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from the that-still-doesn't-mean-it-will-work dept.
After months of speculation and leaked documents, NASA's long-awaited EM Drive paper has finally been peer-reviewed and published [open, DOI: 10.2514/1.B36120] [DX]. And it shows that the 'impossible' propulsion system really does appear to work. The NASA Eagleworks Laboratory team even put forward a hypothesis for how the EM Drive could produce thrust – something that seems impossible according to our current understanding of the laws of physics.
In case you've missed the hype, the EM Drive, or Electromagnetic Drive, is a propulsion system first proposed by British inventor Roger Shawyer back in 1999. Instead of using heavy, inefficient rocket fuel, it bounces microwaves back and forth inside a cone-shaped metal cavity to generate thrust. According to Shawyer's calculations, the EM Drive could be so efficient that it could power us to Mars in just 70 days.
takyon: Some have previously dismissed EmDrive as a photon rocket. This is addressed in the paper along with other possible sources of error:
The eighth [error:] photon rocket force, RF leakage from test article generating a net force due to photon emission. The performance of a photon rocket is several orders of magnitude lower than the observed thrust. Further, as noted in the above discussion on RF interaction, all leaking fields are managed closely to result in a high quality RF resonance system. This is not a viable source of the observed thrust.
[...] The 1.2 mN/kW performance parameter is over two orders of magnitude higher than other forms of "zero-propellant" propulsion, such as light sails, laser propulsion, and photon rockets having thrust-to-power levels in the 3.33–6.67 μN/kW (or 0.0033–0.0067 mN/kW) range.
Previously: NASA Validates "Impossible" Space Drive's Thrust
"Reactionless" Thruster Tested Again, This Time in a Vacuum
Explanation may be on the way for the "Impossible" EmDrive
Finnish Physicist Says EmDrive Device Does Have an Exhaust
EmDrive Peer-Reviewed Paper Coming in December; Theseus Planning a Cannae Thruster Cubesat
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:33PM
Use red + blue or green + blue next time. Are NASA really the journal of propulsion and power really ignorant of this issue? I thought altered colored perception was supposed to be correlated with proclivity to engineering/math.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22 2016, @03:49PM
Only as long as it's pure red vs pure blue. My flavor of colorblindness can distinguish red, but it's vastly diminished. I struggle with some purples. Same deal with brown. Strangely, orange is generally safe though.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22 2016, @04:25PM
Any line graph should be done in a way that you still can distinguish them on black/white prints. Usually for more than one curve, this means using dashed or dotted lines in addition to different colours. Quite obviously, this also helps with all sorts of altered colour perception.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday November 22 2016, @06:58PM
The above post is my nomination for the EvilSS Golden Armchair award!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 22 2016, @07:04PM
I pick https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=16638&cid=431343#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]