Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs

TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs

AUTHOR(S):
Marc G. Millis

REPORT DATE:
December 2005

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WBS-22-066-10-10

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-15322

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-2005-213998

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Prepared for the New Trends in Astrodynamics and Applications II--An International Conference sponsored by NASA Headquarters and Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, June 3-5, 2005. Responsible person, Marc G. Millis, organization code RTP, 216-977-7535.

ABSTRACT:
The term, propulsion breakthrough, refers to concepts like propellantless space drives and faster-than-light travel, the kind of breakthroughs that would make interstellar exploration practical. Although no such breakthroughs appear imminent, a variety of investigations into these goals have begun. From 1996 to 2002, NASA supported the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project to examine physics in the context of breakthrough spaceflight. Three facets of these assessments are now reported: predicting benefits, selecting research, and recent technical progress. Predicting benefits is challenging since the breakthroughs are still only notional concepts, but kinetic energy can serve as a basis for comparison. In terms of kinetic energy, a hypothetical space drive could require many orders of magnitude less energy than a rocket for journeys to our nearest neighboring star. Assessing research options is challenging when the goals are beyond known physics and when the implications of success are profound. To mitigate the challenges, a selection process is described where: research tasks are constrained to only address the immediate unknowns, curious effects or critical issues; reliability of assertions is more important than their implications; and reviewers judge credibility rather than feasibility. The recent findings of a number of tasks, some selected using this process, are discussed. Of the 14 tasks included, 6 reached null conclusions, 4 remain unresolved, and 4 have opportunities for sequels. A dominant theme with the sequels is research about the properties of space, inertial frames, and the quantum vacuum.

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

NUMBER OF PAGES:
29

PDF AVAILABLE FROM URL:
2005/TM-2005-213998.pdf ( 373 KB )
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