Sawyer claims the dimensions of the Dresden device were not tuned properly and would never work, and he had warned them of that. I am paraphrasing from memory. He also has a paper handwaving around claiming it does not break conservation of energy because it requires a load to impart a force. I don't think he describes this in enough detail for me to understand if it is bunk or not. Here are some of his latest posts. I am skeptical but if there is any reactionless force at all, it is a gamechanger for interstellar travel.
http://www.emdrive.com/
Thanks for the link, it certainly tickles the “interesting button”,
and I hope the researchers involved will pursue the subject honestly,
without a hidden agenda to force something that does not really work,
or disprove something that actually works. There is a good reason for
concern in this regard, because of the big money interests financing
such projects and the prestige or pride involved. But the truth will
triumph sooner or later, it is just matter of time.
If the driving force
behind pushing the EM Drive research (despite the hardly measurable
thrust) is the hope that it could lead to some modified solutions
that will generate useful thrust, then that is a valid argument. But,
this approach does not target any specific objective that needs to be
achieved ASAP, and therefore has got a faint chance to yield useful
results in near term.
Here is how I would
approach the subject of space propulsion:
- One of the
objectives could be to develop thrusters for satellites in earth
orbit that would not need any fuel, or replenishment of propellant
material, so that they could push the satellites back into higher
orbits after they fall to critical altitudes due to atmospheric
friction.
In this case there
are two problems to solve, one is the continuous supply of sufficient
energy, and the other is the supply of propellant mass. Although some
solar energy can be acquired via solar panels, that is not quite
sufficient for both electronics and thruster. I would rather focus on
using atomic energy (how about Thorium?), because that can offer a
substantial power for a long time. There are good efforts in this
direction already.
Propellant mass
could be collected by a large funnel turned in the direction of
movement, and some new tech that could collect the very thin air
gases and space dust that is slowing down the satellite. If there is
enough energy, there is hope for this to work (perhaps using high
voltage electrodes to create plasma and trap the ions?).
Once you have enough
energy and propellant mass, it is possible to develop efficient ionic
drives that would use atomic energy. This way the life span of
satellites could be increased substantially without the need to send
up rocket fuel. If the orbit is relatively low, where friction is
significant, there could be sufficient gas to collect. In higher
orbits where there is not enough gas, the friction would be so low
that there would be no need to modify the orbit often either.
- If the objective
is real space travel carrying humans, possibly even leaving the Solar
system, that is a whole different ballgame. The main issue would be
how to survive the countless micro meteorite ‘bullet’ impacts
(see the case of James Webb Space Telescope) and the fatal cosmic
radiation. The propulsion would be only a secondary problem.
This problem of
physical damage can not be solved with our current technology. The
only way to overcome this obstacle is to use aether technology to
create a separate isolated aether bubble around the craft that could
repel and penetrate any matter, divert the deadly cosmic radiation,
and create an independent inertial system so that the passenger would
not feel the acceleration of the craft. Without such technology there
is absolutely no chance for humans to travel in space for large
distances for long time and survive. Spending some time in near Earth
orbit under the protection of geomagnetic field is not comparable to
long distance travel in unprotected space.
I am sure there are
people who will jeer at this idea, based on their ‘knowledge’
that the aether doesn’t exist, but there were also many
‘scientists’ who ridiculed the Wright brothers, because they
‘knew’ that heavier than air objects can’t possibly fly…
right? This much about their opinion, which is quite often direct
disinformation with an objective to suppress the subject.
In summary, unless
the concept of aether is resurrected in Physics and serious resources
are dedicated to researching its properties and the laws governing
it, there is no chance for humans to develop real space travel
deserving the name. The concept of aether was deliberately exorcised
from Physics for a very good reason, to prevent the discovery of free
energy sources, antigravity, and real space crafts, because that
would empower humanity too much, and enable us to visit other
planers, God forbid even other star systems where we are not welcome.
Instead of turning the radio telescopes towards the sky looking for
aliens, people should just not close their eyes when they see UFOs,
and not ignore the testimony of those who report such encounters.