Guest: Marc Millis. Topics: Breakthrough propulsion, fusion energy, incomplete physics, far out theories and research. Marc Millis returned to the program to discuss breakthrough and far out propulsion ideas. Find out more about his work and his organization Tau Zero Foundation by visiting www.tauzero.aero. In our first segment, Mr. Millis told us about the cancellation of the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project which he once headed. This is a fascinating story, don't miss it. We then learned about the Tau Zero Foundation and its far future visionary approach to physics and the issues studied by Tau Zero team members. As you will hear, these researchers do not go for picking winners, they have a totally different approach which you will want to hear about. We discussed space policy and out of the box thinking. Marc talked about the need for seeing impossible goals and to look in places that others ignore. He cited the example of the issue "space drive." As we started the second segment, Marc fielded lots of fusion questions focused on M2P2, proton boron 11 fuel, IEC Fusion, EMC2 and more. Marc restated that his team does not pick winners but he mentioned two of the Tau Zero team members working on fusion, Kelvin Long in the UK and Dr. Richard Obousy from Texas with the Project Icarus study on fusion methods which may publish results in about 18 months from now. Marc took a listener question about fear surrounding nuclear power and the use of the word nuclear. You will want to hear what Marc had to say about high energy density projects and the riskiness of such ventures/projects. We also talked about radiation risks in deep space travel regardless of any man made nuclear power sources. Another topic in this segment was gravity control. As you will hear, Marc talked about the large amounts of energy needed for any type of gravity control so gravity control is not a bypass to needing new sources of significant amounts of energy. In letting us know where we are in this process, our guest said we can ask pointed questions but we have no real theory to work with to mitigate gravity. As this segment ended, we talked about visionary people and the possibility of these projects getting traditional funding such as from NSF. As we started our third and final segment, Marc fielded a listener question as to where we should go in the galaxy. He said that his work is focused on our galaxy only. We talked about Earth-like planets, would going to Mars help out in efforts to achieve breakthrough propulsion success for distant space travel, and what kind of time frame is reasonable when thinking about an interstellar probe. As you will hear, our guest estimated a time frame ranging from 50 years on the near side to about 200 years on the outside end of the time frame for a robotic probe.. I asked Marc what he thought might be the initial breakthrough and he limited his response to the filed of incomplete physics. Don't miss what he suggested. A student asked for the best path to follow to have a career in this field of physics so listen to Marc's advice. This then led to a discussion of breakthrough physics in academia and you won't want to miss this analysis. Marc suggested that those interested follow what is published and the best way to do that is to check out Centauri Dreams published by Tau Zero at www.centauri-dreams.org. If you have questions or comments for Marc Millis, you can contact him through Tau Zero Foundation at www.tauzero.aero/site/html/contact_us.html. Make sure you reference his appearance on this Space Show program.
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The Space Show
