Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, May 5, 2008 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Marc Millis
"Applying Emerging Physics to Breakthroughs in Spaceflight Power and Propulsion"
ABSTRACT -- "Space drives" and "warp drives," these concepts may sound like science fiction, but they are being written about in reputable journals. Their state of art is mostly at the first step of the scientific method – defining the problem – but a few details have progressed toward experimental tests. This lecture covers this work, explaining how the visionary goals of breakthrough spaceflight compare to emerging physics. In addition, this lecture asserts that pursuing these visions, even if they are ultimately unachievable, will help resolve the lingering mysteries of science in general. As physical evidence continues to mount that our universe is more complex than is understood, it may be prudent to consider more than one way to look at the evidence. General relativity accurately describes the motions of matter at the scale of solar-systems and it can account for the spacetime warping from the presence of extreme energy densities, but it is not yet able to reconcile the anomalous rotation rates of galaxies (dubbed the "dark matter" problem), the anomalous accelerated red-shifts (dubbed the "dark energy" problem), completely address Mach's Principle, or incorporate quantum mechanics. Although quantum theory accurately describes electromagnetic energy transitions that cascade to macroscopic effects, it does not incorporate gravity. While curiosity-driven physics aims to find the simplest underlying laws that govern everything, the goal of breakthrough spaceflight seeks only a means of moving spacecraft efficiently and quickly across vast interstellar distances. This different problem statement affects how data are interpreted and hypotheses are formed. The Cosmic Background Microwave Radiation, Mach's principle, dark matter, dark energy, and the fundamental coupling of electromagnetism, inertia, gravity, and spacetime take on different meanings. With this change of perspective, additional paths toward solutions are opened. By pursuing new ways to move through the cosmos, we might very well improve our understanding of the cosmos.
SPEAKER -- Marc Millis is NASA's leading expert on Breakthrough Propulsion Physics - covering such visionary goals as gravity control, space drives, and faster-than-light travel. Millis joined Cleveland's Glenn Research Center in 1982 after earning a degree in Physics from Georgia Tech. His assignments evolved from engineering support into research and eventually into project management. The work spanned designing ion thrusters, electronics for rocket monitoring, rocket fuel equipment, and even a cockpit display that guides aircraft flights to create weightlessness. All the while Millis spent his discretionary time pondering how to make rocketry obsolete, which eventually led to the creation of the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. When funded (1996-2002), the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project assessed 8 different research approaches and documented its findings in 16 peer-reviewed journal reports. This work gained wide public attention, being cited in Newsweek, Wired, Popular Science (May 2001 cover), New York Times and most recently in the books Centauri Dreams (Gilster 2004) and in I'm Working On That (Shatner & Walter 2002). This work also earned Millis a nomination for a 2004 World Technology Award. Millis recently completed a Masters of Science in Physics Entrepreneurship from Case Western Reserve University (2006) and is an alumnus of the International Space University Summer Session (1998). Leveraging the allure of science fiction beyond what can be done in government and academia, Millis founded the nonprofit Tau Zero Foundation in 2006, to accelerate progress and education toward practical interstellar flight. In 2005, Millis authored: "Making the jump to light-speed" a chapter in the National Geographic book: Star Wars - Where Science Meets Imagination (2005). For hobbies, Millis enjoys craftsmanship; building award-winning scale models, Halloween costumes, and other mischief. With specialties in science fiction models built from scrap plastic and 1960's slot cars, he occasionally publishes "how-to" articles and photographs. Amidst all of this, Millis enjoys time as a husband and father.