Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
--Bart Howard
'Ol Blue Eyes


While we went to the moon, What in heaven happend here on earth?
--Castillo, Kupka, Bartlett
Tower of Power


Come aboard my ship, I've something to show you
Some new equipment to take us where we're going
A subspace machine, a hole in the fabric
Of the very being of the universe
Ignition
Atomic power on
We must break our orbit and soar right past the planets
It took man a million years
To make it only this far
And we'll leave the solar system very soon...

Around the universe in eighty days
Sit down I think you'll like it out in space
There's nothing left to stop us now
We're sure to win the race
(Sure to win the race...)

In our warp where time and space are one
We can no longer see the sun
In fact there's nothing there for us to see
For light is nowhere near as fast as we

Our computer says we've exceeded expectations
When we reach our departure point there will be celebrations
What this means is our existence no longer has a limit
The universe will be our new home

Now the earth is just beginning to learn of our existence
All life in space must learn to live as one
Maybe now is the time for friendship with out neighbors
For our planet is the second from the sun

Around the universe in eighty days
Sit down I think you'll like it out in space
There's nothing left to stop us now
We're sure to win the race
--Dee Long
Klaatu

And now, The Point

Just kidding! Harry Nilsson was a musical genius, but his Point is not the Point to which I really wanted to point... I just couldn't resist the sidetrack. Instead...

Excerpts from...

"Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip"

[...a three hour tour, a three hour tour...]

"AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government.

The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine.

The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.

Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.

The US air force has expressed an interest in the idea and scientists working for the American Department of Energy - which has a device known as the Z Machine that could generate the kind of magnetic fields required to drive the engine - say they may carry out a test if the theory withstands further scrutiny.

Professor Jochem Hauser, one of the scientists who put forward the idea, told The Scotsman that if everything went well a working engine could be tested in about five years."

Any space craft fitted with such an engine would have to be tested at least 10,000 times with 0 [Zero] mistakes/catastrophes before I would ever get on board. But ain't the idea of such a thing cool?