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

posted by takyon on Friday May 01 2015, @06:00PM   
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

• As it is now, so it was then: As it is now, so it was then: (Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday May 01 2015, @08:15PM

  by Hartree (195) on Friday May 01 2015, @08:15PM (#177598)

  " so we've got this new navigation system. We've built it, tested it, tested it again, and now it's helping sail an expedition beyond the end of the Mediterranean past Gibraltar."
  " cool, how does it work?"
  "nobody knows... We call it a lodestone, though."

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• Re:As it is now, so it was then: Re:As it is now, so it was then: (Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday May 01 2015, @08:20PM

  by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday May 01 2015, @08:20PM (#177599) Homepage

  This fucking thing had better sound cool.

  I'm not flying with it if it makes a stupid noise, like how things sound in Star Wars Episode I. What good is a menacing star-destroyer with ion cannons and tail fins on the ass-end if it sounds like, "Boo-boo-boo-boo-boo-hee-hee-hee-heee!"

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  • Re:As it is now, so it was then: Re:As it is now, so it was then: (Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Friday May 01 2015, @10:57PM

    by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Friday May 01 2015, @10:57PM (#177661)

    Are you fucking serious?!

    I get a chance to fly in this thing I will take it even if it sounds like a fairy shitting itself politely...

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    • Re:As it is now, so it was then: Re:As it is now, so it was then: (Score: 2) by BK on Saturday May 02 2015, @02:09AM

      by BK (4868) on Saturday May 02 2015, @02:09AM (#177728)

      But what if it sounds like Jar Jar...?

      --
      ...but you HAVE heard of me.

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      • Re:As it is now, so it was then: (Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Saturday May 02 2015, @06:34AM

        by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Saturday May 02 2015, @06:34AM (#177787)

        I believe that would defy the moral laws of physics.

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      • Re:As it is now, so it was then: (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @11:04AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @11:04AM (#177833)

        "Powering up the Jar-Jar drive"
        mmmmmmMMMMMMMMMEEEEESA-MEESA-MEESA-MEESA-MEESA-MEESA

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