Another Approach to the Cause of Inertia

There have been a number of theoretical and experimental attempts to identify the source of inertia and/or produce mass fluctuations in order to develop an approach to spacecraft mass attenuation for the purpose of interstellar flight. At present, there are three leading explanations for how inertia is generated by matter. One is that it results from quantum-scale electromagnetic fluctuations in the zero-point field, another claims that it is a unique property of all mass energy that remains independent of the environment, and the last is based on the attractive force from distant matter in the universe. A fourth explanation is given here submitting that inertia is caused by the time lag effects of the spacetime medium to react to a moving gravitational source (mass). In short, when a body changes its state of motion, the local spacetime has a delayed reaction in which it “fills in” the gravity well where the body was a moment before and simultaneously provides a resistive force ahead. The combined effect is that the body experiences a pull in the direction opposite motion, feeling the force we call inertia. This idea also has some interesting implications on the nature of spacetime, string theory, gravity waves and the existence of gravitons. Inertia mitigation techniques based on these concepts are also proposed for high-velocity space travel.