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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22 2016, @04:48PM
I didn't know that the physics of armchairs is such a popular topic. :-)
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday November 22 2016, @06:03PM
If you're gonna spend a quarter or a third of your life sitting on something, you should get familiar with it.
An elder gentleman, when I was in college, pointed out that we spend more time holding a mouse, running our fingers on a keyboard, and staring at a screen than we do the same actions with our sex partners. And the lifespan of our relationships is often much longer with the former. Yet we usually don't dedicate anywhere near as much time or money picking them...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 22 2016, @07:57PM
yeah. do you realize most people actually don't spend any time at all choosing their own children?
this is a person who will live with you for 20 years, you will have to provide for all their wants and needs, and deal with all of their problems, but you spend zero amount of time choosing between the different options. unless you adopt.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday November 22 2016, @08:02PM
I'm also gonna spend a lot less time deciding the color of the asteroid that will obliterate civilization than I did choosing today's socks.
Thanks for false equivalences, but I don't live in a place where my spouse was chosen for me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @01:33AM
"Yet we usually don't dedicate anywhere near as much time or money picking them..."
Men used to just marry a cute female child.
They didn't used to have to spend too much time picking which roastie whore would stab them in the back.