The presentation begins by examining just a few of the compelling reasons why humans should explore the heavens beyond the bounds of the solar system. Certain terms and issues are defined to clarify the requirements of such daunting journeys. The talk then centers around the key technology required to make such missions possible – propulsion. To start with, a brief discussion is given on the current state-of-the-art of in-space chemical propulsion systems to develop a foundation of “where we are today” with respect to engine technology. The talk then takes a more “evolutionary” approach by exploring some of the more advanced engine systems intended for long-range solar system exploration, such as nuclear engines, antimatter engines and interstellar ramjets, which will define the physical limits of chemical propulsion capability. After comparing the predicted performance of these advanced concepts to the requirements for interstellar journeys, the focus of the talk will then shift to a describe a new paradigm of “propellantless” propulsion schemes that have their basis in modern theoretical physics and cosmology. If found attainable, concepts such as space-time manipulation, faster-than-light travel, wormholes, quantum drives, and so on, may provide the only viable avenue for candidate systems if trip times to distant stars are to last a reasonable fraction of a human lifetime. To show that these ideas are not merely the dreams of science-fiction, brief descriptions will be given on the latest, global, experimental efforts to explore the fundamental forces behind some of these intriguing concepts. The talk will end with some inspiring conclusions and hopefully instill the belief that mankind will someday move beyond the bounds of our solar system.

The space-time curvature around an object defines the mass it presents to the rest of the universe. It is predicted by the GEM theory that space-time curvature around a starship can be changed by properly configured and powerful electromagnetic fields. This will allow its inertial mass to be reduced to near zero, allowing rapid acceleration with electric thrusters. If this effect is intensified, then the inertial mass of the starship can be made imaginary and the starship will become a tachyon, moving faster than light. Tachyons are real and explain “Dark Energy” , the moving apart of the galaxies that is accelerating in time. This moving apart of the galaxies defines time-flow in the Cosmos . FTL travel using tachyons therefore, because it increases the tachyon density in the Cosmos , causes the galaxies to fly apart faster and thus causes the Cosmos to age faster. Thus, tachyonic FTL drive produces irreversible change in the Cosmos and does not violate causality.

This third of three papers explores the possibility of swift, stress-less system transitions between slower-than-light and faster-than-light speeds with negligible net expenditure of system energetics. The previous papers derived a realm of higher dimensionality than 4-D spacetime that enabled such unlabored motion; and showed that fields that could propel and guide systems on unlabored paths in the higher dimensional realm must be fields that have been conditioned to SU(2) (or higher) Lie group symmetry. This paper shows that the system’s surrounding vacuum dielectric εμ within the higher dimensional realm’s is a vector (not scalar) quantity with fixed magnitude ε0μ0 and changing direction within the realm with changing system speed. Thus, εμ generated by the system’s EM field must remain tuned to vacuum ε0μ0 in both magnitude and direction during swift, unlabored system transitions between slower and faster than light speeds. As a result, the system’s changing path and speed is such that the magnitude of the higher dimensional realm’s ε0μ0 is not disturbed. And it is shown that a system’s flight trajectories associated with its swift, unlabored transitions between zero and infinite speed can be represented by curved paths traced-out within the higher dimensional realm.

This paper briefly explores higher dimensional spacetimes that extend Meholic’s visualizable, fluidic views of: subluminal-luminal-superluminal flight; gravity, inertia, light quanta, and electromagnetism from 2-D to 3-D representations. Although 3-D representations have the potential to better model features of Meholic’s most fundamental entities (Transluminal Energy Quantum) and of the zero-point quantum vacuum that pervades all space, the more complex 3-D representations loose some of the clarity of Meholic’s 2-D representations of subluminal and superlumimal realms. So, much new work would be needed to replace Meholic’s 2-D views of reality with 3-D ones.