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Multiple sources have reported that a paper about EmDrive has cleared peer review and will be published in December, although there is no certainty yet about whether NASA scientists have found evidence to support thrust apparently in violation of the law of conservation of momentum (and not within experimental error):
Long thought to be nothing more than a space dream, the EmDrive, a rocket propulsion technology that requires no propellant, has cleared peer review, the International Business Times reports. The new engine, first proposed 17 years ago, relies on microwaves for its thrust, which are fired into a metal cone, causing acceleration. The latest design, which will be published in the Journal of Propulsion, was the brainchild of scientists at NASA's experimental lab, Eagleworks Laboratories.
Also at Inverse.
Meanwhile, a company formed by Cannae Inc. has announced that it will launch a similar propulsion device into space to prove that it works:
On August 17, Cannae announced plans to launch its thruster on a 6U cubesat. Each unit is a 10-centimeter cube, so a 6U satellite is the size of a small shoebox. Approximately one quarter of this will be taken up by the drive. Fetta intends the satellite to stay on station for at least six months, rather than the six weeks that would be typical for a satellite this size at a altitude of 150 miles. The longer it stays in orbit, the more the satellite will show that it must be producing thrust without propellant.
Cannae has formed a company called Theseus with industrial partners LAI International of Tempe, AZ and SpaceQuest Ltd. of Fairfax, VA to launch the satellite. No launch date has yet been announced, but 2017 seems likely. "Once demonstrated on orbit, Theseus will offer our thruster platforms to the satellite marketplace," says the optimistic conclusion on their website.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mcgrew on Monday September 12 2016, @05:19PM
The difference is they might find out, in my lifetime (maybe next year, who knows?) that the em drive is impossible and does in fact violate physical laws, but I'll be long dead and forgotten before warp drives are actually being built and tested, as these drives are.
SF gets out of date quickly. For instance, in one of my Asimov books there's a short story called "The watery place" where we are visited by Venusians. Of course, we now know there are no Venusians, or Venusian water. Vonnegut's story "2BR02B" is full of such anachronisms, including a telephone booth.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Monday September 12 2016, @08:34PM
Life extension, mcbro.
Sure, the "exotic matter" requirements for the warp drive look insurmountable, but warp field interferometer experiments could at least disprove the concept. Also, if we manage to discover/confirm lots of aliens visiting Earth in UFOs right now, as if it was a tourist trap, then we can be reasonably sure they have faster-than-light travel.
Emdrive is an exciting prospect since it could take us to the next level if real, and will at least produce some interesting science if fake (since multiple teams are now trying to explain thrust measurements, a situation unlike the faster-than-light neutrino hype from a couple of years ago). The fact that we have an expanding universe means that we can entertain ideas that could lead to "free energy". Now here's a crazy idea: tapping into the "free energy" could slow down some of the expansion of the universe and prolong life as we know it!
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