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PHVSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
considered by NASA. After several decades of inactivity, NASA has recently given some serious thought to various proposals for interstellar
travel-proposals that range from the credible to the fantastic. Since the
early 1990s NASA has hosted the annual Advanced Space Propulsion
Research Workshop, during which these technologies have been
picked apart by teams of serious engineers and physicists. Even more
ambitious is the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program, which has
explored the mysterious world of quantum physics in relation to interstellar travel. Although there is no consensus, much of their activity
has focused on the front-runners: the laser sail and various versions of
fusion rockets.
Given the slow but steady advances in spaceship design, it is reasonable to assume that the first unmanned probe of some sort might be
sent to the nearby stars perhaps later in this century or early in the
next century, making it a Class I impossibility.
But perhaps the most powerful design for a starship involves the
use of antimatter. Although it sounds like science fiction, antimatter
has already been created on the Earth, and may one day provide the
most promising design yet for a workable manned starship.
PHVSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
considered by NASA. After several decades of inactivity, NASA has recently given some serious thought to various proposals for interstellar
travel-proposals that range from the credible to the fantastic. Since the
early 1990s NASA has hosted the annual Advanced Space Propulsion
Research Workshop, during which these technologies have been
picked apart by teams of serious engineers and physicists. Even more
ambitious is the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program, which has
explored the mysterious world of quantum physics in relation to interstellar travel. Although there is no consensus, much of their activity
has focused on the front-runners: the laser sail and various versions of
fusion rockets.
Given the slow but steady advances in spaceship design, it is reasonable to assume that the first unmanned probe of some sort might be
sent to the nearby stars perhaps later in this century or early in the
next century, making it a Class I impossibility.
But perhaps the most powerful design for a starship involves the
use of antimatter. Although it sounds like science fiction, antimatter
has already been created on the Earth, and may one day provide the
most promising design yet for a workable manned starship.