Field propulsion

Short description: Propulsion concepts and technologies

Not to be confused with Spacecraft electric propulsion or Reactionless drive.

Rendering of the deployment of a solar sail for the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), released by NASA in 2023. Deployment of the tethered satellite system during STS-75 in 1996.

Field propulsion refers to propulsion system concepts in which thrust arises from interactions with external fields or ambient media, rather than primarily from onboard chemical propellant.[1][2]: 1 [lower-alpha 1] The idea developed alongside conventional rocketry as a parallel line of thought in which a vehicle would "push off" its surroundings rather than rely entirely on carried propellant.[2]: 216–217 Early ideas grew from studies of radiation pressure and electrically driven motion; later contractor and agency surveys organized advanced concepts under thermal, field, and photon headings.[6]: 1–2 [5]: 25–26 Several related propulsion systems discussed alongside field propulsion in the broader historical literature surveyed here have since been demonstrated in practice, including electrodynamic tethers in orbit, solar sail spacecraft such as IKAROS, and terrestrial applications such as maglev transport, MHD ship propulsion, and EHD thrust devices.[5]: 25–26, I-2 [7][8][9][10] In narrower modern literature, related propellant-less propulsion discussions often focus on environment-coupled systems, while the historical contractor and survey literature treated field propulsion more broadly and sometimes grouped related terrestrial electromagnetic propulsion and some beamed-energy concepts within the same analytical framework.[1][5]: 25–26, I-2 [11]: 1–2

Related research has also examined beamed-energy propulsion, in which lasers, microwaves, or particle beams transmit power to a vehicle from a remote source, and more speculative proposals involving spacetime curvature, vacuum polarization, or zero-point energy interactions.[5]: I-2, II-1 [12]: 1–2 [2]: 215–216, 219 NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program helped reframe the subject around conservation-law consistency, identifiable coupling mechanisms, and experimental reproducibility.[12]: 1–2, 6 Any claimed propulsion method that produces net thrust in a closed system without external interaction would violate conservation of momentum, which follows from the spatial translation symmetry of physical law as expressed by Noether's theorem.[13][12]: 2

The subject has been treated by national space agencies, academic research groups, and industry organizations, and field propulsion concepts have appeared extensively in science fiction, in many cases predating or paralleling the technical research. The influence has occasionally been direct: physicist Miguel Alcubierre said that his warp metric was inspired by Star Trek terminology.[14][15]

## Contents

* 1 Background and history
* 1.1 Pre-20th century to the 1910s
* 1.2 1920s-1950s
* 1.3 1960s-1970s
* 1.4 1980s
* 1.5 1990s
* 1.6 21st century
* 1.7 Arts and culture
* 2 Definitions
* 2.1 Beamed-energy propulsion
* 2.2 Ambient plasma-wave propulsion
* 2.3 Theoretical proposals
* 3 Types
* 3.1 Demonstrated
* 3.1.1 Environment-coupled momentum exchange
* 3.2 Development and testing
* 3.2.1 Beamed-energy and externally powered thrust
* 3.2.2 Field-interaction in atmosphere or dense media
* 3.3 Proposed and theorized
* 3.3.1 Field propulsion based on physical structure of space
* 4 Demonstrated and proposed systems
* 5 See also
* 6 Notes
* 7 References

## Background and history

Template:Related

Johannes Kepler wrote of ideas analogous to solar sailing in 1610.

Traditional rocketry has dominated aerospace propulsion in the 20th and early 21st centuries.[16] Conventional rockets achieve motion by expelling mass, most commonly the combustion output from chemical propellants to generate thrust via Newton's third law, which is the familiar rocket launch with explosive flame and smoke beneath it.[17]: 5–6 Field propulsion concepts evolved as a parallel track, proposing instead that a spacecraft could "push off" its surrounding medium, converting environmental energy or momentum into acceleration.[2]: 216–217 In this article, field propulsion is used for propulsion system concepts in which thrust arises from interactions with external fields or ambient media, rather than primarily from onboard chemical propellant, while noting that some later sources instead use the narrower label propellant-less propulsion for environment-coupled systems.[2]: 1 [1] In the historical survey literature, however, the category was often drawn more broadly, extending to related externally powered and terrestrial electromagnetic concepts discussed within the same analytical family.[5]: 25–26, I-2 [1]

While many proposals remained theoretical, certain environment-coupled systems were eventually demonstrated in space,[18][19] including solar sails, magnetic sails, and electrodynamic tethers, which couple with external photon, plasma, or magnetic fields instead of expelling onboard propellant.[11]: 1–2 Field propulsion is not a single technology but a spectrum of approaches, ranging from mature concepts that have been tested in flight to highly speculative theoretical constructs.[12]: 2

### Pre-20th century to the 1910s

The earliest field propulsion concepts began evolving prior to the 20th century. In 1610, Johannes Kepler wrote Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo (Conversation with the Messenger from the Stars) to Galileo Galilei, in response to Galilei's own Sidereus Nuncius, describing the idea of winds in space propelling craft like the winds of the seas:[20][21]: 39

> As soon as somebody demonstrates the art of flying, settlers from our species of man will not be lacking [on the Moon and Jupiter] … Who would have believed that a huge ocean could be crossed more peacefully and safely than the narrow expanse of the Adriatic, the Baltic Sea or the English Channel? Provide ship or sails adapted to the heavenly breezes, and there will be some who will not fear even that void [of space]...

The physical basis for Kepler's intuition began to emerge over two centuries later. James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated in 1873 that electromagnetic radiation should be able to create pressure on physical surfaces.[6]: 1–2 At the International Congress of Physics in 1900, Pyotr Lebedev presented Les forces de Maxwell-Bartoli dues à la pression de la lumière, reporting experimental measurements of radiation pressure and providing the first quantitative confirmation of Maxwell's predictions with evidence that light exerts pressure on matter.[22]: 133–140 [23]: 332–333 By 1905, Albert Einstein had quantized Maxwell's findings to prove light particles could possess momentum.[6]: 2

### 1920s-1950s

Dynamo-electric machines, an early 1928 patent related to field propulsion.

In 1921, Tsiolkovsky published Extension of Man into Outer Space, further exploring photon-based propulsion concepts.[6]: 2 Перелеты на другие планеты (Flights to Other Planets) by Friedrich Zander was published in 1924 in Техника и жизнь, a Russian science journal, describing concepts to achieve interplanetary flight by use of light-propelled "screens made of extremely thin sheets".[24] Zander was reportedly inspired in this work by his colleague Tsiolkovsky's own research on the topic.[6]: 2

Between 1928 and 1932, Nikolai Rynin published Mezhplanetnye Soobshcheniya (Interplanetary Flight and Communication), a nine-volume Russian-language encyclopedia that the National Air and Space Museum described as the first encyclopedia on the history and theory of aerospace technology and spaceflight.[25] Its coverage included radiation-pressure propulsion and beamed-energy concepts,[26] and the work of Lebedev, Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, Hermann Oberth, and Robert Esnault-Pelterie.[23]: 332–333 Rynin's first volume, Dreams, legends, and early fantasies (1928), organized spacecraft energy sources into three categories: energy transmitted from Earth to the vehicle, energy carried onboard, and energy derived from outer space; the last including "radiation pressure to bear on special large screens around the vehicle," an explicit description of photon-pressure propulsion.[26] Rynin observed that the work surveyed in his encyclopedia "clearly shows that different people in different countries independently came to the same conclusion" regarding the feasibility of interplanetary travel.[23]: 2

While encyclopedic surveys were documenting the theoretical landscape, parallel experimental work was emerging in Europe. In 1928, J. Navascués of León, Spain described a field coupled dynamo-electric machine concept "producing translatory motion of machine by current reaction with earth's field", in which "Propulsion is caused by cutting with a closed conducting turn the earth's magnetic flux".[27]: 7231 After the 1930s, related field propulsion research concepts reached a lull in public published activity for over a decade through and after World War II, appearing mainly in science fiction rather than in sustained technical development.[28]: 12

The first clear postwar reappearance of these propulsion concepts in open scientific literature was in the 1958 Franklin Institute astronautics lecture series. H.W. Ritchey, vice-president of Thiokol and head of its rocket program,[29] highlighted 'Field Propulsion' concepts, describing 'the use of fields' as a way to avoid an exhaust jet.[30]: 46–47 In the same monograph, Israel Levitt, director of the Institute's Fels Planetarium, described solar propulsion methods including Krafft Arnold Ehricke's solar thermal concepts, Richard Garwin's radiation pressure sail proposals, and photon rocket research by Kurl Stanukovitch of Russia.[31]: 189–190, 191–192, 192–193 U.S. Air Force general Donald L. Putt, who led Operation Paperclip after World War II,[32] predicted that upcoming spacecraft would deploy "photo or ion field-type propulsion".[33]: 6

### 1960s-1970s

NASA and the Battelle Memorial Institute researched a solar sail mission to intercept Halley's Comet in the 1970s.

As spaceflight programs expanded throughout the 1960s, contractor studies for the U.S. Air Force and NASA increasingly organized advanced propulsion concepts under three main headings, Thermal, Field, and Photon, so that unconventional ideas could be compared within a common analytical framework.[5]: 26 A 1972 report from the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, followed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory studies in 1975 and 1982, carried this framework forward in published roadmaps. These studies emphasized "infinite specific impulse" systems that would obtain energy or working fluid from the ambient environment, and suggested that advances in lasers and superconductors could revive earlier discarded concepts such as laser propulsion or ramjets.[5]: I-1, 25–26, 406 Later reviews characterized propulsion research in this period as driven by unrestricted creativity and "free-thinking".[5]: I-2

Terrestrial field propulsion concepts also attracted attention during this period. United Press International reported in 1964 on a proposal from the Westinghouse Air Brake Company to link Youngstown, Ohio with Pittsburgh via a "super conductor magnetic field propulsion" transit system.[34]: 9 The Chicago Tribune later reported on early NASA advocacy of what was then called "field resonance propulsion," noting that related magnetohydrodynamics research had begun in 1971 as an extension of training astronauts on solar physics.[35]: 15

Photon-pressure propulsion concepts also advanced through dedicated study programs. NASA funded the Battelle Memorial Institute in 1973 under Jerome L. Wright to study solar sailing concepts for a Halley's Comet intercept. In 1976, a formal solar sail rendezvous proposal managed by Louis Friedman at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was submitted to NASA, but the sail concept was dropped in 1977 in favor of solar electric propulsion, and the comet mission itself was later canceled.[6]: 2

### 1980s

In the 1980s, earlier classification frameworks began giving way to attempts to identify and organize specific physical coupling mechanisms capable of producing measurable thrust. In 1980, NASA scientist Al Holt noted that proposed models for field propulsion interactions in this era ranged from Albert Einstein's united field theory efforts to work by "serious 'amateurs'," reflecting how wide the speculative literature around such ideas had become by that period.[36] That year, Holt was quoted by the Chicago Tribune in his advocacy of field propulsion: "One of the most important things to me is to help break down the inhibiting mental attitude that space-time field interactions will remain in the realm of science fiction for hundreds of years."[35]: 18 Holt argued that progress toward field-dependent propulsion would require a dedicated "field physics laboratory" to quantify relationships among gravitation, electromagnetism, and spacetime structure, framing the potential payoff as performance beyond then-leading aircraft and spacecraft such as the Space Shuttle, SR-71A, and F-16.[36]

Solar sail engineering also advanced institutionally during this period: JPL's Halley studies compared square and heliogyro sail architectures, with the latter using long rotating blades as sails and favored for deployment,[37] while the World Space Foundation fabricated and ground-deployed a 20 m sail and built a 30 m sail stowed in a deployment structure.[38]: 2 A backup solar sail mission to Comet Encke was also considered in 1983 as an alternative to intercepting Halley's comet.[37]

The Huntsville Times reported on a program by TRW Inc.'s Defense and Space Systems Group researching magnetic field based field propulsion, called "force field propulsion", for vehicle launch applications.[39]: 4 Robert L. Forward in 1984 extended beamed-sail studies to the interstellar scale, suggesting that phased solar-system lasers could impart sustained acceleration to ultralight sails across astronomical distances, and potential interstellar exploration within a human lifetime.[40]: 187, 193 By the late 1980s, magnetic sails emerged as a proposed propellantless concept that would use a superconducting loop to deflect the solar wind or interstellar plasma, and thereby generate thrust or drag without expelling onboard reaction mass.[41]: 197–198, 203 The 1980s were a major period of solar sailing research publication, with materials created by a variety of researchers globally, bookended by attempts in 1979 and 1992 by the World Space Foundation and the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission to promote a solar sailing race to the moon.[6]: 1–2

### 1990s

Yamato 1 on display in Kobe, Japan.

Terrestrial electromagnetic propulsion concepts reached operational demonstration in the early 1990s. In 1990, the Daily Telegraph reported on Japanese development work toward a magnetohydrodynamic propulsion ship, including plans to install the magnetic propulsion equipment and conduct at-sea testing.[42]: 11 By 1991–1992, the Ship & Ocean Foundation's experimental ship Yamato 1 had been completed and successfully propelled by superconducting MHD thrusters during harbor trials in Kobe.[9]: 402 [43] Parallel investment in magnetic field propulsion for ground transport was also accelerating: in 1992, the New York Times described U.S. investment in maglev development, noting that maglev trains would be lifted on magnetic cushions and propelled along a guideway by alternating magnetic fields that create a "magnetic wave".[44]: 9 The report said Congress had authorized a six-year, $700 million demonstration program and noted existing demonstration systems in Germany and Japan, including a reported speed record of 273 miles per hour on a test track.[44]: 9

Electrodynamic work matured across the decade. The Plasma Motor Generator flight in 1993 was later described by NASA as the most sophisticated and most successful electrodynamic-tether mission yet flown.[7][45]: 153–155, 188 STS-75 in 1996 deployed the TSS-1R Tethered Satellite System payload aboard Columbia, validating high-voltage electrodynamic behavior in orbit and proving the functionality of the space tether field propulsion concept; NASA described it as the first tethered-satellite mission and the longest structure yet flown in space.[7][45]: 153–155, 188 Beamed-energy propulsion concepts also reached flight-test maturity during this period. In 1997, the laser-propelled Lightcraft was successfully flown in a series of experiments at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range under a joint USAF/NASA flight demonstration program.[46]: 1

NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project (BPP) in 1998 reframed field propulsion from a catalog of ideas into a research program defined by falsifiable physical requirements, establishing conservation-law consistency, measurable coupling mechanisms, and experimental reproducibility as the central benchmarks for evaluating advanced propulsion concepts.[12]: 1–2, 6 The program organized research around three goals: propulsion with no propellant mass, maximum physically possible transit speeds, and breakthrough energy sources.[12]: 1, 3–4 Marc Millis of BPP framed the related "space coupling propulsion" problem as requiring a tangible reaction-mass-like property of the vacuum and a controllable coupling mechanism that yields net external thrust.[4]: 93, 94–95, 95 BPP raised the question of whether propellantless effects could exist without violating conservation of momentum and energy, and the more speculative end of the spectrum — concepts that couple to the environment without carrying reaction mass — remained in the research phase.[12]: 1–2, 6 [2]: 215–216

### 21st century

Depiction of IKAROS, the first spacecraft to use a solar sail as its main propulsion system. The plasma brake consists of a thin wire, that, when charged, creates electrostatic drag in the ionosphere and can deorbit satellites.

The British National Space Centre and Society of British Aerospace Companies began organizing an annual field propulsion research conference in 2001, inaugurated in Brighton at the Institute of Development Studies, with initial delegates including Harry Kroto.[47][48]: 13 British Aerospace was confirmed in 2001 to have initiated a research program called "Project Greenglow" to research "the possibility of the control of gravitational fields."[49][48]: 13 As demonstrated systems accumulated flight heritage, research programs continued exploring more speculative coupling mechanisms.

Subsequent work largely extended this research, examining whether identifiable environmental interactions could meet the same conservation law and measurement criteria. Later NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) studies continued in the same mold, examining whether Alfvén wave plasma interactions might provide quasi-propellantless thrust.[11]: 1–2 Yoshinari Minami of the Advanced Space Propulsion Investigation Committee argued in 2003 that a potential propulsion "breakthrough" could rely on field propulsion, defined as employing "a physical means to asymmetrically interact with the space vacuum."[3]: 350 By 2009, a recognized category of 'breakthrough propulsion concepts' had emerged in the interstellar transport literature, encompassing warp drive, traversable wormholes, and vacuum-energy ideas, though the same literature noted strong skepticism about claims that appeared to conflict with conventional demonstrated physics.[50]: 450–451 Millis summarized the matter as: "For field propulsion, the fields themselves must act as the reaction mass."[4]: 95

While further research and study continued, new environment-coupled propellantless systems were launched into space. IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun), launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on May 21, 2010, was the first spacecraft to use a solar sail as its main propulsion system.[51] LightSail 1 and LightSail 2 flew between 2015 and 2019, with functional sail-type propellantless systems active in outer space.[18][19] NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), launched on April 23, 2024, tested next-generation composite-boom solar-sail technology in orbit, and mission operators confirmed full sail deployment on August 29, 2024.[52][53] Related electrostatic sail concepts also moved into in-space technology-demonstration phases in the 2020s, with AuroraSat-1 launching in 2022 as a plasma-brake technology demonstrator and Foresail-1p launching in 2025 with a plasma brake experiment intended to enable the first-ever space measurements of Coulomb drag for orbital change.[54][55]

### Arts and culture

The frontispiece of the second edition of Francis Godwin's Man in the Moone, 1659. A representation of a Star Trek "warp bubble".

Field propulsion concepts have appeared across literature, film, and television, in many cases predating or paralleling the technical development of the technologies and theories described in this article. Several fictional propulsion systems bear recognizable resemblances to environment-coupled, electromagnetic, or spacetime-interaction concepts later studied in aerospace research.

Fictional antigravity and photon-propulsion ideas emerged well before the underlying physics was formalized. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction traces fictional gravity counteraction from Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone (1638), through George Tucker's A Voyage to the Moon (1827) and its antigravity metal "lunarium," to Percy Greg's coinage of "apergy" as an antigravity spacecraft propulsion force in Across the Zodiac (1880).[56][57] The earliest of these treated the concept in quasi-scientific rather than purely magical terms.[56] A more direct link between fiction and physics appeared in Aventures extraordinaires d'un savant russe (The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist, 1888–1896) by Georges Le Faure and Henry de Graffigny, which featured photon-propelled mirror spacecraft; Colin R. McInnes noted in his 1999 book Solar Sailing that the story may have been inspired by James Clerk Maxwell's 1873 research into radiation pressure, an early forebear of field propulsion.[6]: 1–2, 48 [58]

As technical rocketry advanced in the early 20th century, pulp fiction kept pace with its own propulsion inventions. H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon (1901) popularized gravity shielding through "cavorite," a material used to construct a sphere capable of leaving Earth without expelling propellant.[56] Similar ideas proliferated across the pulp era: Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom series, beginning with A Princess of Mars (serialized 1912), described Martian airships propelled by a stored "eighth ray" used for lift and maneuvering rather than aerodynamic wings or rocket thrust,[59] while Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan (1928) described "repellor anti-gravity rays" used as "legs" for airships, alongside "inertron," a substance that reacts to gravity opposite to normal matter.[60] The Buck Rogers comic strip, launched in 1929, carried Nowlan's repulsor-beam and inertron concepts into the visual medium.[60] The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction credited E. E. Smith's Spacehounds of IPC (1931) as containing the first use of the term "force field" in science fiction.[61]

By mid-century, science fiction was moving beyond individual gadgets toward propulsion concepts with explicit theoretical rationales. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction attributes early use of "space warp" and "hyperspace" terminology in the context of interstellar travel to John W. Campbell's Islands of Space (serialized 1931 in Amazing Stories Quarterly; published as a novel in 1957).[62][63] James Blish's Cities in Flight series, beginning with "Bindlestiff" (December 1950, Astounding Science Fiction), introduced the "spindizzy," formally the Dillon-Wagoner Graviton Polarity Generator.[64] The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction described the spindizzy as, in its day, "one of the best-loved items of sf Terminology," and noted that Blish gave the device a rationale rooted in theoretical physics, in which gravity fields are generated or cancelled by rotation owing to a fictional "Blackett-Dirac effect."[64] The National Air and Space Museum identified Forbidden Planet (1956) as the first film to depict a faster-than-light starship built by humans;[65] Time (magazine) described the starship's propulsion as a "quanto-gravitetic hyperdrive," and the published screenplay text includes the same phrasing in its opening narration.[66]

Fiction magazines of this era also served as platforms for promoting claimed real-world propulsion devices. The Dean drive, a claimed reactionless device built by Norman L. Dean, received extensive promotion from John W. Campbell in Astounding Science Fiction beginning in 1960.[67]: 83–106 [68]: 95–99 Campbell published photographs of the device operating on a bathroom scale,[69]: 4–7 and the June 1960 cover of Astounding featured a painting of a United States submarine near Mars supposedly propelled by a Dean drive.[67]: 1 In 1984, physicist Amit Goswami wrote that the Dean drive had become so embedded in genre consciousness that "it is now customary in SF circles to refer to a reactionless drive as a Dean drive."[70]: 23 Cordwainer Smith's "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul" (Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1960) is among the earliest clearly sourced fictional treatments of photon-pressure sailing as a spacecraft propulsion method.[71] The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction catalogued antigravity, the Dean drive, inertialess drive, sails, and spindizzy as distinct propulsion categories for space travel in the genre.[72]

The influence between fiction and field propulsion research became most visible through television. Star Trek: The Original Series (premiered September 8, 1966) made "warp drive" and "tractor beam" household terms.[73][74]: 167 In addition to popularizing the concept of warp drives, the Star Trek franchise was recognized by the Space Frontier Foundation for their portrayal of solar sail technologies in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Explorers", where astronauts construct and fly a lightsail ship.[75][76]: 236–237 Star Trek would later introduce a biologically mediated propulsion system with Star Trek: Discovery's spore drive, which uses a subspace fungal network for instantaneous travel.[77] Physicist Miguel Alcubierre stated that his 1994 theoretical warp metric, a solution formulated within general relativity describing the expansion of spacetime behind and contraction in front of a theoretical spacecraft, was directly inspired by the terminology used in Star Trek;[14] The Planetary Society described him as having developed the model "inspired by Star Trek."[15] Alcubierre's warp metric remains one of the clearest documented cases in which a science fiction concept directly catalyzed formal physics research into field propulsion.

## Definitions

Advanced-propulsion survey frameworks have grouped candidate concepts under headings such as thermal propulsion, field propulsion, and photon propulsion.[5]: 26 [lower-alpha 1] In that broader historical literature, field propulsion was not always used as a strict synonym for modern propellantless propulsion; depending on the framework, it could also encompass related beamed-energy concepts and terrestrial field-matter coupling systems treated within the same analytical family.[5]: 25–26, I-2 By contrast, propellantless propulsion in the narrower modern sense produces thrust through interaction with the surrounding environment rather than by expelling reaction mass.[1] Later usage, as in NIAC studies of environment-coupled momentum exchange, restricts the term to systems that derive thrust from external fields or media without expelling onboard reaction mass.[11]: 1–2 The boundaries of the term have therefore varied across successive classification frameworks, program definitions, and research criteria over more than a century of use.[12]: 1–2 This article discusses the subject across that full historical range as documented in the source literature.

Artist's impression of solar wind flow around Earth's magnetosphere.

Examples of field propulsion technologies include systems that attempt to draw on the photon field of sunlight, the charged particles of the solar wind, or the magnetic fields of planetary environments.[11]: 1–2 Broad definitions often include solar sail systems.[8][78]: 3 Magnetic sail concepts, proposed by Dana Andrews and Robert Zubrin, exemplify this approach.[41]: 197 In the broader historical literature, related terrestrial electromagnetic field-matter systems such as electrohydrodynamics (EHD) and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) were also sometimes discussed within the same field-propulsion family, alongside more speculative proposals involving general relativity, quantum field theory, or zero-point energy.[5]: I-2, IX-14-15, IX-33, XIII-1-3 [2]: 215–216, 219

Conservation of momentum is a fundamental requirement of propulsion systems because momentum is always conserved.[12]: 2 This conservation law is implicit in the published work of Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei, but arises on a fundamental level from the spatial translation symmetry of the laws of physics, as given by Noether's theorem.[13] Open systems comply with the conservation of momentum by transferring it to or from the surrounding environment.[2]: 216–217 Conservation laws can be satisfied in field propulsion via interaction with "a mass, a massive body, electromagnetic radiation, and space as a vacuum," as Minami described, adding that the "most promising interpretation" is treating vacuum as "a kind of reaction mass."[3]: 351

For instance, terrestrial MHD drives accelerate conductive fluids using electromagnetic fields, resulting in thrust through the Lorentz force in a surrounding reaction medium such as seawater or plasma.[9][79]: 2 Environment-coupled space approaches such as sails, tethers, or plasma-wave coupling instead exchange momentum with ambient photons, plasma, or magnetic fields, and remain possible only if the method of external coupling is strong enough.[11]: 1–2, 11–12

In practice, the viability of any open field-coupled concept depends on coupling strength to the surrounding environment. For example, momentum exchange with the solar wind or a magnetosphere scales with local plasma density, magnetic-field magnitude, and wave/field interaction efficiency; in weak or highly variable environments, thrust and control authority are correspondingly limited.[11]: 7–10

Any propulsion method that claims to generate net thrust in a closed system without external interaction violates the conservation of momentum, which follows from the spatial translation symmetry of physical law (Noether's theorem).[13][12]: 2 Some speculative field propulsion concepts may require extensions to established physical theories, including beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and cosmology.[80]: 9 Millis notes that proposed "space drive" schemes where forces act only internally produce no net motion, and relates this "net external force requirement" to the conservation of momentum.[81]: 2–3

### Beamed-energy propulsion

LightSail-2 with deployed solar sail, July 23, 2019.

In the broader historical literature used here, beam-powered propulsion was often discussed alongside field propulsion because it shifted energy supply offboard and, in some concepts, also drew working fluid or momentum exchange from the surroundings, even though many such systems do not fit the narrower modern propellantless-only sense.[5]: I-2, II-1, IX-14–IX-15 [1] Beam-powered propulsion sends power from a remote source directly to a spacecraft propulsion system using directed-energy technologies such as lasers, microwaves, or relativistic charged-particle beams. A NASA contractor report surveyed such concepts, seeking large gains in payload, range, and terminal velocity beyond chemical rocket performance.[5]: I-2, II-1 The report identified enabling technologies (e.g., higher-current superconductors, potential room-temperature superconductors, metallic hydrogen) as then-potential paths to field propulsion prospects.[5]: I-2

A study from the Air Force Research Laboratory concluded that researchers should prioritize concepts that draw both working fluid and energy from surroundings, because of their implications for outstanding performance.[5]: I-2 Proposals also include advanced electrostatic and MHD-based concepts that could leverage charged particle interactions with atmospheric fields or ionospheric plasmas and geomagnetic fields to produce directed motion.[5]: IX-14-15, IX-33, XIII-1-3 Some approaches use atmospheric or environmental material as working fluid or interaction medium, drawing reaction mass or momentum exchange from the ambient environment rather than from onboard propellant.[5]: I-2, IX-14–IX-15 The study suggested improvements in technologies like high-power lasers or new energy transfer methods could revitalize previously discarded propulsion ideas, including laser propulsion and infinite-Isp ramjets.[5]: I-2

### Ambient plasma-wave propulsion

NIAC studies proposed "ambient plasma wave propulsion" in which RF energy is coupled into ambient plasma using a spacecraft antenna, generating Alfvén waves, low-frequency disturbances that travel along ambient magnetic field lines in plasma; the report describes the wave as adding momentum to the antenna and spacecraft and thereby providing thrust as a "truly propellantless propulsion system".[11]: 1–2 The 2011 Phase I assessment found the approach technically immature but potentially enabling if sensitivity and power challenges can be overcome.[11]: 1, 25–26

### Theoretical proposals

Alcubierre metric, related to Alcubierre drives, by Harold G. White, NASA Johnson Space Center. It depicts a 'warp bubble' in which spacetime expands behind and contracts in front of an example spacecraft as a theoretical propulsion concept.

NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) memo framed research questions at the limits of physics, no-propellant propulsion, ultimate transit speeds, and breakthrough energy production, explicitly to sort physically testable ideas from non-viable claims.[12]: 1 Field propulsion alone was described as insufficient for practical interstellar exploration because no propulsion theory currently exceeds the speed of light, requiring a navigation theory as a secondary solution alongside propulsion theory.[82]: 1419 Practical interstellar exploration was framed as a combined problem of propulsion theory and navigation theory, rather than as a propulsion-only problem.[82]: 1419, 1420 A 2009 propulsion survey framed one motivation for field propulsion research in operational terms, arguing that if field interactions could reduce effective gravitational and inertial resistance, rocket thrust and propellant requirements for Earth-to-orbit flight would be substantially reduced.[50]: 439

Minami's navigation theory framing was situated within similar extra-dimensional theory discussions, including Kaluza-Klein theory, supergravity theory, superstring theory, M theory, and D-brane-related superstring theory, as part of the paper's conceptual background for interstellar navigation.[82]: 1420 Minami and Musha reviewed proposals outlined further below, including vacuum polarization (a quantum effect in which strong fields produce short-lived virtual particle pairs), engineered spacetime curvature, and zero-point-field interactions; they distinguish between two field propulsion concepts: one framed in terms of general relativity and one in terms of quantum field theory.[2]: 215–216, 219

Vacuum-fluctuation phenomena such as the Casimir effect have been measured in many precision experiments and are reviewed extensively in the mainstream literature.[83]: 1827, 1829–1830 However, attempts to obtain net thrust or a gravity coupling from static electromagnetic configurations (often framed as "electrogravitic" effects) have not produced reproducible anomalous forces in controlled tests.[84]: 2, 15 [85]: 315, 318

## Types

A wide range of propulsion methods have been proposed or demonstrated that fit within broad definitions of field propulsion. This taxonomy reflects how late twentieth-century contractor reports and program reviews organized the subject, and how later surveys distinguish environment-coupled momentum exchange from more speculative proposals.[5]: 26 [11]: 1–2 One group comprises environment-coupled systems that utilize their surroundings to produce thrust, including solar sails, magnetic sails, and, with certain restrictions, electrodynamic tethers, which use the solar wind or ambient magnetic fields to generate thrust. In one example design, a magnetic sail uses a loop of superconducting cable to create a magnetic field that deflects solar wind plasma and imparts momentum to the attached spacecraft.[11]: 1–2 [41]: 197

A more speculative class invokes direct interactions with a structured vacuum or with spacetime geometry, proposing thrust without expelling mass, an idea discussed in general relativity and quantum field theory literature but not empirically validated.[2]: 215, 218–219 The sections below follow the broader historical literature usage outlined above, treating propellantless environment-coupled systems as the core cases while also retaining related beamed-energy concepts, terrestrial field interactions, and more speculative proposals where the source literature grouped them under the same field-propulsion umbrella.[5]: 25–26, I-2 [1][11]: 1–2

### Demonstrated

Various field propulsion approaches and systems have achieved experimental validation, flight heritage, or sustained engineering development.

#### Environment-coupled momentum exchange

Rendering of an interstellar light sail craft. NASA Goddard schematic of Earth's magnetosphere with regions of natural plasma waves (including chorus, magnetosonic, ultra-low frequency waves, and plasmaspheric hiss). Plasma-wave propulsion concepts propose to couple with such wave-particle interactions.

These systems generate thrust by exchanging momentum with external fields (magnetic, plasma, or photon), without expelling onboard reaction mass. Solar sails are a propellant-less propulsion method that produces thrust from solar photon pressure, rather than by expelling reaction mass.[1][78]: 4, 5 As with other environment coupled concepts, sail performance depends on local solar pressure: the interstellar probe concept uses a very close solar flyby to take advantage of "increased solar flux" and the resultant "increased solar photon pressure", and scaling to a 160,000 m2 sail would require advances in sail materials, deployment, and attitude control systems.[78]: 4

Sailcraft engineering couples ultra-light structures to stringent pointing and thermal constraints.[86]: 2990, 2995 [40]: 188 Once deployed, thrust is almost normal to the sail, so small attitude changes steer the thrust vector.[86]: 2990–2991 Performance evolves with materials science and control: lower areal density (mass per unit sail area) directly increases acceleration,[40]: 188 and by tilting the sail the small continuous thrust can be steered for precise trajectory shaping.[86]: 2990 Square and heliogyro designs use thin film sails on deployable booms; reliable deployment of large, low-mass structures and thin films is a key challenge.[86]: 2991, 3004–3005 Typical sail films have reflective front coats and high-emissivity back coats; wrinkling and billowing reduce efficiency.[86]: 2993–2995 Forward (Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 1984) outlined a proposed method of how solar-system-based laser systems and a roughly 1,000 km light-focusing Fresnel lens system could propel thin-film sails to ~0.11% of the speed of light, enabling an unmanned flyby of Alpha Centauri in approximately 40 years.[40]: 187, 193 In Forward's proposal, a two-stage sail system in which a massive ring sail reflects laser light back onto a detached payload sail, enabling the unmanned spacecraft to rendezvous and brake within the Alpha Centauri system.[40]: 193–194

Analyses of magnetic sail concepts indicate thrust arises from deflecting the solar wind around a spacecraft-supported magnetic field, with performance set by the distance at which solar-wind pressure balances the sail's magnetic pressure; larger effective magnetic cross-sections increase momentum transfer but require large-radius, high-current superconducting coils.[41]: 197–200 Mission studies of magnetic sails show that they can perform heliocentric transfers between circular orbits by using the solar wind for outbound acceleration and inbound braking.[41]: 197–199 Magsails have also been proposed for interstellar missions, where interaction with the interstellar medium provides propellantless terminal deceleration into a destination solar system.[41]: 201–203 Key engineering challenges include the mass and size of the superconducting loop and the constraints imposed by achievable superconducting currents and magnetic fields.[41]: 197–199 The design tradeoffs emphasize achieving a large effective magnetic cross-section for the superconducting loop while keeping its mass low.[41]: 199 Magnetospheric plasma propulsion (M2P2) is a NIAC proposal by Robert Winglee, in which plasma injection inflates a magnetic bubble that couples with the solar wind. It is considered a variant of magnetic sails.[87][88]

The most studied examples are electrodynamic tethers (EDT), which generate Lorentz-force-based drag or thrust by coupling a long current-carrying conductor to a planetary magnetic field, thereby exchanging momentum with a planetary magnetosphere or ionosphere to enable propellantless drag or thrust in suitable environments (e.g., low Earth orbit), and fall under broad definitions of field propulsion due to their use of external fields for momentum exchange.[11]: 1 [89]: 136–138 [45]: 153–155, 83–84 In operation, a conductive tether moving through a planetary magnetic field experiences a motional electromotive force, a voltage induced by its motion through the field; closing the circuit through the ambient ionosphere allows current to flow, and the resulting Lorentz force can provide either drag (for deorbit) or, with external power injection, thrust along specific orbital geometries.[45]: 137, 146–147 As open systems, they conserve momentum by reaction with the ambient plasma and magnetic field.[45]: 188, 153–155 Electrodynamic tethers have been deployed in several space tether missions, including the TSS-1, TSS-1R, and Plasma Motor Generator (PMG) experiments.[45]: 153–155, 83–84 Electrodynamic tethers can also generate electrical power at the expense of orbital energy.[45]: 151

Related electrostatic sail concepts also entered in-space technology-demonstration phases in the 2020s. NASA's small-spacecraft propulsion survey described the electric sail and the closely related plasma brake as relatively immature environment-coupled propulsion technologies, and noted that AuroraSat-1, launched on May 5, 2022, served as a technology demonstration mission for a Plasma Brake module.[54] In 2025, Aalto University in Finland reported the launch of Foresail-1p carrying a Plasma Brake experiment intended to enable the first-ever space measurements of Coulomb drag, in which a charged tether interacts with surrounding plasma to change a satellite's orbit.[54][55]

### Development and testing

These are concepts under active engineering development or testing that adapt field-based acceleration or coupling principles for new operational regimes. As in the historical survey literature discussed above, this section includes some systems that fall outside the narrower propellantless-only sense of field propulsion, especially externally powered concepts and terrestrial field-matter coupling applications.[5]: I-2, 25–26 [1]

#### Beamed-energy and externally powered thrust

A rendering of a laser broom concept. Beamed-energy systems proposed for debris removal share technology heritage with laser propulsion concepts.

Microwave electrothermal thrusters use microwave energy, potentially externally supplied, to heat a fluid propellant. When powered externally, it falls under beamed-energy propulsion with mass acceleration via directed fields. Laser ablation propulsion uses pulsed laser energy to ablate onboard material into a plasma jet; although it expels mass, the energy source is external, placing it within beamed-energy propulsion approaches. Photonic laser thrusters are a photon-pressure system that relies on externally beamed lasers instead of sunlight.

Leik Myrabo's beamed-energy Lightcraft program, spanning several decades, employed a projected-power, combined-cycle MHD system designed to reconfigure across multiple flight regimes.[50]: 193 Czysz and Bruno also highlighted the concept's very low onboard propellant requirement, writing that it had "the least onboard propellants of any system".[50]: 193 Myrabo's architecture was described as scalable by siting the projector on Earth, in orbit, or on the Moon, explicitly noting propulsion implications for geosynchronous orbit, the Moon, and nearby planetary/moon systems.[50]: 193 Research has been limited to laboratory testing and subscale atmospheric Lightcraft demonstrations, with orbital proposals remaining unflown.

#### Field-interaction in atmosphere or dense media

SCMaglev during a test run on the Yamanashi test track in Japan, November 2005.

Broad historical treatments of field propulsion placed terrestrial field-matter coupling systems alongside space-oriented concepts, even though these operate in dense media rather than as propellantless spacecraft.[5]: IX-14-15, IX-33, XIII-1-3 [9][79]: 2 Although not presently in wide use for space, there exist proven terrestrial examples of field propulsion in which electromagnetic fields act upon a conducting medium such as seawater or plasma for propulsion, known collectively as magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). MHD is similar in operation to electric motors, however, rather than using moving parts or metal conductors, fluid or plasma conductors are employed. The EMS-1 and more recently the Yamato 1[90]: 562 are examples of such electromagnetic field-propulsion systems, first described in 1994.[91]

Electrohydrodynamics (EHD) is another method where electrically charged fluids are accelerated for propulsion and flow control; laboratory and flight demonstrations include ion devices driven by corona discharge, in which a strong electric field ionizes surrounding air to create a thrust-producing flow of charged particles.[79]: 2 [10]: 532–535 Magnetohydrodynamic interaction concepts extending magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) to space plasma propose generating thrust by exchanging momentum with ambient charged particles via Lorentz-force coupling. If the interacting plasma is external (e.g., ionospheric or solar wind), the system qualifies as field propulsion.[50]: 450–451

Magnetic levitation (maglev) ground transport systems are another terrestrial example of propulsion via externally generated fields: maglev employs magnetic forces to lift, guide, and propel a vehicle over a guideway, with propulsion typically provided by a linear motor whose traveling magnetic field pulls or pushes the vehicle along the track.[92][93]: 2342

### Proposed and theorized

These concepts are discussed in aerospace literature primarily as theoretical or exploratory frameworks rather than operational propulsion technologies.

#### Field propulsion based on physical structure of space

Representation of Earth curving surrounding spacetime in general relativity, illustrating how gravitational fields are treated as distortions of the underlying spacetime structure. Some proposed field propulsion concepts aim to couple with such structural changes.

Minami and Musha frame field propulsion at the physics frontier as interaction with a "substantial physical structure" of space, drawing on general relativity at macroscopic scales and quantum field theory at microscopic scales.[2]: 215–216 In Minami and Musha's framing, propulsive force arises from interaction with a physical structure of space instead of from expelling reaction mass.[2]: 216–217 As one candidate concept, Minami treated space as "an elastic body like rubber" and argued that space curvature could create an "acceleration field," stating that "a space drive is produced in the region of curved space."[3]: 352 [94]: 20–21 A 1979 NASA technical memorandum outlined a speculative field resonance propulsion concept that hypothesized thrust from a resonance between coherent pulsed electromagnetic field waveforms and gravitational waveforms associated with spacetime metrics, framed as potentially enabling galactic travel without prohibitive travel times.[95]: ii

Minami and Musha distinguish between two field propulsion concepts: one framed in terms of general relativity and one in terms of quantum field theory.[2]: 215–220 According to quantum field theory and quantum electrodynamics, the quantum vacuum is modeled as a nonradiating electromagnetic background, existing in a zero-point state, the minimum energy allowed by the theory.[94]: 24–25 It was proposed that applying this to an electrically insulating material could, via Lorentz forces on charges bound within the material, affect its inertia and thereby create acceleration without internal mechanical stress.[2]: 216–219 Potential concepts studied by NASA and other parties have included vacuum polarization, engineered spacetime curvature, and zero-point-field interactions; none have been experimentally validated, and all face unresolved consistency issues with momentum conservation.[12]: 2

Several foundational ideas in field propulsion, from Kepler's 1610 vision of "sails adapted to the heavenly breezes", have since been realized in demonstrated spaceflight systems.[20][21]: 39 [18][19][51] Meanwhile, concepts once unproven now fly in space, and research continues on the remaining unproven options.[52][53][55][11]: 1, 25–26 [12]: 1–2

## Demonstrated and proposed systems

The following table summarizes first demonstrated usage, operational domain, and development status for field propulsion subtypes discussed in this article, ranging from systems with flight heritage to theoretical proposals.

First demonstrated usage by field propulsion subtype  Propulsion subtype  | Domain  | First demonstrated usage  | Date  | Vehicle / mission  | Status  | Remarks

|
|
|
|
|
|

Magnetic levitation (maglev)  | Ground  | First commercial maglev people-mover scheduled for passenger operation  | 1984  | Birmingham Airport Maglev people mover (Birmingham Airport ↔ Birmingham International railway station)  | Operational (1984–1995)  | New Scientist described in 1984 the world's first commercial maglev, scheduled for operation in April 1984, and noted linear induction motor propulsion.[96] Terrestrial; propulsion via linear motor traveling magnetic field along guideway.[92][44]: 9
Electrodynamic tether | Space  | TSS-1 deployment from Space Shuttle  | 1992  | TSS-1 (NASA)  | Demonstrated  | Environment-coupled; exchanges momentum with planetary magnetosphere. TSS-1R (1996, STS-75) and PMG also demonstrated.[45]: 153–155, 83–84 [7]
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ship drive  | Marine  | Superconducting MHD thruster propelled experimental ship in harbor trials  | 1992  | Yamato 1 (Kobe Harbor, Japan)  | Demonstrated  | Terrestrial; electromagnetic field propulsion using seawater as conducting medium.[9]: 402 [43]
Lightcraft (beamed-energy)  | Atmospheric  | Subscale atmospheric flight demonstrations  | 1997  | Lightcraft (Leik Myrabo)  | Demonstrated (subscale atmospheric)  | First flight in 1997.[46]: 1 Beamed-energy combined-cycle MHD; orbital proposals remain unflown.[50]: 193
Solar sail | Space  | First deep-space solar sail demonstration; confirmed photon acceleration  | 2010  | IKAROS (JAXA)  | Operational  | Environment-coupled; propellantless. LightSail 1 (2015) and LightSail 2 (2019) followed.[8][18][19] NASA's ACS3 (2024) demonstrated composite-boom sail deployment.[52][53]
Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) aircraft  | Atmospheric  | Solid-state propulsion aircraft flight  | 2018  | MIT EHD aircraft (Xu et al.)  | Demonstrated  | Atmospheric; corona-discharge-driven ionic wind propulsion with no moving parts.[10]: 532–535 [79]: 2
Ambient plasma-wave propulsion  | Space  | –  | –  | –  | Proposed  | NIAC Phase I study; technically immature.[11]: 1, 25–26
Laser lightsail (interstellar)  | Space  | –  | –  | –  | Proposed  | Laser-pushed thin-film sail to ~0.11c proposed by Forward (1984).[40]: 187, 193
Magnetospheric plasma propulsion (M2P2)  | Space  | –  | –  | –  | Proposed  | Plasma-inflated magnetic bubble couples with solar wind; NIAC proposal by Winglee; variant of magnetic sails.[87][88]
Magnetic sail | Space  | –  | –  | –  | Proposed  | Environment-coupled; superconducting loop deflects solar wind. Proposed by Andrews and Zubrin.[41]: 197
Vacuum / spacetime coupling  | Space  | –  | –  | –  | Theoretical  | No experimental validation; unresolved consistency issues with momentum conservation.[12]: 2 [2]: 215–216, 219

## See also

| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Field propulsion.

|

* Bussard ramjet
* Emerging technologies
* History of aviation
* History of rockets
* History of spaceflight
* New Millennium Program
* Non-rocket spacelaunch
* Spacecraft electric propulsion
* Timeline of aviation
* Timeline of rocket and missile technology
* Timeline of spaceflight

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The term field propulsion appears explicitly in multiple sources cited in this article. Minami defined it as employing "a physical means to asymmetrically interact with the space vacuum".[3]: 350 Minami and Musha wrote that a "Field propulsion system can be propelled without mass expulsion" and that its thrust arises from interaction with "the substantial physical structure".[2]: 1 Millis wrote: "For field propulsion, the fields themselves must act as the reaction mass".[4]: 95 Myrabo's NASA contractor report also used field propulsion as a category heading in a taxonomy that grouped concepts under thermal, field, and photon headings.[5]: 25–26 NASA's later small-spacecraft survey uses the narrower label propellant-less propulsion systems for systems that "generate thrust via interaction with the surrounding environment".[1]

## References

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government.

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 "State-of-the-Art of Small Spacecraft Technology". 2024-03-17. https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/in-space_propulsion/. "Propellant-less propulsion systems generate thrust via interaction with the surrounding environment (e.g., solar photon pressure, planetary magnetic fields, solar wind and ionospheric plasma pressures, and planetary atmospheres). By contrast, chemical and electric propulsion systems generate thrust by expulsion of reaction mass (i.e., propellant). Four propellant-less propulsion technologies have undergone in-space demonstrations to date, including solar sails, tethers, electric sails (and plasma brakes), and aerodynamic drag devices."
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Minami, Yoshinari; Musha, Takaaki (January 2012). "Field propulsion systems for space travel" (in en). Acta Astronautica (Elsevier) 81 (1): 59–66. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.02.027. ISSN 0094-5765. https://www.academia.edu/53605673. Retrieved 2025-09-17. "Field propulsion systems were proposed by many researchers to overcome the speed limit of the conventional space propulsion system. Field propulsion system can be propelled without mass expulsion; its propulsion principle can induce a propulsive force (i.e., thrust) that arises from the interaction of the substantial physical structure.".
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Minami, Yoshinari (September 2003). "An Introduction to Concepts of Field Propulsion". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 56 (9): 350–359. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259659196_An_Introduction_to_Concepts_of_Field_Propulsion. Retrieved 2026-02-20.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Millis, Marc G.. ﻿Coupling Gravity, Electromagnetism and Space-Time for Space Propulsion Breakthroughs﻿ (Report). pp. 93,94-95,95. NASA NTRS 19950002760. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19950002760. Retrieved 2026-02-20. "For field propulsion, the fields themselves must act as the reaction mass."
5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 Myrabo, Leik N. (May 31, 1983). ﻿Advanced Beamed-Energy and Field Propulsion Concepts﻿ (Contractor Report). NASA Contractor Report Series. McLean, Virginia: BDM Corporation for the California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. BDM/W-83-225-TR; NAS 1.26:176108; Accession 85N33186. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19850024873/downloads/19850024873.pdf. Retrieved 2026-02-19.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Matloff, Gregory L. (2004-09-01). ﻿Photon Sail History, Engineering, and Mission Analysis﻿ (Report). NASA. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050199476/downloads/20050199476.pdf.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "#25c. The Space Tether Experiment". 1999-03-13. https://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wtether.html.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator 'IKAROS' Confirmation of Photon Acceleration". 2010-07-09. https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2010/07/20100709_ikaros_e.html.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Takezawa, Setsuo; Tamama, Hiroshi; Sugawara, Kazumi; Sakai, Hiroshi; Matsuyama, Chiaki; Morita, Hiroaki; Suzuki, Hiromi; Ueyama, Yoshihiro (1994). "Operation of the Thruster for Superconducting Electromagnetohydrodynamic Propulsion Ship “YAMATO1”". Journal of the Marine Engineering Society in Japan 29 (6): 402–411. doi:10.5988/jime1966.29.402. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jime1966/29/6/29_6_402/_article. "The Ship & Ocean Foundation set up a research and development committee for MHD ship propulsion in 1985 and started an extensive R & D studies, and to construct an experimental ship to demonstrate that a ship can really be propelled by MHD thrusters with all the necessary machinery and equipments on board. The experimental ship, named the YAMATO 1, was completed in the fall of 1991 and was actually propelled successfully by MHD thrusters in the summer of 1992 in KOBE harbour.".
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Xu, Haofeng; He, Yiou; Strobel, Kieran L.; Gilmore, Christopher K.; Kelley, Sean P.; Hennick, Cooper C.; Sebastian, Thomas; Woolston, Mark R. et al. (2018-11-21). "Flight of an aeroplane with solid-state propulsion". Nature 563: 532-535. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0707-9. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0707-9. Retrieved 2025-11-18.
11. ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 Gilland, James H.; Williams, George J. (2011). ﻿The Potential for Ambient Plasma Wave Propulsion﻿ (Report). NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC). https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/01-niac_2011_phasei_gilland_thepotentialforambientplasma_tagged.pdf. Retrieved 2025-06-06.
12. ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 Millis, Marc G. (June 1998) (in en). ﻿NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program﻿ (Report). NASA Technical Memorandum. Cleveland, OH: NASA Lewis Research Center. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19980201240/downloads/19980201240.pdf. Retrieved 2025-06-13.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Ho-Kim, Quang; Kumar, Narendra; Lam, Harry C. S. (2004). Invitation to Contemporary Physics. World Scientific. p. 19. ISBN 978-981-238-303-7. http://dspace.rri.res.in/bitstream/2289/6139/1/Invitation to contep Phys.pdf.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Alcubierre, Miguel (1994). "The warp drive: hyper‑fast travel within general relativity". Classical and Quantum Gravity 11 (5): L73–L77. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/11/5/001.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Miguel Alcubierre, Inventor of Warp Drive?". 2014-09-09. https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0909-miguel-alcubierre-inventor-of-warp-drive. "Inspired by Star Trek, distinguished physicist Miguel Alcubierre developed the general relativity-based model for warp drive 20 years ago."
16. ↑ "Brief History of Rockets". https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/TRC/Rockets/history_of_rockets.html.
17. ↑ Sutton, George P.; Biblarz, Oscar (2017). Rocket Propulsion Elements (9th ed.). Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-75365-1. https://ftp.idu.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/ebook/tdg/DESIGN SISTEM DAYA GERAK/Rocket Propulsion Elements.pdf.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Davis, Jason (2015-06-09). "LightSail Test Mission Declared Success; First Image Complete". https://www.planetary.org/articles/20150609-lightsail-test-mission-success.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 "LightSail: Flight". 2020. https://www.planetary.org/sci-tech/lightsail. "LightSail® is a crowdfunded project from The Planetary Society to demonstrate that solar sailing is a viable means of propulsion for CubeSats — small, standardized spacecraft that are part of a global effort to lower the cost of space exploration. Our LightSail 2 spacecraft, which launched on June 25, 2019 and reentered Earth's atmosphere on Nov. 17, 2022, used sunlight alone to change its orbit."
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Kepler, Johannes (August 1610). "Science Quotes by Johannes Kepler". https://todayinsci.com/K/Kepler_Johannes/KeplerJohannes-Quotations.htm.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Kepler, Johannes (1965). Kepler's Conversation with Galileo's Sidereal Messenger. The Sources of Science, No. 5. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation. p. 39.
22. ↑ Lebedev, P. (1900). "Les forces de Maxwell-Bartoli dues à la pression de la lumière" (in fr). 2. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 133-140. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9813485f.texteImage. Retrieved 2026-03-05.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Rynin, Nikolai A. (1971). Interplanetary Flight and Communication: Theory of Space Flight. Interplanetary Flight and Communication. 3. Jerusalem: Israel Program for Scientific Translations. NASA TT F-647. https://archive.org/stream/nasa_techdoc_19720015159/19720015159_djvu.txt. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
24. ↑ Zander, Friedrich (1924). "Перелеты на другие планеты". Техника и жизнь. https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/Страница:Перелеты_на_другие_планеты_(Цандер,_1924).pdf/2. "«…вероятно, выгоднее будет лететь при помощи зеркал или экранов из тончайших листов…» (translation: "it would probably be more advantageous to fly by means of mirrors or screens made of extremely thin sheets.")"
25. ↑ "Nikolai Alekseevich Rynin". https://pioneersofflight.si.edu/content/nikolai-alekseevich-rynin-0. "An engineer, Rynin took an early interest in advocating space exploration. In 1928 he published Interplanetary Communications, the first encyclopedia on the history and theory of rocket technology and spaceflight."
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Rynin, Nikolai A. (1971). Interplanetary Flight and Communication: Dreams, Legends, and Early Fantasies. Interplanetary Flight and Communication. 1. Jerusalem: Israel Program for Scientific Translations. NASA TT F-640. https://archive.org/stream/nasa_techdoc_19710013614/19710013614_djvu.txt. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
27. ↑ The Illustrated Official Journal (Patents). London: H.M. Stationery Office. 1930-01-08. p. 7231. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Illustrated_official_journal_patents/2gGRoFdcjaMC?hl=en&gbpv=0. "...producing translatory motion of machine by current reaction with earth's field. Propulsion is caused by cutting with a closed conducting turn the earth's magnetic flux..."
28. ↑ Choueiri, Edgar Y. (2004). "A Critical History of Electric Propulsion: The First Fifty Years (1906-1956)". Journal of Propulsion and Power 20 (2): 193-203. https://mae.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf7696/files/ChoueiriHistJPC04.pdf. "The reader will soon note a measure of the vagaries of that evolution: while the earliest thoughts and experiments related to EP are almost all about electrostatic propulsion, the first laboratory electric thruster was electrothermal and the first electric thruster to ever fly in space was of the pulsed (mostly electromagnetic) plasma type.".
29. ↑ "IBM 7090". https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/american-businessman-dr-hw-ritchey-vice-president-of-the-news-photo/1457958980. "American businessman Dr HW Ritchey, Vice President of the Thiokol Chemical Corporation and Technical Director of the company's Rocket Division, stands pointing at a chart above an IBM 7090 mainframe computer, across the top of the chart it reads, 'a network of computer centers for design, data acquisition, and proof of performance' below which it reads 'Thiokol Chemical Corporation' as well as a list of Thiokol's requirements and results, at an US Air Force facility for the launch of ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile), United States, November 1959."
30. ↑ Ritchey, H.W. (December 1958). ﻿Ten Steps into Space: A Series of Lectures Sponsored by The Franklin Institute, March-May, 1958, in Philadelphia﻿ (Report). Journal of the Franklin Institute. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Institute. pp. 46-47. https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading Room/Other/15F1747_DOC_01_Ten_Steps_into_Space_Monograpgh_6_ADB193716.pdf. Retrieved 2026-02-17. "There might be another way of doing it if we can get around this requirement for an exhaust jet by the use of fields. We might be able to do this in a touch more simple and direct way by breaking the laws of Newton, or at least bending them to our will, to the point where we don't have to squirt a working fluid backwards to make a force. To show you that it could be done, in Fig. 11 I have drawn a picture of the Earth and its magnetic field, with a flying saucer. This flying saucer has a coil of wire around the outside of it and it sends a terrifically high current through that coil of wire and generates a current sheet. Some of the Earth's vertical components in the magnetic field are trapped by that current sheet, creating a force that tends to lift the saucer away from the Earth."
31. ↑ Levitt, Israel Monroe (December 1958). ﻿Ten Steps into Space: A Series of Lectures Sponsored by The Franklin Institute, March-May, 1958, in Philadelphia﻿ (Report). Journal of the Franklin Institute. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Institute. pp. 179-202. https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading Room/Other/15F1747_DOC_01_Ten_Steps_into_Space_Monograpgh_6_ADB193716.pdf. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
32. ↑ "LtGen. Donald L. Putt, USAF". https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/ltgen-donald-l-putt-usaf. "Near the end of the war in Europe he was sent there to head up Air Corps Technical Intelligence and to evaluate captured scientific facilities in Germany. The most significant discovery was the Goering Institute at Braunschweig where he, in conjunction with Dr. von Karman and others, discovered supersonic wind tunnels, swept wing aircraft designs and many eminent scientists. Col. Putt headed up Operation Paperclip which brought very significant scientific equipment, documents and German aeronautical scientists to the United States."
33. ↑ Riley, Arthur A. (1958-05-31). "Aviation Men Told Airpower War Deterrent". p. 6. https://www.newspapers.com/image/433482982/?match=1&terms="field propulsion". "Putt prophesized that there would be 'undreamed-of' strides in the field of propulsion with vehicles boosted away from the earth with million-pound rocket engines which could continue with photo or ion field-type propulsion, and this should cover our solar system."
34. ↑ "Future City Transit May Be Really Rapid". 1964-01-03. p. 9. https://www.newspapers.com/image/63109488/?match=1&terms="field propulsion". "Further away but possibly the ultimate answer in moving large numbers of people in safety are compressed air propulsion and super conductor magnetic field propulsion. Super conductor magnetic field propulsion will need a major research project before it is feasible. But there has been a proposal for such a magnetic line linking Youngston, Ohio, with Pittsburgh."
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Preston, Marylynn (1980-01-29). "A farout idea: Tunneling through space-time barrier". pp. 15,18. https://www.newspapers.com/image/386953911/?terms="field propulsion". "'One of the most important things to me', Holt says, 'is to help break down the inhibiting mental attitude that space-time field interactions will remain in the realm of science fiction for hundreds of years.'"
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Holt, Alan C. (1980-06-01). "Prospects for a breakthrough in field-dependent 'propulsion'". Joint Propulsion Conference (AIAA/SAE/ASME), Hartford, Connecticut, June 30 to July 2, 1980. NASA NTRS 19800054809. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19800054809. Retrieved 2026-02-20.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Friedman, Louis (1978). "Solar sailing: The concept made realistic". Acta Astronautica 5 (5-6): 297-308. doi:10.1016/0094-5765(78)90033-8. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19780038658.
38. ↑ Garner, Charles E.; Diedrich, Benjamin; Leipold, Manfred (1999). "A Summary of Solar Sail Technology and Demonstration Status". 35th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20000059207/downloads/20000059207.pdf.
39. ↑ Dooling, Dave (1980-10-27). "Magnetism Suggested To Launch Space Probes". p. 4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1184409937/?match=1&terms="field propulsion".
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 40.5 Forward, Robert L. (March–April 1984). "Roundtrip interstellar travel using laser-pushed lightsails". Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets 21 (2): 187–195. doi:10.2514/3.8632. ISSN 0022-4650. Bibcode: 1984JSpRo..21..187F. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/3.8632.
41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 41.6 41.7 41.8 Zubrin, Robert M.; Andrews, Dana G. (March 1991). "Magnetic sails and interplanetary travel" (in en). Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets 28 (2): 197–203. doi:10.2514/3.26230. ISSN 0022-4650. Bibcode: 1991JSpRo..28..197Z. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/3.26230.
42. ↑ Petty, John (1990-04-19). "Magnetic propulsion ship on the horizon". p. 11. https://www.newspapers.com/image/751423945/?match=1&terms="field propulsion".
43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Nickerson, Colin (1992-07-20). "Engineering: May The Force Be With You". https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19920720/1503104/engineering
-may-the-force-be-with-you.
44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 Browne, Malcolm W. (1991-03-23). "U.S. investing in magnetic trains". p. 9. https://www.newspapers.com/image/625691079/?match=1&terms="field propulsion".
45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 45.4 45.5 45.6 45.7 ﻿Tethers in Space Handbook﻿ (Report) (3rd ed.). NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. December 1997. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19980018321/downloads/19980018321.pdf. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Myrabo, Leik N.; Messitt, Donald G.; Mead, Franklin B., Jr. (1998). "Ground and Flight Tests of a Laser Propelled Vehicle". 36th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. Reno, Nevada: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi:10.2514/6.1998-1001. https://ayuba.fr/pdf/myrabo1998a.pdf.
47. ↑ "First International Field Propulsion Meeting, University of Sussex, Brighton, England. January 20st-22nd 2001". 2001-07-21. http://workshop.cwc.net/. "This WORKSHOP was called as the European response to the establishment of the NASA 'Breakthrough Propulsion Physics' workshops, & is open to all International participants, on a Global basis. Following recent coverage in the Public and scientific media, with regard to emerging experimental and engineering results in the field of 'Propellentless propulsion', and theoretical and experimental work on the 'Electrogravitics' hypothesis, it was decided that a European focus for this area was needed, external to NASA and the United States, and also International in character."
48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 McKie, Robin (2001-01-07). "Scientists switch to warp drive as sci-fi energy source is tapped". p. 13. https://www.newspapers.com/image/258306118/?match=1&terms="field propulsion".
49. ↑ "Project Greenglow and the battle with gravity". 2016-03-23. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35861334.
50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 50.2 50.3 50.4 50.5 50.6 Czysz, Paul A.; Bruno, Claudio, eds (2009). Future Spacecraft Propulsion Systems: Enabling Technologies for Space Exploration (2nd ed.). Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-3-540-88813-0.
51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Siddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016. The NASA history series (second ed.). Washington, DC: NASA History Program Office. p. 2. SP2018-4041. ISBN 978-1-62683-042-4. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf.
52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 "Advanced Composite Solar Sail System: Using Sunlight to Power Deep Space Exploration (ACS3)". https://www.nasa.gov/smallspacecraft/what-is-acs3/.
53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 "NASA Composite Booms Deploy, Mission Sets Sail in Space". 2024-08-29. https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/smallsatellites/2024/08/29/nasa-composite-booms-deploy-mission-sets-sail-in-space/.
54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 "4.0 In-Space Propulsion". 2024-03-17. https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/in-space_propulsion/.
55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 "Finland's Foresail-1p science satellite successfully launched into space". 2025-12-01. https://www.aalto.fi/en/news/finlands-foresail-1p-science-satellite-successfully-launched-into-space.
56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 "Antigravity". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/antigravity.
57. ↑ "Apergy". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/apergy.
58. ↑ Miller, Ron (2014-03-13). "How the Solar Sail Could Fuel Interplanetary Travel". https://gizmodo.com/how-the-solar-sail-might-one-day-fuel-interplanetary-tr-1535937811.
59. ↑ Burroughs, Edgar Rice (1912). "A Princess of Mars". https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/62/pg62.txt.
60. ↑ 60.0 60.1 Nowlan, Philip Francis (1928). "Armageddon--2419 A.D.". https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32530/32530-h/32530-h.htm.
61. ↑ "Force Field". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/force_field.
62. ↑ "Space Warp". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/space_warp.
63. ↑ "Hyperspace". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hyperspace.
64. ↑ 64.0 64.1 "Spindizzy". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/Spindizzy.
65. ↑ Weitekamp, Margaret A. (2021-01-27). "Imagining Faster-Than-Light Travel". https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/imagining-faster-light-travel.
66. ↑ "Cinema: The New Pictures, Apr. 9, 1956". 1956-04-09. https://time.com/archive/6804514/cinema-the-new-pictures-apr-9-1956/.
67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 Campbell, John W. (June 1960). "The Space Drive Problem". Astounding/Analog Science Fact & Fiction LXV (4): 83–106. https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AN.htm.
68. ↑ Campbell, John W. (November 1960). "Instrumentation for the Dean Device". Astounding/Analog Science Fact & Fiction LXVI (3): 95–99. https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AN.htm.
69. ↑ Campbell, John W. (September 1960). "Report on the Dean Drive". Astounding/Analog Science Fact & Fiction LXVI (1): 4–7. https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AN.htm.
70. ↑ Goswami, Amit; Goswami, Maggie (July 1985). The Cosmic Dancers: Exploring the Science of Science Fiction. McGraw-Hill. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-07-023867-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=3YnWAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
71. ↑ "Solar Wind". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/solar_wind.
72. ↑ Ash, Brian, ed (1977). The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-517-53175-4. https://archive.org/details/visualencycloped00ashb.
73. ↑ "Tractor Beam". https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/tractor_beam.
74. ↑ Prucher, Jeff (2007). Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction. Oxford University Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-19-530567-8. https://archive.org/details/bravenewwordsoxf00pruc. "The television show Star Trek, which first aired in 1966, has probably had a greater effect on the English language than any other single science fiction creation, with the possible exception of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four"
75. ↑ "Our History: The 1990s". https://www.spacefrontier.org/copy-of-2000s. "The conference featured an awards ceremony recognizing the Clementine lunar probe team for their work on frontier-enabling technology and the producers of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for an episode on solar sails, reflecting the Foundation’s appreciation for both technical innovation and cultural inspiration."
76. ↑ Erdmann, Terry J.; Block, Paula M. (2000). Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. Pocket Books. pp. 236–237. ISBN 0-671-50106-2.
77. ↑ Koch, Evelyn (19–20 October 2018). "Weird Fungi in Space – The Mycelium Network as the Other in Star Trek: Discovery". Freiburg, Germany: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. https://www.academia.edu/38394751. "a semi-fictitious fungal species called prototaxites stellaviatori which by means of their invisible mycelium network enable spaceships to jump through the universe and even to parallel universes, a method referred to as ‘organic propulsion system' in the series."
78. ↑ 78.0 78.1 78.2 Johnson, Les; Swartzlander, Grover A.; Artusio-Glimpse, Alexandra (2013-06-11). "An Overview of Solar Sail Propulsion within NASA". International Symposium on Solar Sailing. Glasgow, United Kingdom. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20140000641/downloads/20140000641.pdf. Retrieved 2026-02-10. "JAXA began a series of deployment test flights in 2004, leading to the successful flight of the Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun (IKAROS) in 2010. The IKAROS is the first deep-space demonstration of solar sailing. The IKAROS verified solar radiation pressure effects on the sail and performing in-flight guidance and navigation techniques using the solar sail."
79. ↑ 79.0 79.1 79.2 79.3 Gilmore, Christopher K.; Barrett, Steven R. H. (2015). "Electrohydrodynamic thrust density using positive corona-induced ionic winds for in-atmosphere propulsion". Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 471 (2175). doi:10.1098/rspa.2014.0912. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2014.0912.
80. ↑ Dröscher, Walter; Hauser, Jochem (November 2015). "Introduction to Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology of Gravity-Like Fields" (PDF). HPCC-Space GmbH. https://gravitymodification.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/PrimerPhysicsGravityExcerpt1.pdf. "According to this novel approach, apart from leading to a change in the Weltbild of physics by extending the general theory of relativity, gravitational engineering may eventually become a technological reality and lead to a novel era of spaceflight, i.e., propellantless propulsion. As a further consequence for physics, this theoretical view would force major extensions of both the standard model of cosmology and particle physics by providing a mechanism for the existence of dark matter and dark energy as well as novel fundamental particles."
81. ↑ Millis, Marc G. (1996-07-16) (in en). ﻿The Challenge to Create the Space Drive﻿ (NASA Technical Memorandum). Cleveland, Ohio. 19960048672. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19960048672/downloads/19960048672.pdf. Retrieved 2026-02-12. "A typical expectation is that the induced forces would just act between the vehicle's field-inducing device and the rest of the vehicle, like blowing in your own sails, or trying to move a car by pushing on it from the inside. In such cases all the forces act internally and there would be no net motion of the vehicle. For reference, this issue can be called the net external force requirement. The net external force requirement is closely related to conservation of momentum. Conservation of momentum requires that the momentum imparted to the vehicle must be equal and opposite to the momentum imparted to a reaction mass. In the case of a field drive, there is no obvious reaction mass for the vehicle to push against."
82. ↑ 82.0 82.1 82.2 Minami, Yoshinari (February 13–17, 2005). "A Perspective of Practical Interstellar Exploration: Using Field Propulsion and Hyper-Space Navigation Theory". Space Technology and Applications International Forum. Albuquerque, New Mexico. pp. 1419–1428. doi:10.1063/1.1867273. https://pubs.aip.org/aip/acp/article-abstract/746/1/1419/605761/A-Perspective-of-Practical-Interstellar.
83. ↑ Klimchitskaya, G. L.; Mohideen, U.; Mostepanenko, V. M. (2009-12-21). "The Casimir force between real materials: Experiment and theory". Reviews of Modern Physics 81 (4): 1827–1885. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1827. https://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1827.
84. ↑ Tajmar, M.; Kößling, M.; Neunzig, O. (2024-08-21). "In-depth experimental search for a coupling between gravity and electromagnetism with steady fields". Scientific Reports 14. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-70286-w. PMC 11339412. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-70286-w. Retrieved 2025-12-15.
85. ↑ Tajmar, M. (2012-05-02). "Biefeld-Brown Effect: Misinterpretation of Corona Wind Phenomena". AIAA Journal 42 (2). doi:10.2514/1.9095. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.9095. Retrieved 2025-12-15.
86. ↑ 86.0 86.1 86.2 86.3 86.4 McInnes, Colin R. (2003). "Solar sailing: mission applications and engineering challenges". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A (University of Glasgow) 361 (1813): 2989–3008. doi:10.1098/rsta.2003.1280. PMID 14667309. Bibcode: 2003RSPTA.361.2989M. https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/28/1/Roy_SocA.pdf.
87. ↑ 87.0 87.1 Winglee, Robert. "Prototyping of Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2)". https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/670/seminar/previous_lep/spring2002/Winglee_a.html.
88. ↑ 88.0 88.1 "Plasma-Powered Trip to the Stars". 1999-08-18. https://www.wired.com/1999/08/plasma-powered-trip-to-the-stars/. "Developed by a team at the University of Washington, the Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion system, or M2P2, has a maximum speed of 180,000 miles per hour, or 4.3 million miles a day, about ten times the speed of a space shuttle. The brainchild of geophysicist Robert Winglee, the M2P2 system employs a huge plasma field around a satellite. The field catches solar wind, like an enormous electromagnetic sail."
89. ↑ Cutler, Andrew H.; Carroll, Joseph A. (1992). "Tethers". in Towell, Donald D.; Franklin, Sharon; Shoji, James M.. Space Resources. Volume 2: Energy, Power, and Transport. NASA Special Publication. Houston, TX: NASA Johnson Space Center. pp. 136–145. NTRS 19930007726. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19930007726. Retrieved 2025-12-01. "Electrically conducting tethers will couple to the Earth’s magnetic field. In low Earth orbit (LEO) there is sufficient plasma density to allow large currents to flow through the tether and close the loop efficiently through the plasma. The interaction between the current and the magnetic field produces a force that propels the tether... without expending propellant."
90. ↑ Akagi, Shinsuke; Fujita, Kikuo; Soga, Kazuo (1994-05-27). "Optimal Design of Thruster System for Superconducting Electromagnetic Propulsion Ship". Proceedings of the 5th International Marine Design Conference. http://www.ovaltech.ca/pdfss/mhddesign.pdf. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
91. ↑ Meng, James C. S., "Superconducting electromagnetic thruster", US patent 5333444, published 1994-08-02, assigned to United States Secretary of the Navy
92. ↑ 92.0 92.1 "Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2001: Chapter 3, Transportation System Condition and Extent". United States Department of Transportation. https://www.bts.gov/archive/publications/transportation_statistics_annual_report/2001/chapter_03.
93. ↑ "Magnetic Levitation Transportation Technology Deployment Program (Final Rule)". United States Department of Transportation. pp. 2342-2348. https://railroads.dot.gov/elibrary/magnetic-levitation-transportation-technology-deployment-program.
94. ↑ 94.0 94.1 Musha, Takaaki (15 February 2018). Field Propulsion System for Space Travel: Physics of Non-Conventional Propulsion Methods for Interstellar Travel. Bentham Science Publishers. pp. 20–37. ISBN 978-1-60805-566-1.
95. ↑ Holt, Alan C. (August 1979). ﻿Field Resonance Propulsion Concept﻿ (NASA Technical Memorandum). Houston, Texas. JSC-16073; NTIS N80-19184; NTRS 19800010907. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19800010907/downloads/19800010907.pdf. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
96. ↑ Hamer, M. (1984-03-15). "Birmingham maglev off to flying start". New Scientist. https://trid.trb.org/View/203071.

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