The USS Enterprise was an impossible dream rendered in fiber glass. Designed for Star Trek, it looked like a creation straight out of creator Gene Roddenberry’s imagination: Twin nacelles—those long, ...

You know that scene in the film Contact where the “Machine” is spooling up, its three spinning rings kicking out crazy light and an electromagnetic field powerful enough to pitch nearby Navy ...

Every generation grows up with starships that jump across galaxies in a heartbeat, but the real universe is far less forgiving than the screen. The same physics that lets GPS satellites work and ...