You know Lynx, that binding force meter Mr. Smith constructed...
I understand why "The Boys Topside" would want someone to experiment with this contraption. It measures what we call the force of gravity which I believe most have the concept very screwed up. Let me explain my thoughts on this...
Gravity is a hybrid field composed of the fundamental tempic and electric fields. It is for all essential purposes the Aether. It exists everywhere and is a pushing force. Think of it as Aetheric pressure. It pushes on the earth, keeping us grounded. The earth acts as a partial shield to this force and when we move away from the earth, this forces pushes on us equally from all sides. I'll go a step further, this binding force is what keeps all matter "bound" together and without it, all matter in the universe would explode and disintegrate back into fundamental fields. And I do mean ALL matter: molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks, sub-quarks, everything. It is the ever pervasive squeezing force that smashes matter into existence. So....
That last thing in the world you want is an "anti-gravity" device. Such a device would eliminate matter completely. Instead, you want a device that redirects this pushing force. In essence you create a shield in front of your space vehicle by sucking in this field from the front and sending it back out the rear to push you forward--basically just a 180 degree phase shift from intake to exhaust.
In any event, if my thoughts are correct, space travel seems rather simple. This stuff we call gravity is quite essential and could give us everything we need to quite literally, move forward.