A German scientist has claimed that we could have a working Star Trek style
warp drive in the next five years.
Professor Dr Jochem Häuser, a member of the Nuclear and Future Flight
Propulsion work group at
the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), told The Scotsman that the
device, called the Z Machine, could be ready to test in early 2011. The US Air
Force is interested in funding the tests.
"I have been working on propulsion systems for quite a while and it would be
the most amazing thing. The benefits would be almost unlimited," said Professor
Häuser.
The system is based on the theory that by rotating a permanent magnetic ring
with a large trapped magnetic field, thrust is generated.
If a strong enough field is built up it would allow the spacecraft to slip
into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing
incredible speeds to be reached.
Professor Häuser co-authored a paper on the topic for the AIAA last year, and
received the organisation's Best Paper of the Year award in July.
His work is based on theories put forward by German physicist
Burkhard
Heim, who developed his ideas during the 1940s and 1950s.
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