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It's also possible without any energy transmission using lasers etc. as long as you are in some non-flat spacetime (i.e. there is some mass in your vincinity). It's called "swimming in spacetime" [1]

[edit] You can find a less scientific / more illustrative introduction to the concept here [2].

[1] http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/wisdom/swimming.pdf

[2] http://www.brophy.net/Downloads/AIL%20Class%20on%20Reality%2...



> as long as you are in some non-flat spacetime (i.e. there is some mass in your vincinity)

I'm not an expert, but isn't that definitionally everywhere? Or is it that it works better when your vicinity is more curved? The paper is a bit beyond my ability to get anything from, and the summary on Wikipedia isn't much better, and also doesn't seem to match what you're implying it is.

> “Swimming in spacetime” is a geometrical motive principle that exploits the curved spacetime metric of the gravitational field to permit an extended body undergoing specific deformations in shape, to change position. In weak gravitational fields, like that of Earth, the change in position per deformation cycle would be far too small to detect, but the concept remains of interest as the only unambiguous example of reactionless motion in mainstream physics.


I also found the paper hard to read, but check page 6 of the pdf at http://www.brophy.net/Downloads/AIL%20Class%20on%20Reality%2... (Adventures in Curved Spacetime, Eduardo Guéron, Scientific American Vol.301)


This is a perfectly realistic technique that has already been seen in use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnvh08GBOII




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