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posted by martyb on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the Would-an-EnDrive-be-half-as-wide? dept.

The man behind the disputed thruster technology EmDrive has published a presentation detailing the third generation of the device. Roger Shawyer envisions EmDrive 3.0 enabling personal flying vehicles and a "space elevator without cables":

[Although] the second generation of the EmDrive can theoretically produce 3 tonnes of thrust for 1 kilowatt of power, it isn't able to move very far, so it is only useful for marine applications or for diverting asteroids, like in the new CBS sci-fi TV drama Salvation.

Shawyer has long said that his aim for inventing the EmDrive was to help get satellites into space cheaply, to enable more applications and new ways for the human race to combat global warming and the energy crisis. Essentially, the EmDrive needs to be able to move and work as well as a conventional rocket, in order to be a viable solution.

To negate these shortfalls, Shawyer's firm Satellite Propulsion Research Ltd (SPR) has also been researching a third generation of the EmDrive, which solved the acceleration problem by reducing the specific thrust.

So instead of getting 3 tonnes of thrust for every kilowatt, substantially less thrust is produced – but it can be used to accelerate the device (more about this theory can be read in a paper Shawyer presented in Beijing in 2013).

Speaking of that TV show, Roger would like some credit please.

Related UK patent application. Also at Next Big Future.

Previously: Finnish Physicist Says EmDrive Device Does Have an Exhaust
It's Official: NASA's Peer-Reviewed EmDrive Paper Has Finally Been Published
Space Race 2.0: China May Already be Testing an EmDrive in Orbit
Physicist Uses "Quantised Inertia" to Explain Both EmDrive and Galaxy Rotation


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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:47PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:47PM (#553038) Journal

    It's not clear that he hasn't shown a marginally working device. But it's not clear that he has. Some examined the device and said it appeared to produce a small thrust. The amount was small enough that it would need to be tested in a satellite to be sure.

    I don't think any certainty is reasonable about this thing, one way or the other.

    OTOH, his proposed second and third generation devices appear to never have been built. much less tested.

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