How does NASA's EmDrive actually work ?

[UM-Bot]

Scientists have been coming up with new ideas to explain how the controversial propulsion system works.

The electromagnetic propulsion engine, which some scientists believe could herald a new era of spaceflight by replacing conventional chemical rocket engines, has been a hot topic recently.

Read More: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/293806/how-does-nasas-emdrive-actually-work

[Rolci]

"Coming up with ideas"? I didn't realize that was necessary. Does that mean that these "scientists" are not familiar with Dewey Larson's work? Newsflash: the Theory of Everything has been worked out flawlessly. (Oops!) Let's move on, shall we?

[Trihalo42]

The Biefeld Brown effect is not an ionic wind. Gravity is a form of bouyancy. Space "curving" was a 2D analogy, not an exact description. The distortion in 3D is an alteration in the density of whatever people want to call the "fabric of the universe". Quantum Medium, "aether", or some kind of Higgs something or another, doesn't matter. The cone shape creates a difference in that density from one end to the other, creating a bouyancy like effect.

The only real problem the "scientific community" has is the same one that Professor Eric Laithwaite ran into working with gyroscopic precession as a form of propulsion. Arrogant old men like to think they've got it all figured out, and when the foundation of what they believe is shaken, they respond with emotion rather than reason. It's the same thing as Galileo being locked in his tower for daring to challenge "scientific knowledge".

There's a story that in the 1930s a 17 year old boy discovered and patented what he called an "electric rocket", otherwise known as a "capacitor-array gravity warp drive", which was bought from him by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey for one million dollars. He was sworn to secrecy. We've been passing around schematics of that one since before the "internet" was nothing more than dialup that included long distance charges.

The story also goes that the catch with his "electric rocket" is that if the metal plates are made from specific alloys, which I don't have details on, and two of the devices are attached to a crosspiece which is attached to a generator, that the force from the gravity pulses will produce more power than put into them. Basically it becomes a perpetual energy device. The conservation of energy is another scientific "fact" that the establishment would rather people not talk about, and is a reason that there's so much effort to discredit any propulsion device resembling the Biefeld Brown effect.

But wouldn't it be amazing if formally embracing this form of propulsion brought about contact like in Star Trek when the Vulcans notice Humans using warp drive technology? "Hey look. The primates finally figured it out. Lets go say hi."

[Peter B]

Scientists have been coming up with new ideas to explain how the controversial propulsion system works.

*puts hand up*

How it works?

From what I've read it isn't clear that there's anything happening that needs to be explained.

[Calibeliever]

Quantized inertia. That's a pretty cool concept.

[DeeSember]

Yawn, another theory. Reading these things used to excite me because it seemed like they were making a next step, will they develop this tech, probably not, they will start working on another theory. "How does it work?" Don't know until the pull their thumb out of their booty and build one!

Edited April 22, 2016 by DeeSember

[bubblykiss]

When will NASA just come to accept that the EmDrive works through magical pixie dust and elvish wishes?

Short of feeding the machine living kittens I could really care less as to how it works. Just so long as it does work.

The universe is a big place and I would like to see some of it explored before I leave it.

[Infernal Gnu]

I miss the olden days when aliens were considered to be very near to us.

From an 1848 astronomy book:

"A celebrated German thought he discovered the existence of a great city on the eastern side of the moon, an extensive canal in another place, and beautiful fields of vegetation in another."

"The inhabitants of Jupiter have some compensation for their great distance from the sun, for they have four bright resplendent moons to light their sky and cheer their prospect."

The book also referenced the inhabitants of the rings of Saturn.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Infernal Gnu

[paperdyer]

Maybe it's time to rewrite our concepts of the laws of physics!

[schroedingerscat]

Here is a link to Satellite Propulsion Research, the group that actually invented the EM Drive:

http://emdrive.com/

They have theory papers, photos, and other information.

[Aardvark-DK]

My brain just hopped and tried to strangle my man apples...don't have a clue what they were saying, but then again...

[Gecks]

Strangely enough I understood that jibberish haha.

Seriously though its an interesting theory

[Harte]

When will NASA just come to accept that the EmDrive works through magical pixie dust and elvish wishes?

Short of feeding the machine living kittens I could really care less as to how it works. Just so long as it does work.

The universe is a big place and I would like to see some of it explored before I leave it.

Understanding what's happening could allow us to exploit that information in utterly unforeseeable ways.

Could usher in a whole new revolution like electronics then semiconductors did.

Harte

[Sundew]

I find it amazing that this was discovered at all, and then seemingly cannot be explained, or at least can only be explained by theoretical concepts. An engine with no propellant sounds on the surface to be as impossible as a perpetual motion machine, so I have to wonder what (outside?) forces this technology has tapped into. Hopefully they will not only figure it out but be able to put it in layman's terms AND find a myriad of uses for the tech. If it could be scaled down perhaps we will have cars running with no fuel one day. OPEC will not be pleased....

[BeastieRunner]

I really enjoy reading about the EmDrive.

[Skulduggery]

Me too. They are on the right track. The concept is a good one.

[Vox]

See? That's the problem when you reverse engineer Alien Tech which you are dying to try out but need to have a conventional answer as to how it works so that the world doesn't go into meltdown

Sarcastic mode: OFF

[+DieChecker]

So... The microwaves bounce around inside the chamber, and the shape of the chamber causes the microwaves to interact with the virtual particles (providing thrust) in only one direction?

Is the shape of the chamber scalable? Or does only the one very specific sized chamber work?

[drewiduk]

This is great, the laws of physics have been defined by humans, anything that pushes these boundaries will lead to new thinking and progression of science

[Maars]

Stupid question: How can they speculate on how it works if it has not been built yet?

[herbygant]

Let's reinvent the flying saucer, which never existed, right?

[QSTR]

Could it be as simple as when the microwaves hits the back of the chamber it provides a little punch/kick which create the motion.

[CBbeachbum]

Chances are, it' s already in prototype...by the time WE know that it's in production, it will have already been in use for 40 years.

[Saitung]

Maybe it's time to rewrite our concepts of the laws of physics!

So true paperdyer,

We must first stop calling them laws, as that title asserts that we have the answers to every aspect of physics, when we clearly do not.

[Codenwarra]

Question is whether it works at all.