NASA’s New EM Propulsion Brings Us One Step Closer to Warp Drive

NASA has tested a new electromagnetic propulsion drive that, much like Star Trek’s warp drive, could push a spacecraft to travel beyond the speed of light. Unlike warp drive, which stretches the space around a craft, NASA’s EmDrive converts electrical energy into thrust without the need for propellant fuel, a controversial concept since it violates Newton’s laws of motion. However, NASA claims to have successfully tested the EmDrive in conditions that replicate the vacuum of space, according to NASASpaceFlight.com, meaning a real-world equivalent of warp drive may be close.

Paul March, an engineer at the Johnson Space Center where the propulsion technology is being tested, spoke to CNet about the development, saying, “My work at Eagleworks (the lab at JSC where the EmDrive is being tested) is just a continuation of my work tackling the fundamental problem that has been hindering manned spaceflight from the termination of the Apollo moon program. That being the availability of a robust and cost-effective power and propulsion technology that can break us loose from the shackles of the rocket equation.”

The EmDrive is due to undergo further rigorous testing to ensure that it really works, and if it is truly implementable it would require a craft to be powered by its own nuclear reactor, but even the possibility of faster-than-light travel becoming reality is tremendously exciting.

Thank you CNet for providing us with this information.