New Test Suggests NASA's "Impossible" EM Drive Will Work In Space

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We still need the full published results, other people to do tests in a vacuum, field tests, and to figure out how it even works, but so far there have been tests by multiple national and private groups and no notable caveats that I can find, and we have a hard vacuum test by NASA, which is the main thing I've been waiting for, so I'm cautiously stoked. Also the title (theirs, not yours) is oddly inaccurate, it's not NASA's drive, it was made by a private inventor with a small company.

Yep. Lots of reasons to be skeptical still. If this thing works, it'll be a game changer.

Wait for the rigorous workup. Anything that seems to violate Noether's theorem is a) potentially revolutionary b) probably not real.

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I've been following this for a while, and it may just be another thing like the Pioneer anomaly. There is a potential for new physics here, but the likelihood of this thing actually working, like, for real, is close to zero. I mean really close. So close as to be almost inconsequential.

The concepts of physics this defies are very important, and other pieces of physics we rely on and know work are based upon these principles. The "quantum vacuum" hypothesis, while slightly more plausible than others, really changes how we use the vacuum state, and if the propulsion were coming from virtual particles, we'd have to seriously rework 70 years of solid (good) physics on which many modern technologies are based.

It's also worth noting that "free energy" crackpots often use this exact thing to try to explain their stupid inventions. If anything, I'm just as skeptical hearing about these new developments.

Note: my physics is limited. My degree is in physics education, not a full research physics degree, so take that as you will.

Decades ago my roommate in college was going to make his fortune by finding a superconducting material that worked at room temperature. That would change everything. Still hasn't happened, but we know that there are inventions that have changed everything ... er, everything but the laws of physics. :/