So something amazing happened in the last couple of days, according to the Daily Mail NASA tested an EM drive in a vacuum. Now I know what you are saying, “That shouldn’t be possible! There is nothing for the ions to bounce off of in a vacuum to create thrust!” I know, I thought it was nuts to, but NASA says it has done it. They are just waiting for a peer review.
Even if you don’t understand the physics, and trust me don’t feel bad almost no one does. Well actually no one does because it is supposed to be impossible, but the reason this is so amazing is that these drives can be powered by radiation from the stars and propel objects near to or even faster than the speed of light. At the current theoretical rate of travel with this drive it would only take 100 years to get to Alpha Centauri. A long time sure, but 9,900 year less than the current method, and almost within a human’s life span. Plus it could get us to the moon in 4.5 hours. Crazy.
While I doubt we will be using these drives soon, or maybe not even in my lifetime, Little Shmee may be alive to see the first person leave our solar system, and that is an amazing thought. In fact it is almost making me cry.