NASA Engineer Says New Thruster Could Reach 99% Speed of Light

[Peter1469]

He is an article from a skeptic.

Near-infinite specific thrust from drive that ignores physics

[Helena]

Ive thought about disproving some of his theories and putting my stamp of approval on others but I prefer to remain modest.

Mensa is for losers, am I right?

[The Sage of Main Street]

At that speed you could cross the US in roughly .015 of 1 second.

Using the hyperspace bypass, a light-year can be reached in 3 minutes.

[The Sage of Main Street]

Mensa is for losers, am I right?

An A-student must become an Alpha Male. Nerds are an insult to intelligence.

[brainaic]

See more at the link https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-t...99-speed-light

Excerpt:

New Scientist is reporting that NASA engineer David Burns is making some bold claims about a conceptual new spaceship thruster he calls the “helical engine” — a concept the magazine admits “may violate the laws of physics.”“The engine itself would be able to get to 99 per cent the speed of light if you had enough time and power,” Burns told New Scientist.

The engine, described in a recent paper Burns posted to a NASA server, takes advantage of a weird glitch in Einsteinian physics.

By accelerating a loop of ions to nearly light speed and then manipulating their velocity — and hence, because of the laws of relativity, their mass — the engine achieves the ultimate space travel free lunch: forward thrust without shooting anything out behind.

I would have to see experimental tests.