I think the article is referring to FTL travel. Although time would be affected. To get all sciencey and nerdy here is this to ponder:
Clocks which are far from massive bodies (or at higher gravitational potentials) run faster, and clocks close to massive bodies (or at lower gravitational potentials) run slower. This is because gravitational time dilation is manifested in accelerated frames of reference or, by virtue of the equivalence principle, in the gravitational field of massive objects.
It can also be manifested by any other kind of accelerating reference frame such as an accelerating dragster or space shuttle. Spinning objects such as merry-go-rounds and ferris wheels are subjected to gravitational time dilation as a consequence of centripetal acceleration.
This is supported by the general theory of relativity due to the equivalence principle that states that all accelerated reference frames are physically equivalent to a gravitational field of the same strength. For example, a person standing on the surface of the Earth experiences exactly the same effect as a person standing in a space ship accelerating at 9.8 m/sec2 (that is, generating a force of 9.8 N/kg, equal to the gravitational field strength of Earth at its surface). According to general relativity, inertial mass and gravitational mass are the same. Not all gravitational fields are "curved" or "spherical"; some are flat as in the case of an accelerating dragster or spacecraft. Any kind of g-load contributes to gravitational time dilation.
In an accelerated box, the equation with respect to an arbitrary base observer where
T[SUB]d[/SUB]=e[SUP]gh/c[/SUP][SUP](squared)[/SUP] , where
T[SUB]d[/SUB] is the total time dilation at a distant position,
g is the acceleration of the box as measured by the base observer,
h is the "vertical" distance between the observers and
c is the speed of light
When
gh is much smaller than
c[SUP]2[/SUP] , the linear "weak field" approximation
T[SUB]d[/SUB]=1+gh/c[SUP]2 [/SUP]may also be used.
On a rotating disk when the base observer is located at the center of the disk and co-rotating with it (which makes their view of spacetime non-inertial), the equation is
T[SUB]d [/SUB]is equal to the square root of
1-r[SUP]2[/SUP]w[SUP]2[/SUP]/c[SUP]2[/SUP] , where
r is the distance from the center of the disk (which is the location of the base observer), and
w is the angular velocity of the disk.
(It is no accident that in an inertial frame of reference this becomes the familiar velocity time dilation (the square root of
1-v[SUP]2[/SUP]/c[SUP]2[/SUP]) ).
According to General Relativity, gravitational time dilation is copresent with the existence of an accelerated reference frame.
The speed of light in a locale is always equal to c according to the observer who is there. The stationary observer's perspective corresponds to the local proper time. Every infinitesimal region of space time may have its own proper time that corresponds to the gravitational time dilation there, where electromagnetic radiation and matter may be equally affected, since they are made of the same essence* (as shown in many tests involving the famous equation
E=mc2). Such regions are significant whether or not they are occupied by an observer. A time delay is measured for signals that bend near the Sun, headed towards Venus, and bounce back to Earth along a more or less similar path. There is no violation of the speed of light in this sense, as long as an observer is forced to observe only the photons which intercept the observing faculties and not the ones that go passing by in the depths of more (or even less) gravitational time dilation.
If a distant observer is able to track the light in a remote, distant locale which intercepts a time dilated observer nearer to a more massive body, he sees that both the distant light and that distant time dilated observer have a slower proper time clock than other light which is coming nearby him, which intercepts him, at
c, like all other light he really can observe. When the other, distant light intercepts the distant observer, it will come at c from the distant observer's perspective.
Also you can look up the Hafele-Keating experiment. To see the effects on time by traveling on a commercial airliner.
*
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/relativ/blahol.html#c2
