JSC's Warp Drive Gizmo Fails More Tests
EmDrive, a Supposed Fuel-less Engine, Is Knocked Down Again, Gizmodo
“Five years ago, NASA researchers experimented with an object called the EmDrive (or electromagnetic drive), a Y-shaped metal chamber in which, they reported, thrust could be produced without propellant. Such a contraption would refute core principles of physics as we know them and eliminate a huge barrier to deep space travel by nullifying the need to carry fuel. … If that sounds too good to be true, well, other scientists had the same thought. Since that paper, published in the Journal of Propulsion and Power, plenty of research has come along explaining where EmDrive’s original math went wrong.”
Keith’s note: This is what happens when a NASA field center (JSC) has a center director who funds a pet project that has not undergone adequate review – especially when the proposed work violates the laws of physics. You end up with quack science – just like the NASA Langley and NASA Glenn folks encountered with their equally bogus cold fusion research pet project (see “Quack Science: Why Are NASA Glenn and Langley Funding Cold Fusion Research?“). Don’t get me wrong, NASA should be pushing the boundaries of the possible. But if you look at these warp drive and cold fusion things, NASA did not do due diligence in funding them. they were less than responsive when asked about them, and if you submit a media inquiry now they act as if they never heard of the projects that used scarce tax dollars.
– NASA JSC’s Warp Drive Flops During Independent Tests, earlier post
– Ellen Ochoa’s Warp Drive Gizmo, earlier post
– JSC’s Warp Drive: Fact or Fluff?, earlier post
– Clarifying NASA’s Warp Drive Program, earlier post
– JSC’s Strange Thruster Violates The Laws of Physics, earlier post
Hope springs eternal. I can’t help but think that much of this kind of work that fails to see just why a physical phenomenon won’t translate at all into an engineering application is somewhat due to the degree the physicists themselves don’t understand what’s going on. All those pop-sci books may even be hindering communication between the fields.
Richard Feynman often offered an excellent perspective when having explained how to get an answer using some technique (quantum physics, QED, etc.) he would be quick to point out that he had no idea why the method worked or what was really happening. Then the engineer takes some concept the physicists themselves even debate (results are what matters vs. a group that wants to understand “reality”) and don’t understand themselves and viola…an EM drive.
Maybe one day we will have such a gizmo, something about the Casimir effect, or some action principle about waves and distances, but not this way.
“Scarce tax dollars” my as*! There was no funding involved. The engineer bought the materials and built the thing on his kitchen table. The amount spent on the Eagleworks lab for the entire year was probably under $50k. It’s a pity they didn’t find anything significant, but they did find something, which if nothing else, shows just how difficult it is to measure such tiny forces.
NASA funded it – and provided facilities – whoever you are.