EM Drive speculation has run wild over the last few months, with the increasing likelihood that a functioning EM Drive might actually be possible. The publication of a peer-reviewed paper on the subject by NASA scientists has been the focus of heated debate by other scientists around the world, with many insisting it couldn’t possibly work. But assuming that it does work, just what would a working NASA EM Drive mean for the future of space exploration and humanity?
As reported by Science Alert, the EM Drive is a highly controversial device invented more than a decade ago in the UK and currently being studied by space agencies in the United States, China and elsewhere. The controversial aspect of the EM Drive is that it produces thrust without using any propellant.
This aspect of the EM Drive – that seemingly violates the Newtonian physics requiring equal and opposite reactions – is difficult for scientists to accept. Even so, the experimenters working on the project have carried out rigorous testing of their experimental setup and have produced a small but consistent thrust.
As noted by The Washington Post, even though the Eagleworks team at NASA under a Harold “Sonny” White has published a peer-reviewed paper describing the details and results of their experiment regarding the EM Drive, the team doesn’t have a definitive answer for how the EM Drive produces thrust. Concepts related to quantum vacuum fluctuations and pilot wave theory have been put forward by some.
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