|
| |
MARC G. MILLIS
The article
The big mystery: Interstellar travel:
NASA's Marc Millis explains the search for a breakthrough said
Have you ever wondered when we`ll be able to travel to distant stars as
easily as in science fiction? Believe it or not, scientists are seriously
looking at concepts such as wormholes, space-time distortions and space
drives.
BUT TRANSFORMING these flights of fancy into reality will require
scientific breakthroughs on three fronts: propulsion, speed and energy.
Although we do not yet know if these breakthroughs can be achieved, we at
least know how to begin making the progress to find out.
The real question is not whether interstellar travel can be done,
but when it will be fast and easy enough to send the first mission.
Marc G.
Millis was the author of this article and
is in the process of forming his own
Tau Zero Foundation, which takes its name from Poul Anderson`s
science-fiction novel about a near-speed-of-light odyssey. This
foundation is focused on
accelerating
research and education toward practical interstellar
flight.
Marc has been with NASA's Glenn Research Center since 1982. In
addition to his more conventional engineering assignments that have
included designing guidance displays for aircraft low-gravity
trajectories, ion thrusters, monitoring systems for rocket engines, and
cryogenic propellant delivery systems, he has researched possibilities
for creating propulsion breakthroughs. As a part of this research, he
forged collaborations with other researchers across the nation to create
the NASA "Breakthrough
Propulsion Physics" (BPP) Project. He managed this Project from 1996
through 2001, and has recently stepped down from Project Management to
return to conducting research.
He authored
The Challenge To Create The Space Drive,
Design Factors for Applying Cryogen Storage
and Delivery Technology to Solar Thermal Propulsion, and
Acceleration Display System for Aircraft Zero-Gravity
Research,
and coauthored
Integrated Controls and Health Monitoring for Chemical
Transfer Propulsion and
Experimental results of Hooper's gravity-electromagnetic coupling
concept.
Marc
earned a degree in Physics from
Georgia Tech in 1982.
He is also a graduate of the
1998
International Space University Summer Program.
In his
free time, he
builds, photographs and writes articles on
scale models.
Read his interview in
Cosmic
Log.
Print bio!
| |
|
