The velocity of present-day spacecraft may seem galactic in contrast to what humans experience in their daily commutes involving even the fastest trains, planes or automobiles. However, compared to the warp-drive performance known from science fiction classics such as Star Trek and Star Wars, space travel in the early 21th century still moves at a rather glacial pace.
The UCSB Experimental Cosmology Group, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, headed by Professor Philip Lubin, is working hard to change that. They are exploring a concept of a new drive system that could accelerate a small spacecraft close to the speed of light. Their research is grounded in physics and funded by NASA DEEP-IN and DEIS Directed Energy for Interstellar Flight programs, as well as NASA Spacecgrant and the Emmett and Gladys W. Fund.
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