Nova Atlantis

China is building a microwave-based space drive, developed by a British scientist, that most physicists claim is impossible.

From what I can tell, it’s basically an electric drive that uses no propellant at all, and also uses about 1/4 of the power that NASA’s ion drive does. Since the ion drive also uses a small amount of propellant, this would be a phenomenal savings in mass, and potentially spark a revolution in space exploration.

But communist (and other extreme-ideology) nations have a long history of pursuing whacko pseudoscience projects. You already have to believe in the impossible in order to create a utopia, so believing in impossible science comes easy.

On the other hand, China has done a pretty good job of living in the real world for a few decades now, so I’d be kind of surprised if there’s nothing to this.