The Science of Star Trek

MSNBC has an interesting article on how the science of Star Trek compares to real-life science and how Star Trek has provided the inspiration for real-life researchers at places like NASAs Breakthrough Propulsion Project, which might not even exist were it not for Star Trek. The downside, however, says lead researcher Marc Millis of the Breakthrough Propulsion Project, is that he gets routinely bombarded with “breakthrough” propulsion ideas that break the laws of physics–many of which are described on the project’s website. What does Millis think of Trek’s science? “They obviously have synthetic gravity aboard the ship for the crew,” he said. “If you had the prowess to create that, you could put that outside the ship and use that for propulsion. When I looked at the impulse drive, and saw that they were basically using nuclear rockets, I cringed. Why are they still using propellant?”