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<p><font size="3"><font size="3">Link....</font></font></p><p><font size="3">Quote:</font></p><font size="4"><h3 class="post-title entry-title"><font size="2" color="#000000">Propellantless propulsion experiment explodes</font></h3><h3 class="post-title entry-title"><font size="3"><font size="2" color="#000000">Lorentz actuated propulsion would require no propellant. However, recent experiments simulating orbit conditions resulted in explosions.<br /><br />The team tested the ability of various objects to hold a charge in a vacuum while being bombarded with plasma, as would be the case in orbit. To generate the charge on the test object, they attached it to a sample of radioactive Americium-24, an alpha-particle emitter, and applied a voltage. The electric field carries away the positively charged alpha particles leaving the object highly charged. Microscopic arcing was observed at voltages as low as -300 V. This arcing caused solder to explode off of the object.</font><br /></font></h3></font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>