found a further article with a bit more info. Have C&P excerpts for those interested.
Cheers for thread ufo:)
I for one may not have the mind of a top scientist but I am always interested in learning new things and try my best to understand and often question if something interests.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nasa-approves-impossible-space-engine-design-that-apparent...
Nasaโs engineers have tested an engine known as a โCannae Driveโ, 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.
All this might be theoretical no more. Nasaโs scientists tested a version of the drive designed by US scientist Guido Fetta and found that the propellant-less engine was able to produce between 30 and 50 micronewtons of thrust โ a tiny amount (0.00003 to 0.00005 per cent of the force of an iPhone pressing down when held in the hand) but still a great deal more than nothing.
"Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma.โ (emphasis added).
If all this sounds like the realm of science fiction, well it is - so far. Despite multiple experiments now confirming that these โimpossibleโ drives work, thereโs still plenty of room for mistakes (see for example the 2011 CERN experiments that mistakenly observed faster-than-light neutrinos) and recreating the physical vacuum necessary for the tests could go wrong in countless ways.
Still, if further experiments continue to confirm the reality of these microwave thrusters then it could trigger a new era of space travel. Nasa's involvement is no guarantee of success, but it does suggest that scientists are taking the possibility of 'impossible' engines seriously. Perhaps we should too.
