---
title: "“Halo Drive” Would Use Black Holes to Power Spaceships"
description: "An outrageous new concept called a \"halo drive\" would let the spaceships of the future attain incredible speeds by shooting a laser into a black hole."
date: "2019-03-12"
modified: "2019-03-12"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/halo-drive-black-holes-power-spaceships"
categories:
  - "Astrophysics"
  - "Black Holes"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "black hole"
  - "halo drive"
  - "spaceship"
  - "the digest"
---

# “Halo Drive” Would Use Black Holes to Power Spaceships

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/halo-drive-black-holes-power-spaceships.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Thor Deichmann/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Halo Drive

An outrageous new concept called a "halo drive" could let spaceships of the future attain incredible speeds — by using lasers to steal energy from black holes.

"It’s kind of like a highway system where you have to pay a one-time toll," Columbia University researcher David Kipping [told *New Scientist*](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2196391-black-holes-and-lasers-could-let-us-cheat-at-interstellar-travel/>) of the halo drive. "Once you pay the fee, you can ride the highway system as long as you want."

## Black Hole Fun

Kipping described the halo drive in a [new paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.03423>) published on the preprint server *arXiv*.

Basically, the idea is for a spacecraft to shoot a powerful laser into a black hole. The craft would then catch the supercharged beam as it curves around the super-dense stellar object for a mega speed boost.

*New Scientist* points out that today's spacecraft already use a version of the same idea, slingshotting around Jupiter to get a gravity assist into the outer solar system.

## Back to Earth

But Kipping's peers aren't entirely convinced about the halo drive, which would require access to a black hole and a mega-powerful laser.

"The engineering parts are really difficult to deal with in any realistic way," Harvard University physicist Avi Loeb told *New Scientist*. "I wouldn’t say it’s practical."

**READ MORE:** [Black holes and lasers could let us cheat at interstellar travel](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2196391-black-holes-and-lasers-could-let-us-cheat-at-interstellar-travel/>) \[*New Scientist*\]

**More on interstellar travel:** *[Physicists Have a New Idea For Faster-Than-Light Travel](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/faster-than-light-travel-warp-bubble>)*

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)