| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
Nasa approves ‘impossible’ space engine design that apparently violates the laws of physics and could revolutionise space travel
by James Vincent
The Independent
In a quiet announcement that has sent shockwaves through the scientific world, Nasa has cautiously given its seal of approval to a new type of “impossible” engine that could revolutionize space travel.
In a paper published by the agency’s experimental Eagleworks Laboratories, Nasa engineers confirmed that they had produced tiny amounts of thrust from an engine without propellant – an apparent violation of the conservation of momentum; the law of physics that states that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction.
Traditional spacecraft carry vast amounts of fuel with them into orbit in order to move about, using the thrust created by this fuel to move in zero gravity like a swimmer in a pool pushing off against a wall. This method works fine but it's costly – both in terms of obtaining the fuel and then launching all that extra weight into space.
Nasa’s engineers have tested an engine known as a ‘Cannae Drive’, a machine that instead uses electricity to generate microwaves, bouncing them around inside a specially designed container that theoretically creates a difference in radiation pressure and so results in directional thrust.
Read more »
Source: http://www.riseearth.com/2014/08/nasa-approves-impossible-space-engine.html
