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A Chinese newspaper and other sources are reporting that China is already testing an EmDrive thruster in space, aboard the Tiangong-2 space station:
[Researchers] in China have announced that they've already been testing the controversial drive in low-Earth orbit, and they're looking into using the EM Drive to power their satellites as soon as possible.
Big disclaimer here - all we have to go on right now is a press conference announcement [archive.is] and an article from a government-sponsored Chinese newspaper (and the country doesn't have the best track record when it comes to trustworthy research).
[...] But what the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) team is saying also corresponds with information provided to IB Times from an anonymous source. According to their informant, China already has an EM Drive on board its version of the International Space Station, the space laboratory Tiangong-2.
[Continues...]
It had been recently suggested that the U.S. is testing an EmDrive aboard the X-37B spaceplane:
In November 2016 the International Business Times claimed the U.S. government was testing a version of the EmDrive on the Boeing X-37B and that the Chinese government has made plans to incorporate the EmDrive on its orbital space laboratory Tiangong-2. In 2009 an EmDrive technology transfer contract with Boeing was undertaken via a State Department TAA and a UK export licence, approved by the UK MOD. The appropriate US government agencies including DARPA, USAF and NSSO were aware of the contract. However, prior to flight, the propulsion experiment aboard the X-37B was officially announced as a test of a Hall-effect thruster built by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Some are already envisioning probes that could reach far beyond the Kuiper belt (thousands of astronomical units) in around a decade. This would allow the exploration of trans-Neptunian objects such as Sedna (around 86 AU from the Sun, with an estimated aphelion of 936 AU) and the hypothetical Planet Nine (estimated to be between 200 and 1,200 AU away).
We must not allow an EmDrive gap.
Also at redOrbit, and Chinatopix, which notes that previous Chinese EmDrive tests have resulted in false positives and that the EmDrive was not publicly listed among the items brought aboard the Tiangong-2 in October.
Previously: EmDrive Peer-Reviewed Paper Coming in December; Theseus Planning a Cannae Thruster Cubesat
It's Official: NASA's Peer-Reviewed EmDrive Paper Has Finally Been Published
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Monday December 26 2016, @03:40PM
I just care that somebody IS trying it. Enough talk, time to find out if this is a waste of time or the beginning of a new age of exploration.
If China gets results it isn't like they would be able to keep it secret very long. If it works they would want to use it and once you do it is pretty obvious that the latest probe you launched is doing things no traditional reaction thruster can. Everybody's space agencies have the basic plans for this thing, many have been testing prototypes. Confirm it works and the billions of dollars in R&D needed to figure out WHY it works will happen along with optimizing the effect to get more thrust per watt.
While the inventor is blue sky promising effects powerful enough for use here on Earth, this thing would be revolutionary even if it never came close to being able to lift its own weight in 1G. IF it works at all.
So yea China if they had the initiative to stick one on their station and find out. Which they are better suited to do anyway, the article was being overly generous comparing the Chinese station to ISS, it is a tiny little thing closer to Skylab or MIR. I saw recently where somebody ran the numbers and it wasn't clear that in the current form we could have tested on ISS because the effect wouldn't have been big enough to easily see on a big thing like it, maybe the small size of Tiangong-2 will be a feature, not a bug.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 26 2016, @04:22PM
I just care that somebody IS trying it.
Well, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that the Chinese are in fact testing an EmDrive. The bad news is that they plan on using it in this [soylentnews.org] once they've got it running.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 26 2016, @07:07PM
What can't crowd-funding do?