Alcubierre Drive & Bending of Spacetime

[jsk108]

Hello,

I've been wondering about this... If something like the Alcubierre drive is possible, that bends spacetime around it in order to reach great distances faster, why would this not affect other matter in its vicinity? If I'm understanding correctly, in order to move faster than light, a big chunk of spacetime would need to be contracted in front and expanded behind such a spaceship; in that case, if the ship was near a planet or within the planet's atmosphere, how would that not cause the planet to also bend/warp?

 

[mfb]

The spacetime geometries discussed typically do not have large spacetime bending far (many times the bubble diameter) away from the bubble. But with the energy densities involved, you probably don't want to launch from a solid surface or in an atmosphere anyway.

 

[PAllen]

Papers like the following suggest the destination would be obliterated, but due to radiation not curvature:

https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.5708