They Invented What? (No. 4)

U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,833: Spaceship to harness radiations in interstellar flights

                                        

What I claim is:

1. A craft for flight in the atmosphere or space, comprising a cylindrical body having a front end and a rear end, propulsion means positioned in said rear end, and a propeller mounted about a shaft extending from said front end, said propeller being rotatable about and independent of said shaft.

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to ships for space travel and particularly to propulsions systems for such ships which are able to harness the radiations in space and minimize the resistance caused by various space particles which impact upon the front of the ship. 

2. Prior Art

The prevailing opinion among scientists is that our nearest star, Proxima, is about twenty-five trillion miles away. However, this is challenged by many who contend that the methods used to calibrate this distance are not conclusive . . . .  Scientists are confused about the meaning of the velocity of light because they are not certain whether they are measuring the velocity of individual photon, or whether they are measuring the time lapse between the impact against the first photon of many contiguous photons within a ray of photons, and the reverberation of the last photon at the end of the ray as it excites the retina of the observer . . . .  We can be assured that if Proxima is twenty-five billion miles away instead of twenty-five trillion our hopes of colonizing the planets surrounding it would be far more realistic.