Can Mdrive really work for space travel?

Paul M. Shooter In an astronomy Suni Stony Brook & Flatron Company, Host Ask a spaceman And Space radio, And author How to die in space. This article was contributed by Space.com Expert Voices: Concepts and Intelligence.

The “M Drive“Says the impossible is possible: a method of unnecessarily pushing the spacecraft – well, no pushing, no pushing. No exit. You can insert it, shoot it, and achieve the goal of your dreams.”

But Emdrive not only violates our basic understanding of the universe; Tests that claim to measure an effect are not duplicated. When it comes to emtrive, dream.

The microwave of the future

It goes by different names – EmDrive, Q-Drive, RF Resonant Cavity, Impossible Drive – but all avatars of the device claim to do the same: bounce some radiation into a closed chamber, and the Priesto-Sango you can get the impetus.

This is a big deal, because of all the forms Rocketry (In fact, all kinds of movements in the whole universe) need to maintain speed. To set yourself in motion, you have to push something. Your legs are pushed off the ground, the planes push themselves out of the air, and the rockets hit themselves (e.g.

But not Emdrive. It jumps around a box, which has a microwave inside. It is said to be able to move itself.

Explanations of how Mtrive may work go beyond the boundaries of known physics. Maybe it relates somehow Quantum vacuum energy Of space-time (although the quantum vacuum energy of space-time does not allow anything to be pushed out of it). Perhaps our understanding of speed is broken (although there are no other examples in our entire experimental history). This is some brand new physics announced by Emdrive experiments.

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Do not play with speed

Let’s talk about the fast part. Securing speed is very straightforward: in a closed system, you can add the speed of all the objects in that system. Then they communicate. You add the speed of all the items again. The total speed at the beginning should be equal to the total speed at the end: maintaining speed.

The idea of conserving speed has been with us for centuries (it is even marked by Newton’s famous second law), but it gained a new status in the early 1900s. The brilliant mathematician Emmy Noyder proved that speed conservation (along with other safety laws such as energy conservation) Our universe Has some symmetries.

For example, you can choose a suitable place to do a physics experiment. You can take your physics experiment and take it anywhere in the universe and do it again. As long as you calculate for environmental differences (say, different air pressures or Fields of gravity), Your results will be the same.

This is the symmetry of nature: physics does not care about where experiments take place. Notre Dame realized that this symmetry of space leads directly to the preservation of speed. You cannot be without another.

Therefore, if the emtrive proves to violate speed protection (it claims to do so), it must break this basic symmetry of nature.

But almost every physics theory Newton’s laws For quantum field theory, space in their basic equations expresses symmetry (and conservation of velocity). In fact, most modern theories of physics are complex reconstructions of fast defense. Finding a break in this symmetry would not be an extension of known physics – it would completely elevate the centuries-old understanding of how the universe works.

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The truth of the experiment

It is certainly not impossible (scientific revolutions have occurred before), but it would be a lot more promising to happen.

So far not all of the tests have been satisfactory.

Since the introduction of the Mdrive concept in 2001, a team has been measuring the net power coming from its device every few years. But these researchers are measuring the incredibly small effect: a small force could not pick up even a small piece of paper. This leads to significant statistical uncertainty and measurement error.

In fact, of all the results that have been published, no one has developed a measure beyond “qualifying for publication”.

However, other groups are creating their own empires and trying to reflect the results just like good scientists. Those copying attempts fail to measure anything, or find some confusing variables that easily explain the trivial results measured. The cabling of the device in contact with the earth’s magnetic field.

We have almost 20 years after the initial Mdrive proposal: tests that were not actually provided, and no explanation (“Besides, let’s go ahead and break all physics, overcoming all other experiments of the last 100 years”) how they could work.

Underground, physics-violating revolution or a pipe dream in space travel? It is clear which side of nature is on.

Learn more by listening to the chapter Can “Emdrive” really work? Available on the Ask A Spaceman podcast ITunes And on the Internet http://www.askaspaceman.com. Thanks to Mitchell L. For questions that led to this section! Ask your own question using the #AskASpaceman on Twitter or following Paul A Palm shooter And facebook.com/PaulMattSutter.