Nasa validates 'impossible' space drive

[Yodamaster]

Nasa validates 'impossible' space drive (Wired UK)

"Nasa is a major player in space science, so when a team from the agency this week presents evidence that "impossible" microwave thrusters seem to work, something strange is definitely going on. Either the results are completely wrong, or Nasa has confirmed a major breakthrough in space propulsion."

"British scientist Roger Shawyer has been trying to interest people in his EmDrive for some years through his company SPR Ltd. Shawyer claims the EmDrive converts electric power into thrust, without the need for any propellant by bouncing microwaves around in a closed container. He has built a number of demonstration systems, but critics reject his relativity-based theory and insist that, according to the law of conservation of momentum, it cannot work."

"According to good scientific practice, an independent third party needed to replicate Shawyer's results. As Wired.co.uk reported, this happened last year when a Chinese team built its own EmDrive and confirmed that it produced 720 mN (about 72 grams) of thrust, enough for a practical satellite thruster. Such a thruster could be powered by solar electricity, eliminating the need for the supply of propellant that occupies up to half the launch mass of many satellites. The Chinese work attracted little attention; it seems that nobody in the West believed in it."



Until it is absolutely verified that the testing equipment isn't to blame for the results, we cannot be sure, but this looks to be very promising for the future of space exploration. My opinion is that continued investment in the space industry is the key to the ultimate survival of the human race, and could potentially be the source of almost unlimited expansion and wealth.

Thoughts?

[murd0c]

Maybe NASA has been aware of this technology for years and they have been claiming its "impossible" to distract people from the truth... They are now coming out with this some how seeming to work because someone else might of found the truth out and NASA now has to blow the cover of it.

But of course this is new and they had no idea before...

[pastarocket]

-found a diagram of an EmDrive. One day there may be levitating cars in the world

[dangonay]

Reminds me of people who still think bumblebees defy the laws of aerodynamics. Obviously they don't since they can actually fly. A better statement would be "bumblebees defy what we currently understand about aerodynamics".

We (our physics class) built an ion engine in high school that used electricity to provide propulsion. The actual force it produced was miniscule for the amount of electricity it used, but it did provide thrust. If you compared our engine to this one:

- We used 400 watts to generate (what we calculated) about 0.03mN.
- This engine uses 700 watts to generate 88mN.
- This new engine is about 1,676 times more efficient than ours was.

I can see why some skeptics might have doubts about this based on how efficient it is. Our version was useless for anything other than a lab curiosity. This engine could actually be used in satellites or other spacecraft.

[RRxtar]

That is the neat thing about science and technology. What is absolutely without a doubt impossible today, becomes common use not far in the future. And the time from idea to common use is getting exponentially faster and faster. Its a very exciting time to be alive. We can hardly do anything, really, by the potential futures stanards. We've just begun to get moving. But by the standards of all of human civilization up to only 150 years ago or so, we are nearly gods.