BLOW IT OUT YOUR EXHAUST NOZZLE
                    (C)1998 Alan M. Schwartz

As Scotty of the original "Star Trek" declaimed, "Ye canna' break 
the laws of physics!"  NASA's panties are in a twist.  They must 
get from here to there, there being way out there, with the 
appalling Space Shuttle as cargo carrier.  This is tantamount to 
shipping a bull elephant as White Castle hamburger patties.  NASA 
bureaucracy fancies it can indeed break the laws of physics, at 
least in budget proposals:  The NASA Breakthrough Propulsion 
Physics (BPP) program launched a call for research projects.

Momentum is conserved.  Nothing wholly enclosed within the cosmos 
can elude it.  (Quantum vacuum zero point fluctuations can diddle 
re stochastic electrodynamics, which has no hinted reduction to 
practice, though it might switch off inertia and make the whole 
space travel momentum problem a moot point).  Momentum 
conservation gives /_\V'=V[ln(M/M')] where /_\V' is the vehicle's 
velocity change, V is its exhaust velocity, M is its starting 
mass, M' is its ending mass, and "ln" is a natural logarithm.  If 
you vent 99.9% of your vehicle's mass (tonne of propellant for 
every kilogram retained), you can maximally achieve 6.91 times 
your exhaust's velocity in a one stage rocket.  Multiple stage 
rockets achieve higher velocities, but the mass ratio tossed to 
retained balloons exponentially.  NASA is stuck with horribly 
long flight times, merely to Mars, with huge price tags.

NASA has a wish list.  

   (1) Discover propulsion methods which dramatically reduce or 
eliminate the need for propellant;

Tilt.  Chemical exhaust velocity is limited to around Mach 3 
(specific impulses near 450-525 seconds).  Ion engines, little 
nuclear accelerators, give exhausts touching a percent of 
lightspeed or more (specific impulses around 2500 to 10,000 
seconds).  Mass moved/second is negligible, so the effect is only 
useful over summed long periods.  Nobody has any idea how to run 
the thing (energy is conserved, kinetic energy=(mv^2)/2) without 
a massive nuclear power plant.  There is nothing in near space 
which can be grabbed, harvest, or hooked to any useful end.  
Fission or fusion as propellant is expensive, messy, and silly.

   (2) Discover methods for achieving the shortest possible 
travel times (includes the study of methods to circumvent 
observed limits); 

Tilt.  If you travel normal space you are stuck with what you 
already have.  If you alter the shape of space, it will be 
classified and weaponized (and your security clearance canceled, 
followed by your temporary, which is to say permanent, detainment 
in the deepest hole possible).  Nobody has the slightest idea how 
to grab the space-time continuum short of large accretions of 
concentrated mass, which is the problem (conservation of 
momentum) with which we grappled at the onset.

   (3) Discover new modes of on-board energy generation to power 
the propulsion devices.

Hoo boy!  Goodbye classical thermodynamics!  Note that witches 
fly their broomsticks bristle ends forward and horizontal, 
holding burning candles to light their way.  NASA will consider 
the coupling of fundamental forces, force-producing effects, 
contents and properties of space, the motion of matter and energy 
through space-time, interactions with space-time, energy exchange 
mechanisms, energy sources, and observed anomalous effects.  NASA 
is hoping to shake fairy dust off Tinkerbelle's butt so they can 
fly.  First, we have to find Tinkerbelle...

NASA is nothing if not hopeful.  It offers garish Welfare for 
slick researchers who can spin fanciful tales of "Star Trek" and 
"Battlestar Gallactica," or Flash Gordon and Dr. Zharkov.  The 
NASA Research Announcement Internet URL itself is telling:  
http://nais.msfc.nasa.gov/EPS/LeRC/Synopses/NRA-99-LeRC-1/synopsis.html
It leads one to suspect the whole deal is fat and padded from the 
get-go.  Folks from outside the favored inner circle need not 
apply unless accompanied by a working model of their proposal.

If you as a nascent inventor aspire to less rarefied domains, 
- NASA SBIR and STTR's: http://sbir.nasa.gov/.
- NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC): 
http://www.niac.usra.edu.
- Department of Energy "Inventions & Innovation Program":
http://www.oit.doe.gov/Access/inventions/preproposal.html.

Junk the execrable political porkbarrel Space Shuttle and build 
an honest heavy lifter - high capacity, no bullshit, no human 
aboard to parasitize payload with life support, Official safety, 
and return capability.  Colonize Luna starting with umanned 
transport of equipment and supplies; add people at the end.  
Thereafter launch from 1/6 gravity and no atmosphere.  The first 
lunar tunnel will heave the United Nations ballistic as squealing 
petty dwarf states demand an end to the invasion (and desecration 
of fragile and endangered virgin ecological niches) of the moon.  
Oh how they will scream!  Into vacuum.

The meek shall inherit the Earth.  The strong will conquer the 
stars.