The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Space => Topic started by: Idaho_Cowboy on November 08, 2016, 10:55:28 pm
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Impossible Spaceship Engine Called "EmDrive" Actually Works, Leaked NASA Report Reveals
Will Sabel Courtney,The Drive Mon, Nov 7 11:45 AM PST
When a scientist announced last decade that he’d built a new form of spacecraft propulsion called the EmDrive that didn’t require conventional fuel, it sounded too good to be true. But the great thing about science is that you don’t have to take someone’s findings at their word; you can test it for yourself. NASA did just that—and while the space agency hasn’t officially released its findings yet, a leaked copy of NASA’s report reveals the EmDrive seems to work as advertised....
https://www.yahoo.com/news/impossible-spaceship-engine-called-emdrive-194534340.html
We still have a long way to go, but sounds interesting. Not sure I trust anything that supposedly doesn't follow Newton's laws.
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I love it. Very exciting.
The idea that the quantum step results in net energy gain (if that is what is actually happening) is freaking awesome.
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I love it. Very exciting.
The idea that the quantum step results in net energy gain (if that is what is actually happening) is freaking awesome.
I've been watching this one for a while. Something interesting going on with it.
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I've been watching this one for a while. Something interesting going on with it.
@Cripplecreek
I've been sorely tempted to build one in my garage.
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Next step is to put one on a satellite and test it in orbit.....
Hey Vic!! Convince NASA/Jacobs to make that your next project!
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Next step is to put one on a satellite and test it in orbit.....
Hey Vic!! Convince NASA/Jacobs to make that your next project!
I hate flight hardware projects. It's all procedures, pedigree, and paperwork. :banging:
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We still have a long way to go, but sounds interesting. Not sure I trust anything that supposedly doesn't follow Newton's laws.
Several of the scientists/engineers involved have been blogging about the preliminary results for years. I guess they are getting ready to publish results for peer review, but this is hardly a "leak."
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...the experimental engine whipped up 1.2 millinewtons of force per kilowatt of energy. To put that in simple terms, you’d need about 900 times that to make an apple hover in midair under Earth’s gravity....
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Several of the scientists/engineers involved have been blogging about the preliminary results for years. I guess they are getting ready to publish results for peer review, but this is hardly a "leak."
It helps that the scientists and engineers have been very open and forthcoming about this.
A big British lab tested this a while back and found that the device did appear to produce thrust which was promising but the thrust was in the same direction no matter which way the device was turned. I've heard that the issue has since been resolved.
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Very interesting! If they can figure out what makes it work and then scale it up to usable size, workable interplanetary travel and perhaps eventually interstellar travel could become a reality.
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I hate flight hardware projects. It's all procedures, pedigree, and paperwork. :banging:
Welcome to my world of nuclear power plant design............
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The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) were of course well understood — and such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess's undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy.
Many respectable physicists said that they weren't going to stand for this, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sorts of parties.
Another thing they couldn't stand was the perpetual failure they encountered while trying to construct a machine which could generate the infinite improbability field needed to flip a spaceship across the mind-paralyzing distances between the farthest stars, and at the end of the day they grumpily announced that such a machine was virtually impossible.
Then, one day, a student who had been left to sweep up after a particularly unsuccessful party found himself reasoning in this way: If, he thought to himself, such a machine is a virtual impossibility, it must have finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to make one is to work out how exactly improbable it is, feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea... and turn it on!
He did this and was rather startled when he managed to create the long sought after golden Infinite Improbability generator. He was even more startled when just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute's Prize for Extreme Cleverness he was lynched by a rampaging mob of respectable physicists who had realized that one thing they couldn't stand was a smart-arse.
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The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) were of course well understood — and such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess's undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy.
Many respectable physicists said that they weren't going to stand for this, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sorts of parties.
Another thing they couldn't stand was the perpetual failure they encountered while trying to construct a machine which could generate the infinite improbability field needed to flip a spaceship across the mind-paralyzing distances between the farthest stars, and at the end of the day they grumpily announced that such a machine was virtually impossible.
Then, one day, a student who had been left to sweep up after a particularly unsuccessful party found himself reasoning in this way: If, he thought to himself, such a machine is a virtual impossibility, it must have finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to make one is to work out how exactly improbable it is, feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea... and turn it on!
He did this and was rather startled when he managed to create the long sought after golden Infinite Improbability generator. He was even more startled when just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute's Prize for Extreme Cleverness he was lynched by a rampaging mob of respectable physicists who had realized that one thing they couldn't stand was a smart-arse.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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I've been watching this one for a while. Something interesting going on with it.
@Cripplecreek
We are on a verge of something big.
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@Cripplecreek
We are on a verge of something big.
I'm ready for a great leap forward.
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I'm ready for a great leap forward.
I'd settle for two steps and a gentle hop. It is promising though. We've spent too long pissing around in orbit.
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So long, and thanks for all the fish!
@dfwgator @thackney
Now if it could just help me in my efforts to throw myself at the ground and miss....