The Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thruster: NASA test may speed up long distance space travel
08-08-2014, 02:17 AM
Alright so I don't have a physics degree or anything, but as someone who's been interested in the cosmos since I was a kid, this seems like really big news, I'd love to hear input from the scientists on the board.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014...pace-drive
Nasa validates 'impossible' space drive
And here's a follow up to that article, I posted the most interesting part:
10 questions about Nasa's 'impossible' space drive answered
Finally, I originally came across the link on Reddit, and the comments are worth reading too:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comme...ace_drive/
Further Reading:
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/18734...ally-works
I'd like to use this as a spring board to talk about space travel, the future of humanity in the solar system, etc. so feel free to speculate.
I remember posting a while back about how with everything Elon Musk and others are doing with SpaceX, I'd love to drop an "Earth's Orbit Data Sheet" when I'm older.
Well, perhaps now we'll see a "Mars Colony Game" thread in our lifetime.
Exciting stuff.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014...pace-drive
Nasa validates 'impossible' space drive
Quote:Quote:
Nasa is a major player in space science, so when a team from the agency this week presents evidence that "impossible" microwave thrusters seem to work, something strange is definitely going on. Either the results are completely wrong, or Nasa has confirmed a major breakthrough in space propulsion.
British scientist Roger Shawyer has been trying to interest people in his EmDrive for some years through his company SPR Ltd. Shawyer claims the EmDrive converts electric power into thrust, without the need for any propellant by bouncing microwaves around in a closed container. He has built a number of demonstration systems, but critics reject his relativity-based theory and insist that, according to the law of conservation of momentum, it cannot work.
According to good scientific practice, an independent third party needed to replicate Shawyer's results. As Wired.co.uk reported, this happened last year when a Chinese team built its own EmDrive and confirmed that it produced 720 mN (about 72 grams) of thrust, enough for a practical satellite thruster. Such a thruster could be powered by solar electricity, eliminating the need for the supply of propellant that occupies up to half the launch mass of many satellites. The Chinese work attracted little attention; it seems that nobody in the West believed in it.
However, a US scientist, Guido Fetta, has built his own propellant-less microwave thruster, and managed to persuade Nasa to test it out. The test results were presented on July 30 at the 50th Joint Propulsion Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Astonishingly enough, they are positive.
Quote:Quote:
"Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma."
This last line implies that the drive may work by pushing against the ghostly cloud of particles and anti-particles that are constantly popping into being and disappearing again in empty space. But the Nasa team has avoided trying to explain its results in favour of simply reporting what it found: "This paper will not address the physics of the quantum vacuum plasma thruster, but instead will describe the test integration, test operations, and the results obtained from the test campaign."
And here's a follow up to that article, I posted the most interesting part:
10 questions about Nasa's 'impossible' space drive answered
Quote:Quote:
6. How does this get us to Mars?
The small but steady push of the EmDrive is a winner for space missions, gradually accelerating spacecraft to high speed.
The Nasa paper projects a 'conservative' manned mission to Mars from Earth orbit, with a 90-ton spacecraft driven by the new technology. Using a 2-megawatt nuclear power source, it can develop 800 newtons (180 pounds) of thrust. The entire mission would take eight months, including a 70-day stay on Mars.
This compares with Nasa's plans using conventional technology which takes six months just to get there, and requires several hundred tons to be put into Earth's orbit to start with. You also have to stay there for at least 18 months while you wait for the planets to align again for the journey back. The new drive provides enough thrust to overcome the gravitational attraction of the Sun at these distances, which makes manoeuvring much easier.
A less conservative projection has an advanced drive developing ten times as much thrust for the same power -- this cuts the transit time to Mars to 28 days, and can generally fly around the solar system at will, a true Nasa dream machine.
Finally, I originally came across the link on Reddit, and the comments are worth reading too:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comme...ace_drive/
Further Reading:
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/18734...ally-works
I'd like to use this as a spring board to talk about space travel, the future of humanity in the solar system, etc. so feel free to speculate.
I remember posting a while back about how with everything Elon Musk and others are doing with SpaceX, I'd love to drop an "Earth's Orbit Data Sheet" when I'm older.
Well, perhaps now we'll see a "Mars Colony Game" thread in our lifetime.
Exciting stuff.