"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." Arthur C. Clark

When the Houston Museum of Natural Science's Burke-Baker Planetarium tasked Home Run Pictures to design a visual effects concept sequence of a scienctifically "accurate" warp drive ship, we started with a NASA scientist's recent paper on what that might be. Without violating any laws of physics, we could travel faster than light, if we bent or warped space-time itself. These warp drive bubbles could make interstellar human space travel possible. A trip to Proxima Centauri, our nearest star, might require only a few days, weeks, or months – not many lifetimes.

The physics should work and we’d be on our way – except for securing the amount of fuel we need. Our power generator would have to provide the entire annual energy consumption of the United States -- just to fuel the warp rings -- rings that we do not know how to invent or construct yet. But if we had the fuel supply and the engineering know-how, the warp generator rings would create the proper warp in front and behind our spaceship. We’ve solved the basic science and can imagine our journey through the fabric of space time, even though we’re definitely far from building or powering our ship.

NASA's James Webb telescope is designed to identify the components of Proxima Centauri b’s atmosphere and determine if oxygen is there as an indicator of alien life. So let's take a plausable trip to our nearest star's solar system and see what that might look like. Just in case somebody is there to visit.

Soundtrack - Sun Awakening courtesy of Future Mono