19-year-old girl in Egypt invents a spacecraft propulsion device | News | HumanIPO

[Paul D. Fernhout]

Sounds too good to be true, but we can hope:
http://www.humanipo.com/blog/437/19-year-old-girl-in-Egypt-invents-a-spacecraft-propulsion-device
"A 19-year-old Egyptian university student called Aisha Mustafa has
invented a propulsion device intended to offer spacecrafts a new method
and cheaper means of energy consumption. The propulsion device promises
chances of using quantum physics and chemical reactions in artificial
satellites, instead of the current radioactive-based jets and ordinary
rocket engines. Mustafa�s device is based on a scientific mix between
quantum physics, space technology, chemical reactions and electrical
sciences. Mustafa said the inventions generates energy for space
vehicles from electric energy formed by Casimir-polder force, which
occurs between separate surfaces and objects in a vacuum and by the
zero-point energy considered as the lowest state of energy."

Some other examples of news sites discussing this:
http://inhabitat.com/an-egyptian-teenager-has-created-a-next-generation-quantum-space-propulsion-system/
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12232251-aisha-mustafa-an-egyptian-student-leapfrogs-nasa-research-in-quantum-physics-invention
http://www.onislam.net/english/health-and-science/science/457096-egyptian-student-invents-a-new-propulsion-method.html

In general, even if this does not pan out, this suggests why Julian
Simon was right about the human imagination being "The Ultimate
Resource". In general, the more people on the planet (or around the
solar system), the more imagination there is to solve tough problems. A
lot of people go on about "overpopulation" as if humans only consumed
resources and took up space, but people also produce resources and
create spaces worth being in, as well as sometimes come up with new ways
to create "resources" (like turning sand into solar panels).

It is amazing how many news sources this Egypt space story has gotten
into, while at the same time possible LENR (cold fusion) breakthroughs
are hardly talked about:
http://pesn.com/2012/06/21/9602110_LENR-to-Market_June21/

Related Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?q=nasa+lenr

Here is some indirectly related reading by another Muslim woman,
featuring a female Muslim captain:
http://www.amazon.com/Fools-War-Sarah-Zettel/dp/0446602930
"Four centuries after humanity has colonized the galaxy, information
freight companies are used as an alternative to electronic
communication. On one of her frequent trips into deep space, Katmer
Al-Shei, owner of one of the smaller information companies, is accused
of smuggling artificial intelligence. When Al-Shei tries to clear her
name, she uncovers conspiracy after conspiracy, all set against the
backdrop of a looming war."

It's good to see that many people still care about creating new worlds
in space. And event that the USA is still having some success with new
space travel too, if not by NASA then at least through the US private
sector:
http://slashdot.org/story/12/05/22/1228221/spacexs-falcon-9-successfully-reaches-orbit

Now we just need places worth traveling to in space. :-)
"Both CATS and DOGS are needed..."
http://groups.google.com/group/virgle/msg/f65a889ca9a6b2c1
"So where is a key area of research that should be a priority among
NASA and Billionaires, but is not heavily pursued? The issue is what
to do in space once you have gotten there. Because if there is a
reason to be in space, then people and collectives will work to get
there. And the reality is, that right now, if we could get there,
there is nothing to do there short of look around and come back. And
if that were the case, Space would not deserve much more investment
than say tourism to Mt. Everest."

New places mean a chance for new ideas... Or even old ideas that have
been unhealthily discarded for whatever reasons. But we need first to
create and test the designs for a comprehensive infrastructure that
would support lots people and their imaginative ideas making a go of it
in space.

Happy Summer Solstice!

--Paul Fernhout
http://www.pdfernhout.net/
====
The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies
of abundance in the hands of those thinking in terms of scarcity.