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NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 3:01 pm
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/01...tail=email
Quote:The EmDrive which made made headlines last year is back in the news with the results from a new set of tests by NASA showing that the drive has been successfully tested in a hard vacuum.
The EM drive is controversial in that it appears to violate conventional physics and the law of conservation of momentum; the engine, invented by British scientist Roger Sawyer, converts electric power to thrust without the need for any propellant by bouncing microwaves within a closed container. So, with no expulsion of propellant, there’s nothing to balance the change in the spacecraft’s momentum during acceleration. Hence the skepticism. But as stated by NASA Eagleworks scientist Harold White:
Interesting.
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 3:13 pm
I wonder what our resident rocket scientist, Alex K, would have to say about this....
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 3:30 pm
I heard this has potentially created a warp drive-like effect? Or is that just normal media howler monkey exaggeration? A cruel trick to play, if so.
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 4:22 pm
The demonstration in a vacuum chamber was pretty significant. I'm not entirely convinced, but it's heading in an interesting direction.
An extremely efficient and powerful EM Drive (if such can be built) raises some curious thoughts about the Fermi Paradox too.
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 4:25 pm
(May 1, 2015 at 4:22 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: The demonstration in a vacuum chamber was pretty significant. I'm not entirely convinced, but it's heading in an interesting direction.
An extremely efficient and powerful EM Drive (if such can be built) raises some curious thoughts about the Fermi Paradox too.
I solved the Fermi Paradox long ago. Any species intelligent enough for interstellar space travel would be too intelligent to want to visit this planet. They would receive our radio and TV broadcasts long before they arrived, and they would know that this isn't a place worth visiting.
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 5:07 pm
This thing (assuming it works) is not a faster than light drive. As incredible as that would be, this is just one step below that in terms of mind-blowing. It is a reactionless drive that somehow develops the equivalent of thrust with microwaves. You could travel across space just by pumping electricity into this thing. No expelling of mass is required. It would make interplanetary travel routine although it would not help getting from the ground to orbit.
Despite the latest tests, color me VERY skeptical. There is no known effect to account for this which is why it appears to violate physical laws. The effect is very small too so there is always the possibility of measurement error. I would jump for joy if this was real but until it passes more rigorous testing, it looks like cold fusion to me.
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 5:39 pm
or polywater
or N rays
or transubstantiation . . .
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 5:39 pm
(This post was last modified: May 1, 2015 at 6:40 pm by Alex K.)
If that worked, they would have discovered an (apparent) violation of momentum conservation. Forget applications - if true, that would possibly be the most profound physics discovery of the past 100 years. But you just don't violate momentum by bouncing microwaves around. No way, with such simple technology.
Saying that such physics could revolutionize propulsion is a bit like saying that telekinesis would revolutionize clean room operation. It would be so much bigger. What also lets me doubt is their "explanation" - that the quantum vacuum acts as propellent or something. From all the ultra precise QED predictions and measurements we have to date, there is no indication that the quantum vacuum behaves like that.
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 6:40 pm
(May 1, 2015 at 5:39 pm)Alex K Wrote: If that worked, they would have discovered an (apparent) violation of momentum conservation. Forget applications - if true, that would possibly be the most profound physics discovery of the past 100 years. But you just don't violate momentum by bouncing microwaves around. No way, with such simple technology
Was that all of your post? Or was there more?! Oh god, I never knew the lack of a full stop could be so painful!
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RE: NASA Tests EM Drive
May 1, 2015 at 6:45 pm
(This post was last modified: May 1, 2015 at 6:45 pm by Alex K.)
See above, I was interrupted.
Anyways. I just think if low energy light waves could violate momentum to this extent, we would have noticed... There is a way to check that - by employing the lorentz violating extension of the standard model by Kostelecky et al, and see how far you have to crank up the parameters to accomodate this claimed effect. My suspicion is that this would mess with the rest of precision physics
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