Are DARPA and NASA planning interplanetary travel?

A SENIOR NASA official has promised to deliver a spaceship that will travel between alien worlds "within a few years". Speaking at a conference in San Francisco on Saturday, NASA Ames director Simon Worden said his division had started a project with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency called the "Hundred Year Starship".

The project was kicked off recently with $1 million funding from DARPA and $100K from NASA and hopes to utilise new propulsion ideas being explored by NASA. Star Trek fans, prepare to get excited – electric propulsion is here, according to Mr Worden.

"Anybody that watches the (Star Trek) Enterprise, you know you don't see huge plumes of fire," he said. "Within a few years we will see the first true prototype of a spaceship that will take us between worlds."

Full story at News.au