Yeah something along those line Lizzie, but I was sitting at the train station the other day and watching the electrical system , and thinking Mmmm....Now if a Birkeland current, albeit, planetary, interstellar or inter galactic then is that not our source of power for said plasma craft?

I mean "mother nature" does the energy concentrating for us we just "tap" in!
I've often wondered after watching a big Tesla coil in action, if it could be run in reverse and used to "pull" power from the Birkeland current (BC) and charge the capacitors (i.e the plasma craft) then why can't you use the science that was STS_75
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/text/t ... lts.txt
Numerous space physics and plasma theories are being
revised or overturned by data gathered during the Tethered
Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R)
"Perhaps the most significant finding," Stone said, "is
that tether currents proved to be up to three times greater
than existing theoretical models predicted prior to the
mission. With the amount of power generated being directly
proportional to the current, this bodes well for
technological applications."
"Reversing the direction of current flow puts the system
into an electric-motor mode," Stone explained. This harnessed
energy could furnish thrust for reboosting a space station,
satellite or Shuttle in a decaying orbit.
Surges
As mentioned earlier, conductive tethers have failed from unexpected current surges. Unexpected electrostatic discharges have cut tethers (eg. see Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R) on STS-75), damaged electronics, and welded tether handling machinery. It may be that the Earth's magnetic field is not as homogeneous as some engineers have believed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodynamic_tether
And
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/mis ... ts-75.html http://www.nss.org/resources/library/sh ... ttle75.htm
Also interesting to note the "conspiracy" theories out there like the tether indecent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuFBUS0kiSA seems "someone" has worked out how to use "free" energy!
So all we have to do is learn how to jam protons, neutrons and electrons together into stuff we need, cos if all you need is electricity then see above
