---
title: "Field propulsion"
chunk: 7/9
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_propulsion"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:55:18.670066+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) memo framed research questions at the limits of physics, no-propellant propulsion, ultimate transit speeds, and breakthrough energy production, explicitly to sort physically testable ideas from non-viable claims. Field propulsion alone was described as insufficient for practical interstellar exploration because no propulsion theory currently exceeds the speed of light, requiring a navigation theory as a secondary solution alongside propulsion theory. Practical interstellar exploration was framed as a combined problem of propulsion theory and navigation theory, rather than as a propulsion-only problem. A 2009 propulsion survey framed one motivation for field propulsion research in operational terms, arguing that if field interactions could reduce effective gravitational and inertial resistance, rocket thrust and propellant requirements for Earth-to-orbit flight would be substantially reduced.
Minami's navigation theory framing was situated within similar extra-dimensional theory discussions, including Kaluza-Klein theory, supergravity theory, superstring theory, M theory, and D-brane-related superstring theory, as part of the paper's conceptual background for interstellar navigation. Minami and Musha reviewed proposals outlined further below, including vacuum polarization (a quantum effect in which strong fields produce short-lived virtual particle pairs), engineered spacetime curvature, and zero-point-field interactions; they distinguish between two field propulsion concepts: one framed in terms of general relativity and one in terms of quantum field theory.
Vacuum-fluctuation phenomena such as the Casimir effect have been measured in many precision experiments and are reviewed extensively in the mainstream literature. However, attempts to obtain net thrust or a gravity coupling from static electromagnetic configurations (often framed as "electrogravitic" effects) have not produced reproducible anomalous forces in controlled tests.

== Types ==
A wide range of propulsion methods have been proposed or demonstrated that fit within broad definitions of field propulsion. This taxonomy reflects how late twentieth-century contractor reports and program reviews organized the subject, and how later surveys distinguish environment-coupled momentum exchange from more speculative proposals. One group comprises environment-coupled systems that utilize their surroundings to produce thrust, including solar sails, magnetic sails, and, with certain restrictions, electrodynamic tethers, which use the solar wind or ambient magnetic fields to generate thrust. In one example design, a magnetic sail uses a loop of superconducting cable to create a magnetic field that deflects solar wind plasma and imparts momentum to the attached spacecraft.
A more speculative class invokes direct interactions with a structured vacuum or with spacetime geometry, proposing thrust without expelling mass, an idea discussed in general relativity and quantum field theory literature but not empirically validated. The sections below follow the broader historical literature usage outlined above, treating propellantless environment-coupled systems as the core cases while also retaining related beamed-energy concepts, terrestrial field interactions, and more speculative proposals where the source literature grouped them under the same field-propulsion umbrella.

=== Demonstrated ===
Various field propulsion approaches and systems have achieved experimental validation, flight heritage, or sustained engineering development.

==== Environment-coupled momentum exchange ====