp [3:46] bubble becomes smaller. If the bubble is only a few micrometers across and moves at a few times [3:52] the speed of sound, then Loeb and his colleague argue the warp drive could produce the sort of [3:59] modest glow reported by the agents. Therefore, Avi Loeb says, well, if it's a warp bubble, then [4:05] it's a very small one that doesn't move very fast. What are we to make of this? This gets an 8 out of [4:12] 10 on the [ __ ] meter. I think that it's fine to ask, well, if these things existed, what did [4:18] they look like traveling through the atmosphere? The problem is that these observable signatures [4:23] in the atmosphere depend pretty much only on the size and speed of the object and not on just what [4:29] its propulsion system is. The other problem with the paper is that it's completely uncritical about [4:35] the idea of warp drives to begin with. You see, all this talk about warping space-time still does [4:42] let you violate momentum conservation. If you want to accelerate an object in one direction, [4:48] you still have to throw something out into the other direction. And if you want your object [4:53] to move faster than light, then you have to throw out something with negative energy, which doesn't [4:58] make it any easier. You see, the warp bubble idea isn't doing any work. It's superfluous decoration [5:05] for people who are intimidated by general relativity. You still need a propulsion system [5:11] for the thing to accelerate. That said, it's an unfortunate truth that age and education make you [5:18] narrow-minded. So, I think one has to give credit to Avi that he's trying to avoid this. However, [5:25] several people have independently told me that the US military has an interest in the physics of warp [5:31] drives and hyperdrives. And I think physicists have not been entirely honest in pointing out the [5:37] shortcomings of their theories about this. Good thing you have me to do this. This video does not [5:44] have a sponsor, which means I paid to bring it to you. If you want to see more of my science news, [5:51] please consider supporting me either on Patreon or right here on YouTube. And if you already support [5:58] me, thank you so much. A big thank you especially to those of you in our Patreon tier 4 and higher. [6:06] This channel would not be possible without your help. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.