24.12.2011 Santa's sleigh exploits Higgs boson shield

In an exclusive, Next Green Car can reveal the latest sleigh technology being used by Santa's mobility unit to provide as-fast-as-light travel for its present delivery platform.

Following the recent breaking research from the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, evidence is closing in on the Higgs boson, the particle thought to give all other matter its mass.

Suspecting a festive scoop, we approached the Chief Elf Technical Officer at Sleigh-Base Zero and put it to him that the Higgs field was the key to understanding how Father C's sleigh was able to cover so much ground in so little time. With the Higgs now almost established as fact, we realised that, should a device be able to block the boson field, then a zero-mass vehicle could be built, and would be capable of travelling at almost the speed of light.

In a surprisingly candid comment from CETO Elwë Sîrfalas: "Yes, we don't deny it, the latest sleigh platform utilises a Higgs-based technology we have developed here at Zero-Mass Development Enterprises. For some time we realised that by blocking the Higgs, we could effectively switch-off an object's inertial and gravitational mass. Once activated, the object could be made to move at great speed using only modest amounts of energy."

Sîrfalas the explained that the technical challenge encountered by the development team was producing a workable product, one that provided performance and reliability while being relatively easy to control. They key breakthrough came when the team managed to perfect a boson 'field shield' to break up the field strength at the edges of the activated zone. This enables traction mechanism, in this case the hooves of the reindeer, to interact with the environment outside the Higgs field, to provide the necessary force for acceleration.

"Without this innovation, the sleigh simply hovers mid-air. And while it can be accerelated to high speed using an external power source, the operator or reindeers are unable to provide traction from within the field. Breaking up the field on the edges using a fractal edge effect allows those inside the field to interact with the outside world. This allows the sleigh to be powered by the reindeer; the ski runners against the air flow also provide direction control."

In the next 18 months, ZMD Enterprises are hoping to licence the technology for non-festive travel applications. While ZMD were unable to confirm prospective business opportunities, we understand that they are already in discussion with a number of car makers eager to exploit this revolutionary approach to zero-mass mobility."

Next Green Car will certainly be covering this story during 2012, and we look forward to being the report the first zero-mass and zero-emission vehicles in commercial development. In the meantime, we wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas!