In their ongoing effort to find a fast and efficient way to put astronauts on Mars, scientists at NASA’s Eagleworks Laboratories have made a significant breakthrough while breaking the laws of physics in the process. In the peer-reviewed Journal of Propulsion and Power, Eagleworks provided a publication whose findings reported their astounding results from tests performed on an electromagnetic propulsion system (EM Drive).
Using electric currents in the form of microwaves, these photons bounce around the inside of a hollow, copper, cone-shaped chamber, which generates thrust. Contrarily, ion drives used in modern NASA spacecraft create thrust by ionizing a propellant (usually xenon gas), and shooting out beams of charged atoms. Neither propellants or exhaust enters or exits the engine, which violated a fundamental law of physics.
Newton’s Third Law of Motion – for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
It’s this concept that explains what happens when someone pushes a canoe with a paddle or pushes away from the sideboards while ice skating. It happens when a driving force strikes a surface, causing thrust that prompts movement. It’s this very concept that fuels the designs of engines, and one that the EM Drive has completely avoided. Unlike conventional engines, the Eagleworks electromagnetic propulsion system generates its thrust from electric photons impacting against the interior of their cone-shaped chamber (the most accurate equivalent to how this engine works would be like moving your car forward by banging against the windshield).
According to their publication, the EM Drive generated 1.2 million millinewtons of thrust per kilowatt of electricity applied into the cavity. Having said that, 1.2 million millinewtons is a mere fraction of thrust produced by lightweight ion drives, which many NASA spacecraft currently use. The amount of thrust produced by the EM Drive exceeded the limits of the solar sail (still in its infant phases).
Eagleworks hopes the EM Drive can get astronauts to space in as little as 70 days when the engine is finalized. Since electricity is harnessed into the hollow, copper, cone-shaped chamber as photon particles, something as simple as solar panels could hypothetically provide the necessary energy to fuel the spacecraft. If perfected, the EM Drive could propel spaceships through space without the cumbersome task of carrying tons of fuel, which would make them lighter and faster when traveling.
The concept of the EM Drive was originally proposed about 20 years ago by British Scientist Roger Shawyer. Largely met with dismissal by the scientific community, NASA’s Eagleworks scientists made waves when they announced the EM Drive worked when conducting tests in 2014. Their claims were met with scrutiny and skepticism, which the publishing of their findings in a peer-reviewed journal has countered by adding legitimacy and authenticity to their groundbreaking findings.
