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Showing Original Post only (View all)NASA Tests "Impossible" Perpetual Motion Drive; Says it Works [View all]
A study conducted last year by NASA scientists has become the latest, and by far the highest profile, piece of evidence in favor of a seemingly impossible space thruster design thats been evoking worldwide skepticism for some time now. Apparently annoyed by the persistent boosters of several similar but distinct designs, the space agency finally agreed to test an American-made variant called the Cannae Drive. Alright! they said. Well test your stupid drive that wont work. Except it did work. Seemingly in contravention of the law of conservation of momentum, the team confirmed that the device produces thrust by using electricity, and nothing else. Supporters call them microwave thrusters or quantum vacuum plasma thrusters (QVPT), while most others use the phrase anomalous thrust device.
*SNIP*
While NASA might not want to talk about it, though, for us its worth discussing just how this drives creators hypothesize the thruster works. By now, most people are aware that the laws of classical physics tend to break down at the quantum scale, and exploiting that fact can give you interesting little physical impossibilities like infinitely accelerating negative-mass photons. However, the effects of these quantum-scale impossibilities have always stayed at the quantum scale; sure one atom could theoretically phase-shift through another, but we still cant run through walls.
The central insight here (assuming this isnt all a big mistake) is that something called quantum vacuum fluctuations will occasionally spontaneously create particles all throughout the vacuum of space, and that these short-lived particles can be put to useful work. Thus, this thruster actually does use fuel it just finds and uses that fuel as it goes. The thruster essentially turns these virtual particles into a plasma and expels them out the back of the ship, much like a conventional fuel source. The quantum fuel, though, spontaneously appears inside the thrusters reaction area without even the need for collection or injection hardware. All things considered, thats more than a little exciting.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/187346-nasa-tests-impossible-no-fuel-quantum-space-engine-and-it-actually-works
Interesting if this holds up. A spacecraft would not have to carry fuel because it would rely on particles "spontaneously" appearing in the drive. Also interesting because theories about this type of drive have so far been more in the realm of thought experiments than hard science, and so have drawn intense skepticism.
A case of woo come true?
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I'm thinking that Big Oil will thwart this somehow because of its potential for
kelliekat44
Aug 2014
#55
the term "woo" is such silly BS -- it truly diminishes some important groundbreaking work
nashville_brook
Aug 2014
#2
Mmmm. Not quite. Electricity is not the fuel. Satellites are not the only anticipated application.
DirkGently
Aug 2014
#8
Could it be possible that other "particles" could be used for electricity generation as they're
Uncle Joe
Aug 2014
#77
Fuel in this case is simply propellent, unlike in chemical rocket engines, which are...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2014
#69
It kind of is if quantum fluctuation particles drive the engine and are created perpetually .
Kablooie
Aug 2014
#14
Yeah, but it still takes energy (electricity) to accelerate the reaction mass..
sir pball
Aug 2014
#74
Correct me if I'm wrong, but these particles are pretty much everywhere in the universe.
backscatter712
Aug 2014
#58
God-fucking-dammit, it is NOT woo coming true, and its not a perpetual motion machine...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2014
#68
Bullshit, if someone was claiming the quantum consciousness was driving the device...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2014
#82
Nope. "“Alright!” they said. “We’ll test your stupid drive that won’t work.”
DirkGently
Aug 2014
#83
We've known of this phenomenon for a long time as zero-point energy or the Casimir effect
derby378
Aug 2014
#70
The Casimir effect is not considered woo, but some of the claims associated with it are
derby378
Aug 2014
#90
The only people I've ever heard talk about the Casimir effect are woo-peddlers
Hugabear
Aug 2014
#99
With a flux capacitor, powered by cold fusion, the possibilities are limitless (nt)
Nye Bevan
Aug 2014
#106