A controversial new electric propulsion system, which physicists say defies Newton’s Laws of Motion, was launched into space this weekend aboard a Space X rocket.
Developed by electronics prototyping company IVO Ltd, the Quantum Drive took flight Saturday morning, November 11th, aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 9 mission. This flight included over 80 separate payloads destined for Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
“Launch and deployment were successful!” IVO’s owner and founder, Richard Mansell, told The Debrief in a Sunday email. “We’re getting the satellite’s ‘heartbeat.’ Next step is to establish communication with the satellite.”
In that same email, Mansell said that once communication is established with “Barry-1”, the Rogue Space Systems satellite that is carrying the pair of Quantum Drives (hopefully sometime in the next 24 hours), the satellite will begin going through several steps before the Quantum Drives are actually put to the ultimate test. This includes gathering data in Low Earth Orbit for several weeks to set a baseline for when the drives are engaged.
“Rogue Space Systems and IVO are working closely together to collect a solid baseline of orbital data before firing up the Drives for the first time,” Mansell told The Debrief. “This will help substantiate the thrust results of the Quantum Drives.”
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