The Impossible Drive
Last week over the course of a number of days I had read
several contradictory reports in regards to the apparent confirmation by NASA
scientists of a controversial new space technology. Beyond
the claim itself which was remarkable I found myself fascinated by an ensuing
drama. In most instances such as this when extraordinary claims are made a
phalanx of establishment detractors’ rise up against the claim in judgment and
ridicule. However in this instance it was not the usual case of “The Dreamers”
versus “The Nay Sayers”. An observant reader could easily see that as battle
lines were being drawn that the Nay Sayers were careful not to mock too
vigorously.
The major bone of
contention is the fact that this technology, what British Engineer Roger Sawyer
calls an EmDrive should not work at all. According to the
theory electric power is converted directly into thrust, bypassing the need for
propellant. Within a sealed vacuum
chamber high energy radio frequencies are bounced around somehow propagating
thrust from the quantum ether.
Remember this?
In a recent report published
by NASA it has officially reported that experiments to either confirm or
disprove this technology were conducted in 2013. The published results seem to
back up earlier reports out of China that confirm that small but measurable
levels of thrust were detected. I
thought it was rather interesting how the NASA abstract states right from the
beginning that it is in no way trying to explain or describe their observation
beyond the results. It would seem that the scientists at NASA the venerable
granddad of space science are at a loss for word as to explain or describe
their observation beyond the results. As for now it is standing by its results
and has published them to the internet.
An abstract of the report entitled
“Anomalous Thrust Production
from an RF Test Device Measured on a Low-Thrust Torsion Pendulum” was published July 28th and can be found
at the following link.
At the bottom of the abstract one of the
authors states;
“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. Future
test plans include independent verification and validation at other test
facilities.”
Science is often scared to get ahead of
itself. According to accepted conventional physics this theoretical technology
breaks the law of conservation of energy therefore it cannot work. However with
NASA making such extraordinary claims the scientific community should take a moment
to examine these findings. It will be curious to watch this unfold over the
next months or years. In the worst case scenario if they are proved wrong you
can still reserve the right to say I told you so and then it’s back to giant
rocket that goes nowhere. However if it proves to be true this could lead to a
golden age of science and could possess the side effect of offering economically
priced space travel to all. So for the moment let’s indulge the dreamers. In
this case it’s the right thing to do.
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