emdrive NASA breakthrough -- the EM Drive actually works!

[Unobscured Vision]

This is huge.

 

The NASA Team working on the EM Drive (based on Alcubierre's Theories) found it by accident while testing their detectors and diagnostic equipment. They switched on the field generator for the EM Drive to get some readings and to make sure the equipment was working properly, and noticed that some of the laser light directed inside the "Warp Bubble" was moving faster than the speed of light.

 

They know this because they have "reference" lasers for that very purpose, along with other lasers that measure the outside of the Warp Bubble. They still don't know how the physics completely work, yet.

 

The discussion at the NASA Spaceflight Forums starts at post #1840 -- and I'll warn you ahead of time, it's VERY technical. Lots of science going on there. This development has just occurred in the past week, so there's very little mainstream news about it yet.

 

Now the plan is to study the results, study them some more, and do what scientists do best -- experiment.

[JustGeorge]

Not going to bother reading the forum posts there as its way above my paygrade. If true, awesome!

[Lovell]

How I feel after trying to read the thread.

 

[Guest]

Not going to bother reading the article as its way above my paygrade. If true, awesome!

 

Ye, same, tried reading but this is way beyond me.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

man...that NASA Spaceflight forum hurt my head.

 

I did learn that a truncated cone cannot have a TM010 mode.  How silly of me to think otherwise.

 

http://www.inquisitr.com/2040259/did-nasa-just-accidentally-produce-a-warp-bubble-emdrive-could-lead-to-warp-drive/

 

Has a slightly dumbed down version citing the OP original link.

[Unobscured Vision]

The rough speed calculations work out to being able to travel about 2.15 light years/day with this technology as it currently sits. That's the initial findings from another one of the NASA Scientists following the project. A lot more study is needed to determine what they can actually do with it; such as if they can go faster, etc.

 

They already know they can make the Warp Bubble larger (it's a matter of how much power you are able to put into it), and the breakthrough itself is proof that you don't need exotic materials to generate the necessary energy. The test field they created in the lab runs on very low power (28 Watts cycled twice), but it also means that Solar Panels won't really be an option for Primary Power.

 

Sorry for the "blinding light of information", folks. It's very, very technical information. I found some articles about it, but none that were from more "reputable" News sites that I would particularly trust. My apologies.

[JustGeorge]

Would the warp bubble have a secondary benefit of shielding the craft from micro meteors and other space debris? If not, they better get that whole energy shielding thing worked out.

[Praetor]

man...that NASA Spaceflight forum hurt my head.

 

I did learn that a truncated cone cannot have a TM010 mode.  How silly of me to think otherwise.

 

http://www.inquisitr.com/2040259/did-nasa-just-accidentally-produce-a-warp-bubble-emdrive-could-lead-to-warp-drive/

 

Has a slightly dumbed down version citing the OP original link.

 

 

a truncated cone cannot have a TM010 mode because the electromagnetic fields in a truncated cone cannot be constant in the longitudinal direction of the cone (due to the geometry of the cone producing a focusing, attenuating effect in the longitudinal direction)

 

[Dot Matrix]

Great. Now all we need is a ship!

 

[protocol7]

Would it not be quicker to just go back to the moon and ask the nazis on the dark side how they did it?

[Unobscured Vision]

Would the warp bubble have a secondary benefit of shielding the craft from micro meteors and other space debris? If not, they better get that whole energy shielding thing worked out.

 

Any small debris encountered would likely be deflected around the field, up to a certain mass. Above that, debris and objects would be deflected less and less (according to its' mass) and the possibility of a strike would grow exponentially.

 

I'm not sure if that's something they have taken into account yet. It certainly would pose a significant challenge.

[Unobscured Vision]

Great. Now all we need is a ship!

 

 

 

We've already got one for the job.

[DocM]

http://www.slideshare.net/KurtZeller/investigation-and-analysis-of-anomalous-electromagnetic-propulsion-devices-41315-46946953

[123456789A]

They better stop posting that kind of thing online! This is top secret information gained from an alien craft that crashed.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Take the information with a mountain of salt, a lot of the "research" into this area has been absolute crap.

Like the last time they claimed it worked, when in reality it was a pretty bad measuring error (The "prototype" generated the same result whether it was on or off, which instead of being taken as a sign it didn't work, was taken as a sign that the device worked even when unpowered)

[Unobscured Vision]

Doc, it looks like the source material you linked to is interspersing Q-Thruster Development with EM-Drive Development. It's really, really jumbled together, and has me really confused. Not saying you're wrong (because you usually aren't), but that site you linked to has me quite out of sorts now. 

[malenfant]

And here we have a possible explanation of The Great Filter -if such exists. Messing about with the Quantum Vacuum.

[JustGeorge]

Part of me just knows graphene and ball bearings are key to all this

 

I do hope this turns out to be a real breakthrough, though. Something like this might put some ass behind the space program again.

[DocM]

Doc, it looks like the source material you linked to is interspersing Q-Thruster Development with EM-Drive Development. It's really, really jumbled together, and has me really confused. Not saying you're wrong (because you usually aren't), but that site you linked to has me quite out of sorts now.

That was just posted to the NSF thread. I'm suspicious too.

[PGHammer]

Part of me just knows graphene and ball bearings are key to all this

 

I do hope this turns out to be a real breakthrough, though. Something like this might put some ass behind the space program again.

In other words, buckyballs and fullerene.

Both are directly traced back to no less than Buckminster Fuller - the inventor of the Geodesic Dome. (Geodesic domes are, in fact, rather commonplace - the FAA and military are BIG users of them to protect antennas from the elements - among other things.)

Where I'm actually surprised is that no builder - or architect - has dared to create so much as a SMALLL subdivision - let alone development - composed entirely of such structures (geodesic domes, that is). Too many possibilities of someone claiming that the development was built by - or for - aliens.

[Unobscured Vision]

I do hope this turns out to be a real breakthrough, though. Something like this might put some ass behind the space program again.

 

Same here. I hope it's not another mistake or some kind of oversight with the equipment (or the device itself, like the last time). They've got math, and a lot of repeat testing, and[i/] they're using strict procedures for verification of any possible discoveries now. They need to be absolutely certain with this program's results, one way or the other.

 

What DocM turned up still bothers me, though. Might be a pseudoscience enthusiast chiming in where they shouldn't be (which would explain why that paper was all over the place, topic-wise), or it's something that needs further attention. Not sure yet, but I can promise that the brains on the NSF thread are all over it, one way or the other.

[Raa]

So, can we get an executive summary?

[netty2014]

• nasa it IT WILL NOT work you factored time into your equation you "fools" like you always do !  

stephen hawking and albert einstein and all the other fools, were and are  fools as well as every equation they theorised or wrote down are WRONG 

[Unobscured Vision]

Executive summary:

 

Everyone who has posted on the Nasa Spaceflight Forum thread so far (mostly Engineers, Scientists, Physicists, and Professors, University Students and quite a few Educated Members) are all going bananas and high-fiving the EM-Drive Team. One of the higher-ups of the EM-Drive Team, and several of the Team Members, participate actively on that Forum thread and have been answering questions openly and honestly all along since the Project was started.

 

A week ago, they had some sort of accidental discovery while calibrating some new diagnostic & testing equipment that uses lasers to measure how fast the light is travelling through the Warp Bubble that the EM Drive is generating relative to the laser light that a similar laser next to it is traveling. They measure the difference in speeds (if any) using detectors and a computer with software geared for that task.

 

They discovered that the EM Drive was causing the laser light passing through the Warp Bubble to travel faster than the other laser light, at such a speed that the software told them was faster than the speed of light itself. Another NASA Scientist afterward (two pages further into the Nasa Spaceflight Forum thread) calculated the data independently of the EM-Drive Team and it worked out to a speed of 2.15 light years per day -- or as that Scientist put it, "you could travel to Alpha Centauri in two days".

 

It hasn't even been announced in the mainstream news yet, because they aren't sure what they've really got. They want to test this six ways to Sunday, and sideways, before announcing anything.

 

The information that DocM turned up is interesting too. We'll have to wait and see what the brains have to say about it after the weekend.

 

That's what all the excitement is about.

[DocM]

It hasn't even been announced in the mainstream news yet, because they aren't sure what they've really got. They want to test this six ways to Sunday, and sideways, before announcing anything.

^ precisely, and we shoulda all keep in mind the FTL neutrinos and gravity wave fiascos of the last couple of years, both of which had to be withdrawn.