Space drive project aimed at putting the mysterious rocket engine "EM drive" and "Mach effect thruster" into practical use started

For "rockets" that "propellant is not required if there is electric power" project aiming to elucidate the principle of dreamlike propulsion devices "EM drive" and "Mach effect thruster" and to put it into practical useSpace drive project"Is starting. In the project, the goal is to establish a research infrastructure to reliably measure the actual operation of these devices, and we have also begun to measure the forces generated by actually driving the equipment.

The SpaceDrive Project - First Results on ... (PDF Download Available)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325177082_The_SpaceDrive_Project_-_First_Results_on_EMDrive_and_Mach-Effect_Thrusters

Unlike airplanes that can refuel at any time on the ground, for rockets flying in space, the way to secure propellants is extremely important. Especially in the case of deep space exploration aiming at a planet far from the earth, it is necessary to load a large amount of fuel beforehand to reach the target place, but this is not easy.

Also, there is a limit to the fuel that can be loaded. In the case of a rocket aiming at deep space, it is not necessary to inject the engine at all times, and once accelerated it will be able to keep flying at a speed almost unchanged by inertia for a while, but still a considerable amount Propellant is indispensable. However, because the propellant itself is heavy, more propellant is required to move the rocket with a lot of propellant loaded, which leads to a dramatic increase in the size of the rocket.

ByOfficial SpaceX Photos

EM Drive and Mach effect thruster are being studied as propulsion devices that can solve such problems and dilemmas.

The EM drive is a device in which force is generated why by emitting microwaves in a truncated conical container closed both. The conventional rocket engine injects high temperature and high pressure gas and obtains propulsive force by its reactionNewton's third lawAlthough it could be explained with, EM drive is "I do not know why power is occurring"It is said to be a mysterious promoter that transcends modern science.

What is a new theory to elucidate the mysterious principle and the mysterious principle, "EM Drive", a common sense breakthrough that lets spacecraft navigate semipermanently without fuel? - GIGAZINE


NASA is also interested in this EM drive, and it is clear that the laboratory level verification was actually carried out as well.

NASA discovered that NASA confirmed that the propulsion device 'EM Drive', which is unknown principle unknown, actually operates - GIGAZINE


One Mach-effect thruster is also difficult to understand, and the paper published by the project includes "... concept is believed to generate mass fluctuations in a piezo-crystal stack that creates non-zero time-averaged thrusts." Generation of mass fluctuation in the piezoelectric crystal stack generating thrust on average) is written. In the paper, the following circuit diagram (left), the real thing under examination (medium), the ANSYS model for analyzing by the finite element method (right) are posted.


The main goal of the team is to develop devices to measure the operation of these devices. Since the measurement needs to be performed in a vacuum environment, a vacuum container with a diameter of 0.9 m and a total length of 1.5 m is set on the concrete block so that it is not easily influenced from the outside (left). Inside, generate "twist" with the generated force and measure the force balanced with itTorsion balanceEquation measuring equipment (right) is installed.


When measuring the thrust of the EM drive with this device, it is known that a force of 2 μN (micro-Newton) to 6 μN is generated in the plus or minus direction.


Likewise, even with the Mach effect thruster, we measured that it was about 0.8 μN at maximum.


Although it was confirmed that the EM drive and the Mach effect thruster will actually operate also in this experiment, the purpose of the research team is rather to develop more reliable measuring instruments. Since the force detected by the measurement is fine, the measurement result may be affected by magnetic interaction with the twisted pair cable, amplifier, earth magnetic field etc. used in the measuring instrument, and in the team We are aiming to eliminate this influence and aim to improve the performance by developing measuring instruments that have greatly scaled up the scale in the future.