A breakthrough propulsion technology has been announced by Charles Buhler, a former NASA engineer, and his group at Exodus Propulsion Technologies. Buhler’s group’s research has identified a new force that could possibly change the existing concept of physics. This “New Force” supposedly allows objects to travel without thrusting fuel or expelling propellant, a feature on which conventional rockets depend.

The drive that Buhler’s group built is reported to create thrust through the use of electric fields, a process which plays an important role in motion and energy in space. In an interview, Buhler suggested that the drive can generate motion in an object by imposing electric fields on it in a specific way, sufficiently strong to counteract the effect of gravity.

But there have been complaints levied against the claims because there has been a lack of aggressive peer review and that the study was given at the Alternative Propulsion Energy Conference (APEC) which tends to favor exploring unfounded concepts. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal or peer-reviewed even though Buhler’s team has past experience at NASA, Blue Origin, and the US Air Force.

The concept of propellant-less propulsion has been of interest to space researchers for decades, and Buhler’s team has been investigating the application of electrostatics to achieve this goal. They claim to have found that introducing an imbalance in electric fields within their device produces a small but consistent force. This uneven distribution of electric pressure, according to Buhler, can push the object forward without expelling anything out of the back, as traditional rockets do.

This idea is not entirely new, as a similar concept, the EmDrive, was explored by a team at NASA’s Eagleworks lab back in 2016. But later the researchers discovered that the results were possibly caused by measurement error or environmental conditions and not true propulsion.

Independent checking and testing are needed to verify Buhler’s assertions. In the meantime, the theory is interesting but speculative, and more than enthusiasm and speculation will be required to proceed.