[bWxNFI3c]

If you could control gravity or inertial forces, you would have a propulsion breakthrough (thrusting without rockets), a means to create synthetic gravity environments for space crews, a means to create zero-gravity environment on Earth - hey that could be fun - and a whole host of other things.

Like "Warp Drives", this subject is also at the level of speculation, with some facets edging into the realm of science. We are at the point where we know what we do know and know what we don’t, and there is a lot that we don’t know. The better news is that there is no science that says that gravity control is impossible.

First, we do know that gravity and electromagnetism are linked phenomena. We are quite adept at controlling electromagnetic phenomena, so one can presume that such a connection might eventually lead to using our control of electromagnetism to control gravity. General Relativity, another one of Einstein’s doings, is one way to describe such connections. Another way is through new theories from quantum mechanics that link gravity and inertia to something called "vacuum fluctuations."

Is this subject being studied?

Historically, gravity has been studied in the general sense, but not very much from the point of view of seeking propulsion breakthroughs. With the newly formed NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program, that situation is changing.




So, can we do it?


Not until we get the required breakthroughs in physics.


Right now we don’t even know if practical interstellar travel is possible. Just because we don’t know how to do something today, however, doesn’t mean that it is impossible. There is a historical pattern that has emerged where the grand visions of yesterday’s science fiction inspired today’s reality. Maybe the same will happen with today’s science fiction.


A long time ago, Jules Verne wrote a story about sending people to the moon by blasting them out of a giant cannon. That story inspired a whole host of rocketry pioneers who pondered how to make such a journey a reality. Based on the science of their day, they were eventually able to create visions of how to achieve such a feat -- using rockets instead of cannons. And, when all the conditions were right, these visions evolved into reality.

Now, we look back over 45 years to our landing people on the moon and bringing them back safely.


We need visionaries to forge science into technical realities
Are you the next Faraday, Einstein, Goddard, Von Braun...?




http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/te...p/inspinv.html