NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics workshop (1997)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | August 1997 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Propulsion & physics (topic) |
| People | Marc Millis, Nick Cook |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 128 |
| Year | 1997 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1997 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
In August 1997 NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) program held its first workshop in Cleveland, Ohio, where physicists presented and debated speculative ideas that might one day allow much faster space travel, such as warp drives, wormholes, vacuum energy and ways to control gravity or inertia.[1][2]
The program
BPP was run by engineer Marc Millis at NASA's Lewis Research Center (now Glenn Research Center) in Cleveland, and was funded from 1996 to 2002. Its aim was to examine speculative propulsion ideas rigorously. Millis set out the challenge in a paper, "Challenge to Create the Space Drive", in the Journal of Propulsion and Power in September 1997. NASA was careful to frame the work as early-stage science that might never pay off.[1]
Results
With about $1.2 million over six years, the program funded five outside projects, two in-house tasks and one minor grant. Of the fourteen topics it studied, it judged six not viable, four worth further research and four unresolved. It found no working breakthrough.[1]
End and legacy
BPP was ended in 2002, when NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program was reorganised and research at very low levels of technological readiness was cut. Its work was summarised in the 2009 book Frontiers of Propulsion Science, published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Millis and others went on to found the private Tau Zero Foundation.[1]
Context
The program ran in parallel with the British defence company BAE Systems' Project Greenglow, a similar study of gravity control. The testimony notes that author Nick Cook was told around this time that NASA's Marshall center in Huntsville was where interstellar propulsion thinking came together.[2]
People and topics
- NASA — The U.S. civilian space agency, created in 1958.
- Breakthrough Propulsion Physics — NASA's 1996–2002 study of speculative propulsion ideas.
- Marc Millis — NASA engineer who led the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program.
- Zero-point energy — The lowest possible energy of a physical system, which some hope to tap for power.
- Nick Cook — Jane's Defence Weekly aviation editor and author of The Hunt for Zero Point.
On the Timeline
- The Roswell Report: Case Closed (24 June 1997) — The Air Force's 'Case Closed' report says Roswell 'bodies' were crash-test dummies.
- Ning Li superconductor gravity test (1 August 1997) — NASA and university scientists publish gravity-related experiment results.
See every 1997 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Project Greenglow and the battle with harnessing gravity", Innovation Toronto · innovationtoronto.com · archived copy
- Breakthrough Propulsion Physics workshop preliminary results (Millis, 1997) — NASA NTRS · ntrs.nasa.gov · archived copy
- 1997 press coverage of NASA's propulsion workshop — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- ntrs.nasa.gov · ntrs.nasa.gov · archived copy
- ntrs.nasa.gov · ntrs.nasa.gov · archived copy
- archive.org · archive.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Salvatore Pais — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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