A futuristic method of powering a spacecraft using a so-called "warp drive" that could reach the moon in four hours reportedly works.
The Telegraph reports that the electromagnetic propulsion drive (EM Drive), which has been in development for more than a decade, uses solar power to create microwave energy, which propels a rocket. The technology negates the need for having to use rocket fuel.
Professor Martin Tajmar, of the Dresden University of Technology in Germany, confirmed this week the EM Drive is producing thrust.
"Our test campaign cannot confirm or refute the claims of the EM Drive but intends to independently assess possible side-effects in the measurements methods used so far," Tajmar said, reports The Telegraph.
"Nevertheless, we do observe thrust close to the actual predictions after eliminating many possible error sources that should warrant further investigation into the phenomena."
If it eventually works as planned, the EM Drive would power a spacecraft to Mars in 70 days and Pluto in 18 months.
In May, NASA announced it had
successfully tested an EM Drive in a vacuum. The drive has been likened to a "warp drive" popularized in the "Star Trek" television franchise.
"A 90 metric ton, 2 MegaWatt nuclear electric propulsion mission to Mars (would have) considerable reduction in transit times due to having a thrust-to-mass ratio greater than the gravitational acceleration of the sun," Harold "Sonny" White of the Johnson Space Center said.
A
Science Alert story, however, claimed the report of the EM Drive working might be a bit far-fetched.
"I noted in [the study's] conclusion paragraphs that [Tajmar's] apparatus was producing hundreds of micro-Newtons of thrust when it got very hot and that his measuring instrumentation is not very accurate when the apparatus becomes hot," physicist Eric W. Davis said. "He also stated that he was still recording thrust signals even after the electrical power was turned off, which is a huge key clue that his thrust measurements are all systematic artifact false positive thrust signals.
"The experiment is quite detailed but no theoretical account for momentum violation is given by him, which will cause peer reviews and technical journal editors to reject his paper should it be submitted to any of the peer-review physics and aerospace journals."
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