Frontiers of Propulsion Science Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics

This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, for which permission requests should be addressed to the publisher. Users should employ the following code when reporting copying from the volume to the Copyright Clearance Center: Foreword A S AN aerospace researcher, I appreciate the value and challenge of advan- cing revolutionary ideas. While my partners and I are opening near-Earth spaceflight to citizens, the creators of this book are extending far beyond that investigating how to enable interstellar flight. This is the stuff of breakthroughs; those notions that sound crazy at first, but actually lead to enormous improvements in the human condition. I love that word, "breakthrough." It means taking risks to explore what average researchers consider nonsense, and then persevering until you've changed the world. While most aerospace professionals play it safe with yawning improvements in technology, the authors of this book take the risk of seriously considering ideas that presently look impossible. . . to some. From their own initiative they created this first-ever technical book on star-drive science.Although the topics of this book might sound like science fiction to the less adventurous covering ideas like antigravity, space drives, warp drives, and faster-than-light travel these goals are dealt with here as a rigorous scientific inquiry. The authors identify what's already been investigated with comparisons to the foundations of physics, cover some dead-end approaches, and show where next to focus attention to continue systematic, rigorous advancements. This is not light reading. The details and citations are numerous. In short, this book offers the seeds for undiscovered breakthroughs.It is hoped that this book will inspire students and young professionals. In these pages are the starting materials from which they can begin to make their mark on history. And to help these future pioneers, the editors saw fit to include a chapter on how to conduct such visionary work within typically stodgy establishments. Lessons of prior breakthroughs are contrasted to the demands of bureaucracies, with specific suggestions on how to make such high-risk/high-gain research seem downright prudent.While I continue to open spaceflight to the masses and NASA reaches back for the moon, it is comforting to know that the scientists and engineers behind this book are looking beyond current activities to answer "what comes after that?" the breakthroughs that will take us to the stars.

Frontiers of Propulsion Science is the first-ever compilation of emerging science relevant to such notions as space drives, warp drives, gravity control, and faster-than-light travel—the kind of breakthroughs that would revolutionize spaceflight and enable human voyages to other star systems. Although these concepts might sound like science fiction, they are appearing in growing numbers in reputable scientific journals.

This is a nascent field where a variety of concepts and issues are being explored in the scientific literature, beginning in about the early 1990s. The collective status is still in step 1 and 2 of the scientific method, with initial observations being made and initial hypotheses being formulated, but a small number of approaches are already at step 4, with experiments underway. This emerging science, combined with the realization that rockets are fundamentally inadequate for interstellar exploration, led NASA to support the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project from 1996 through 2002.

Frontiers of Propulsion Science covers that project as well as other related work, so as to provide managers, scientists, engineers, and graduate students with enough starting material that they can comprehend the status of this research and decide if and how to pursue it in more depth themselves.

Five major sections are included in the book: Understanding the Problem lays the groundwork for the technical details to follow; Propulsion Without Rockets discusses space drives and gravity control, both in general terms and with specific examples; Faster-Than-Light Travel starts with a review of the known relativistic limits, followed by the faster-than-light implications from both general relativity and quantum physics; Energy Considerations deals with spacecraft power systems and summarizes the limits of technology based on accrued science; and From This Point Forward offers suggestions for how to manage and conduct research on such visionary topics.

"Frontiers of Propulsion Science" is the first-ever compilation of emerging science relevant to such notions as space drives, warp drives, gravity control, and faster-than-light travel - the kind of breakthroughs that would revolutionize spaceflight and enable human voyages to other star systems. Although these concepts might sound like science fiction, they are appearing in growing numbers in reputable scientific journals. This is a nascent field where a variety of concepts and issues are being explored in the scientific literature, beginning in about the early 1990s. The collective status is still in step 1 and 2 of the scientific method, with initial observations being made and initial hypotheses being formulated, but a small number of approaches are already at step 4, with experiments underway. This emerging science, combined with the realization that rockets are fundamentally inadequate for interstellar exploration, led NASA to support the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project from 1996 through 2002. "Frontiers of Propulsion Science" covers that project as well as other related work, so as to provide managers, scientists, engineers, and graduate students with enough starting material that they can comprehend the status of this research and decide if and how to pursue it in more depth themselves. Five major sections are included in the book: Understanding the Problem lays the groundwork for the technical details to follow; Propulsion Without Rockets discusses space drives and gravity control, both in general terms and with specific examples; Faster-Than-Light Travel starts with a review of the known relativistic limits, followed by the faster-than-light implications from both general relativity and quantum physics; Energy Considerations deals with spacecraft power systems and summarizes the limits of technology based on accrued science; and, From This Point Forward offers suggestions for how to manage and conduct research on such visionary topics. Content: Recent history of breakthrough propulsion studies / Paul A. Gilster -- Limits of interstellar flight technology / Robert H. Frisbee -- Prerequisites for space drive science / Marc G. Millis -- Review of gravity control within Newtonian and general relativistic physics / Eric W. Davis -- Gravitational experiments with superconductors : history and lessons / George D. Hathaway -- Nonviable mechanical "antigravity" devices / Marc G. Millis -- Null findings of Yamishita electrogravitational patent / Kenneth E. Siegenthaler and Timothy J. Lawrence -- Force characterization of asymmetrical capacitor thrusters in air / William M. Miller, Paul B. Miller, and Timothy J. Drummond -- Experimental findings of asymmetrical capacitor thrusters for various gasses and pressures / Francis X. Canning -- Propulsive implications of photon momentum in media / Michael R. LaPointe -- Experimental results of the Woodward effect on a micro-newton thrust balance / Nembo Buldrini and Martin Tajmar -- Thrusting against the quantum vacuum / G. Jordan Maclay -- Inertial mass from stochastic electrodynamics / Jean-Luc Cambier -- Relativistic limits of spaceflight / Brice N. Cassenti -- Faster-than-light approaches in general relativity / Eric W. Davis -- Faster-than-light implications of quantum entanglement and nonlocality / John G. Cramer -- Comparative space power baselines / Gary L. Bennett -- On extracting energy from the quantum vacuum / Eric W. Davis and H.E. Puthoff -- Investigating sonoluminescence as a means of energy harvesting / John D. Wrbanek ... [et al.] -- Null tests of "free energy" claims / Scott R. Little -- General relativity computational tools and convention for propulsion / Claudio Maccone -- Prioritizing pioneering research / Marc G. Millis. This Books Is The First Compilation Of Emerging Science Relevant To Such Notions As Space Drives, Warp Drives, Gravity Control, And Faster-than-light Travel - The Kind Of Breakthroughs That Would Revolutionize Spaceflight And Enable Human Voyages To Other Star Systems. Although These Concepts Might Sound Like Science Fiction, They Are Appearing In Growing Numbers In Reputable Scientific Journals. A compilation of science relevant to such notions as space drives, warp drives, gravity control, and faster-than-light travel - the kind of breakthroughs that would revolutionize spaceflight and enable human voyages to other star systems. It is suitable for managers, scientists, engineers, and graduate students.