To create the exotic materials and technologies needed to make stargates and warp drives is the holy grail of advanced propulsion. A less ambitious, but nonetheless revolutionary, goal is finding a way to accelerate a spaceship without having to lug along a gargantuan reservoir of fuel that you blow out a tailpipe. Tethers and solar sails are conventional realizations of the basic idea.

There may now be a way to achieve these lofty objectives. "Making Starships and Stargates" will have three parts. The first will deal with information about the theories of relativity needed to understand...