No propellant space propulsion technology!!!

[space_dreamer]

SPR Ltd, a small UK based company, has demonstrated a remarkable new space propulsion technology.The company has sucessfully tested an experimental engine using patented microwave technology to convert solar energy directly into thrust.No propellant is used in the conversion process.Thrust is produced by the amplification of the radiation pressure of an electromagnetic wave propagated through a resonant waveguide assembly.<br /><br />www.emdrive.com

 

[holmec]

fantastic.<br /><br />I once was thinking of a momentum transfer drive that had no propellant and was driven by electricity. but a friend of mine said it wouldn't work. Oh well. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[tap_sa]

<font color="yellow">"The company has sucessfully tested an experimental engine using patented microwave technology to convert solar energy directly into thrust."</font><br /><br />And what is this company offering to back up these claims? One miserable web-page pointing to equally miserable article by a guy who apparently has never heard of paragraphs. Cannot find any patents by inventor's name from neither uspto nor european patent office. <br /><br />Sorry but no dice until link to a real patent, peer reviews, succesful replications (especially in <i>vacuum</i> to prove this isn't another lifter)

 

[vogon13]

Pretty close to an extraordinary claim. Would kinda like to see extraordinary evidence besides a web site or press release. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[jatslo]

I agree with Tap_Sa, that source is both questionable, and plausible. We are going to need an environmentally safe propulsion though, so keep working the issue please.<br /><br />--- Jatslo

 

[nacnud]

You may as well used a flashlight, the impulse from this is going to be very very small.

 

[jatslo]

Yes, I don't see how it would grab of energy from the sun to lift payloads either; however, it might be able to carry its own power supply.<br /><br />I didn't read too much of it. Makes since to create plasma from electricity, i.e. lighting bolts? Utilize some kind of diamond graphite ceramic material that is resistant to extreme heat.<br /><br />Assuming that microwaves would arc off of something and create a lightning bolt.<br /><br />--- Jatslo

 

[no_way]

"especially in vacuum to prove this isn't another lifter"<br /><br />The lifters could actually prove practically useful someday. Yes, they work only in atmosphere but a device that produces thrust in atmoshpere without moving parts can be useful, if sufficiently scaled up.<br />

 

[najab]

That's the problem - lifters don't (TTBOMK) scale up. I haven't yet seen a lifter that could lift its own power supply.

 

[space_dreamer]

I got the information on Emdrive form ‘Eureka’ an engineering design magazine. <br /><br />Steven m Bennett from Starchaser spoke briefly about Emdrive in there Ignition magazine also.<br /><br />Whether or not it will lead to anything powerful enough to be of use remains to be seen. <br />

 

[vogon13]

Is this the concept that was floated a couple of years ago about 'pushing' against a large volume of the solar wind? Wish I could remember more about that one, sounded plausible at the time, but like so much of this stuff, it just vanishes after awhile. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[nacnud]

I think the idea of this is very different that what has been described by any of the posters so far. I’ll try and make the information accessible below, all links are to wikipedia. I am highly sceptical of this claim, so can anyone shoot is down in one swift blow?<br /><br /><br /><font color="yellow">In this case the force is generated by trapping microwave in specially shaped wave guide.<br /><br />Microwaves and other forms of electromagnetic radiation may be thought of as very fast moving particles, they also have to be thought of as waves.<br /><br />Individual photons or Microwaves move at light speed, or their phase velocity, energy is transferred by the wave aspect travelling at group velocity. <br /><br />Group velocity is the result of waves of different wavelengths interacting with each other. According to Einstein, the phase velocity of electromagnetic waves is the speed of light in the appropriate medium whatever happens and in whatever moving frame of reference the observer happens to be; group velocity, however, varies. <br /><br />Group velocity can be any speed from stationary to light speed (with a few physicists suggesting the additional possibility of faster than light). This varies the level of momentum imparted when striking an impenetrable barrier, and thus the force exerted on it. <br /><br />Hence, it is possible to have a bottle full of electromagnetic waves exerting more force on one end than the other, whereas this is not possible for anything else that an engineer would normally be expected to encounter. <br /><br />Most academics have blanched at the very idea of getting involved in such a controversial idea. One, however, Dr Richard Paris (who seems to exist according to thi</font>

 

[rogers_buck]

I believe the concept is for the payload to get picked up by a flying saucer badly in need of a new oven.