Prospects for Breakthrough Propulsion From Physics

TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Prospects for Breakthrough Propulsion From Physics

AUTHOR(S):
Marc G. Millis

REPORT DATE:
May 2004

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WBS-2262-949-10-01

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
Cleveland, Ohio 44135-3191

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER:
E-14560

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546-0001

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED:
Technical Memorandum

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER:
NASA TM-2004-213082

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Prepared for the 2004 Conference on Evolvable Hardware cosponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), Seattle, Washington, June 24-26, 2004. Responsible person, Marc G. Millis, organization code 5870, 216-977-7535.

ABSTRACT:
"Space drives," "Warp drives," and "Wormholes:" these concepts may sound like science fiction, but they are being written about in reputable journals. To assess the implications of these emerging prospects for future spaceflight, NASA supported the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project from 1996 through 2002. This Project has three grand challenges: (1) Discover propulsion that eliminates the need for propellant; (2) Discover methods to achieve hyper-fast travel; and (3) Discover breakthrough methods to power spacecraft. Because these challenges are presumably far from fruition, and perhaps even impossible, a special emphasis is placed on selecting incremental and affordable research that addresses the critical issues behind these challenges. Of 16 incremental research tasks completed by the project and from other sponsors, about a third were found not to be viable, a quarter have clear opportunities for sequels, and the rest remain unresolved.

SUBJECT TERMS:
Spacecraft propulsion; Physics; Project management; Relativity; Antigravity

NUMBER OF PAGES:
18

PDF AVAILABLE FROM URL:
2004/TM-2004-213082.pdf ( 955 KB )
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