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"Reactionless" Thruster Tested Again, This Time in a Vacuum

posted by takyon on Friday May 01 2015, @06:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the newtons-per-kilowatt dept.

Immerman writes:

An article at NasaSpaceFlight.com is claiming that the superficially reactionless EmDrive has again been tested at NASA Eagleworks, this time in hard vacuum, and the anomalous thrust is still being detected:

A group at NASA's Johnson Space Center has successfully tested an electromagnetic (EM) propulsion drive in a vacuum – a major breakthrough for a multi-year international effort comprising several competing research teams. Thrust measurements of the EM Drive defy classical physics' expectations that such a closed (microwave) cavity should be unusable for space propulsion because of the law of conservation of momentum.

With the popular explanations of thermal convection or atmospheric ionization being ruled out by operation in vacuum, and thrust thousands of times greater than expected from a photon rocket, is it time to start taking the EM Drive seriously as a fundamentally new form of propulsion, and possibly a door to new physics?

Roger Shawyer, the inventor of the EmDrive, claims that the device's efficiency will scale even further with greater levels of power, potentially enabling fast interstellar travel powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator or nuclear fission.

Previously: NASA Validates "Impossible" Space Drive's Thrust

 
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  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by SubiculumHammer on Friday May 01 2015, @07:56PM

    by SubiculumHammer (5191) on Friday May 01 2015, @07:56PM (#177588)

    I want I need I want I neeed I want I neeed I want I need
    ~~~~~~~~~I want I need I want I need ~~~~~~~~~~~
    I crave I need I crave I neeed I crave I neeed I crave I need
    ~~~~~~~~~I want I need I want I need ~~~~~~~~~~~
                                                                    For this to be True

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   -2  
       Offtopic=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Offtopic' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   0  

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @08:15PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @08:15PM (#177597)

    how old were you when the fuse in your brain blew and didn't allow conduction of new ideas?
    from a philosophical stand-point the declaration of a immutable law of conservation of momentum would lead to one outcome: instant suicide -aka- this prison sucks!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @09:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @09:54PM (#177633)

      how old were you when the fuse in your brain blew and didn't allow conduction of new ideas?

      That depends. What time is it?

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @09:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @09:00PM (#177612)

    Obviously he wants to be a starfarer.