Engineer Claims Discovery Of A "New Force" That Could One Day Power Gravity-Defying Spacecraft

A former NASA engineer has made bold claims about a possible breakthrough in propulsion technology - one that could, if verified, challenge the current laws of physics as we understand them. Charles Buhler, who once helped establish a lab at NASA's Kennedy Space Center to prevent rocket failures caused by static electricity, is now working on something very different. Alongside his colleagues at a private company called Exodus Propulsion Technologies, he says they may have discovered a completely new force.

According to Buhler, this "New Force" could allow objects to move without needing to expel fuel or propellant - something that traditional rockets rely on. In an interview with The Debrief, he explained that the drive his team is working on can produce thrust using only electric fields. If true, this would represent a huge shift in our understanding of motion and energy, especially in the vacuum of space where traditional engines require something to push against.

"The most important message to convey to the public is that a major discovery occurred," Buhler told The Debrief. He claims that simply by applying electric fields in a certain way, their drive can generate movement in an object - enough, he says, to overcome the force of gravity. This is a big claim, and naturally, it's raised some eyebrows.

Importantly, Buhler is no longer working in an official capacity for NASA, and the space agency itself is not involved in the project. He recently presented the findings at the Alternative Propulsion Energy Conference, or APEC. It's worth noting that APEC is known as a gathering place for engineers and enthusiasts exploring fringe or speculative ideas - some of which stray well outside mainstream science. While that doesn't automatically discredit the work, it does mean the claims haven't gone through the kind of rigorous peer review that would normally back a major scientific announcement.

Buhler says the breakthrough comes after decades of investigating so-called "propellant-less" propulsion, a concept that's been of interest to space researchers because of how much fuel traditional rockets need to carry. His team, which he says includes people with experience at NASA, Blue Origin, and the US Air Force, began focusing on electrostatics - the study of stationary electric charges. They claim to have found that when they introduced a particular imbalance, or asymmetry, in electric fields inside their device, it produced a small but consistent force.

In simple terms, Buhler describes this as a system where the distribution of electric pressure isn't even. This unevenness, he believes, can push the object forward - without needing to eject anything out of the back, as rockets do. He claims that in 2023, one of their devices generated enough force to counteract Earth's gravity.

This kind of idea isn't entirely new. In 2016, a team at NASA's Eagleworks lab attracted attention for its work on the EmDrive, another controversial propellant-less propulsion concept. Early tests appeared to show a measurable thrust, but later studies, including a detailed investigation in Germany, found that the results were likely due to measurement errors or environmental factors rather than genuine propulsion.

That history is part of what makes Buhler's claims difficult to assess. While he insists something real is happening, independent testing and validation are crucial. For now, there's no published scientific paper, no peer-reviewed data, and no third-party confirmation. It's an intriguing idea, but one that, like many before it, will need more than speculation and enthusiasm to move forward.