#EM DRIVE FASTER THAN LIGHT FREE#

If we don't bother to look, we won't make those discoveries. But like so many other engineers, I'm also interested in revolutionary discoveries. In my own research, I much prefer 'yes if' to 'no because.' In other words, incremental advances of mature technology are all well and good. So, we don't have faster-than-light technology-yet.īut I'm just not that kind of academic. It turned out that CERN's measurements weren't perfect, and the fiber-optic timing system had just enough unexpected error to lead them to this false conclusion. Remember 'cold fusion' from the 1980s? Remember more recently, in 2011, when CERN startled the world by announcing that its scientists had detected a particle traveling faster than light? The internet exploded with enthusiastic designs for faster-than-light spacecraft. In response to their claim that there is no experimental reason why this should not work, I should say something like, 'absence of proof is not proof of absence.'Īnd I should point out that we've been burned before. I should point out that White's speculation that the radio-frequency energy in the EM drive interacts with the quantum vacuum has not been confirmed in peer-reviewed research. I should remind people that the basic idea of the EM drive violates the fundamental principle of conservation of momentum. We don't know exactly why this strange device appears to propel itself by bouncing electromagnetic waves around inside a closed cavity. Is the EM drive one of these? I suppose that as an academic, I am expected to counsel everyone to proceed with caution. If a warp drive or anything else from the world of science fiction ever becomes real, it will likely be thanks to NASA-sponsored research. That's not always what we get, but more often than not, NASA's technology innovations change the game. We want a NASA that pushes the limits, rejects staid ideas, and is immune from cynical pork-barrel politics. We have to pull together-yes, pay our taxes-to support work where there's no short-term profit to be had and yet so much long-term benefit to be realized. Public funding is central to any effort like space exploration. And they make NASA the extraordinary agency it is. to lead the world in research in science and technology. This knowledge is for everyone, thanks to the democratic principles on which our nation was founded and that continue to enable the U.S. It's little wonder that White's advanced propulsion research provided the real-world basis for the spacecraft in the current Star Trek reboot. That's part of the appeal of Star Trek and other optimistic takes on the future.

#EM DRIVE FASTER THAN LIGHT FREE#

Narratives about our future break us free from the tyranny of everyday life and give us permission to imagine a better future for ourselves and the world, if only briefly. I suspect that they also inspire the engineers at Eagleworks. The what-ifs that these questions inspire in us are why we find technology at the edge of science fiction so appealing. Their paper explains why this work is important with typically understated academic language: 'For missions with very large delta-v requirements, having a propellant consumption rate of zero could offset the higher power requirements.' Let me say it another way for everyone else: wouldn't it be great to travel in space as fast as you want without even using fuel? If this technology fulfills its promise, it will transform public and private space exploration and may have even broader implications for terrestrial power and energy. NASA's Sonny White and his collaborators have published experimental confirmation that the so-called EM drive produces thrust.

Em drive faster than light