I want one of these!

AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government.

The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine.

The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.

Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.

To paraphrase (appropriately) the Magnetic Fields: "Baby you could be famous / If you could just get out of this solar system."

I don't expect to see anything like this in my lifetime, but it would be an awesome sight to behold. It would be just one more thing science fiction writers envisioned that would be later developed.

One problem I see with the proposal: wouldn't magnetic fields of this power wreak havoc with the electronics necessary to control the field?

(Via Instapundit and Professor Bainbridge)