The Royal Scotsman summed it up as;
..."By Jove, they're back on trek... Not content with a few little domestic problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American military is working seriously on a hyperdrive motor straight out of Star Trek, with the intention of making real that famous five-year mission to "boldly go" where no man (or woman) has gone before. "....
A new conceptual breakthrough for jump-engines;
..." The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine. The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.
Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension. ...."
Or to you Trekkers, that's Warp-factor 3.7
UPDATE:
Some additional info and speculation straight from NASA's own web-sites.
