A million-ton spaceship. A billion-ton laser. A laser pulse, and a black hole is born—and then captured by a spaceship and used to propel the ship across the universe.

This is theoretically possible, says Kansas State University mathematician Louis Crane. After a discussion with a colleague got him wondering whether it was possible to create a black hole, Crane did a series of calculations that showed that with just enough energy and the right type of laser, humans could indeed create one. Like all black holes, it would emit Hawking radiation—the subatomic particles that physicist Stephen Hawking proposed escape from black holes as their counterpart particles become trapped. And so it should be possible to use that black hole to drive an enormous spaceship. “It seems the laws of nature say it could be done, or at least I don’t see any barrier,” Crane says. “But it would take us hundreds or thousands of years to be able to do it.”

Still, Crane believes it’s a possibility worth exploring. He points out that it wasn’t until 400 years after Leonardo da Vinci designed a flying machine that the Wright brothers got their airplanes off the ground. “But if da Vinci and others hadn’t thought about flying as soon as the basic principles of physics were realized, we never would have gotten to where we are today.”

HOW A BLACK-HOLE-POWERED SPACESHIP MIGHT WORK

1. A billion-ton laser sends out a pulse of gamma rays, causing the waves to collapse and create an artificial black hole.

2. A million-ton ship captures the black hole.

3. The black hole emits Hawking radiation, propelling the ship.