Science has at times sought to reach further than it can actually deliver, such as in the case of attempts to build a perpetual motion machine.
Some recent reports seem to be dancing dangerously close to this line, as they've reported on the invention of a new propulsion method for spacecraft, based on the work of a teenage Egyptian student named Aisha Mustafa:
The process supposedly uses a method known as the dynamic?Casimir effect, in which?vacuum energy actually results in a force acting on metallic plates. The effect is real, but can it be harnessed to create an effective propulsion system? Mustafa seems to be applying for a patent for her method and is seeking funding to turn it into a viable method of space propulsion.
A patent alone doesn't mean much, of course. After all, there's even a patent on a time machine (as described in Dr. Ronald Mallett's non-fiction book Time Traveler), but time machines (or even time communicators, since that's closer to the actual description of Mallett's device) still haven't been created yet. Just applying for a patent on something doesn't prove that the fundamental scientific concept is actually viable.
Only time will tell whether or not Mustafa's method is more science than fantasy.
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