Science professor David Pares is attempting to build something nobody has ever made before - his own warp drive, straight out of Star Trek.
The University of Nebraska scientist is bringing together pieces which will be able to compress space around a set weight with only 100 watts of power in his garage on Omaha.
Warp drive is a hypothetical propulsion system that could allow a craft to move faster than the speed of light, potentially making interstellar travel a reality.
Einstein's theory of relativity suggests fasther-than-light travel is impossible, but other theories suggest creating a "warp bubble" around a spaceship could make it work.
NASA is already looking into making their own version, but Pares believes he has found a better way.
Former physics professor Jack Kasher told the Omaha World-Herald: "A lot of people are going to flat-out dismiss it off the top, but I think he’s crossed some kind of bridge here.
"It is so far out there, he’s not going to get funding to do it. If it’s going to be done, it’s going to be done in his garage.
"It wouldn’t surprise me if NASA latches on to this."
Theoretically, a warp drive system would contract space in front of a ship and expand it at the back, creating a warp bubble.
But Pares thinks warp bubbles already occur naturally, which has drawn him to these experiments.
"Science is out there in nature," says his cohort Matt Judah. "You just have to recognize the pattern and realise this is the way the world works."
The duo are also building a seven foot square ship to test the warp drive system, which they believe will be able to hover by next summer.
Pares is decades ahead of Zefram Cochran, who first drew the Vulcans to Earth with his own warp drive in Star Trek: First Contact.