Emdrive

Manufacturers

For the first time, British aerospace engineer Roger Scheuer introduced the EmDrive in 1999 ^[2] . In December 2002, Satellite Propulsion Research , founded by Scheuer, introduced the first supposedly valid prototype , developing a force of 0.02 N ^{[16] [17] [18]} . In October 2006, the same company showed a prototype with a declared traction force of 0.1 N ^[19] . In 2015, another version of EMDrive with a superconducting cavity was introduced ^[3] .

In the period 2006—2011 . The American company Cannae LLC, under the leadership of Guido Fett, created the "Cannae Drive" (also known as the "Q-drive") - an engine for which a similar operating principle was declared ^{[20] [21] [22]} .

Yang Juan Group (Northwest Polytechnic University)

Between 2008 and 2010 a prototype was created at the Northwestern Polytechnic University of China under the direction of Professor Yang Juan, allegedly developing a force of 0.72 N ^{[23] [24]} . In 2016, the results of this article were disproved by its authors, since a measurement error was discovered, after correction of which the measured thrust was within the measurement noise ^{[25] [26]} .

Harold White Group (Eagleworks)

Since 2013, the Cannae Drive engine has been tested in the Eagleworks lab. This laboratory operates in the Johnson Space Center under the auspices of NASA with a relatively small budget of 50 thousand dollars a year and specializes in the study of technologies that are contrary to generally accepted scientific ideas ^[27] . The work is led by Harold White . White believes that such a resonator can work by creating a virtual plasma toroid that implements thrust using magnetohydrodynamics in quantum oscillations of vacuum ^[28] .

During the experiments of 2013-2014, an abnormal result was obtained - a thrust of about 0.0001 N ^{[29] [30] [31]} . The test was carried out on a torsion pendulum for small forces, which is capable of detecting tens of micronewtons, in a stainless steel vacuum chamber at room air temperature and normal atmospheric pressure ^[29] . The resonator was tested at a very low power ( 50 times less than in the Scheuer experiment in 2002), but the net thrust at five starts was 91.2 μN at an input power of 17 watts . Short-term maximum thrust was 116 μN at the same power ^[29] .

The publication of the work of Eagleworks led to the fact that sometimes EmDrive is described as "tested by NASA", although the official position of the agency says that "this is a small project that has not yet led to practical results" ^[32] .

In November 2016, the work ^[6] , published by NASA Eagleworks laboratory engineers , was published, which took into account and eliminated many sources of possible errors, measured EmDrive thrust and concluded that this installation was working. According to this article, the engine was able to develop a thrust of 1.2 ± 0.1 mN / kW in vacuum with powers of 40, 60 and 80 watts . The article assumes that engine performance can be explained using the wave-pilot theory ^{[33] [34]} .

Martin Taimar Group (Dresden Technical University)

In July 2015, tests were conducted under the direction of Martin Taimar at the Dresden Technical University ^{[35] [17]} . The results did not confirm, but did not refute the performance of EmDrive ^{[36] [37]} .

In 2018, the new results of the Martin Taimar group were published, according to which the thrust observed in experiments with EmDrive (including, apparently, the experiments of the Eagleworks group) is associated more with insufficient shielding of the installation from the Earth’s magnetic field than with the propulsion system itself: measurements showed the presence of small thrust in the same direction even when the installation orientation was changed or the electromagnetic waves entering the cavity were suppressed ^[38] .

Alleged Chinese Space Trials

In December 2016 , referring to the press conference of one of the subsidiaries of the Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the reported that the PRC government has been funding engine research since 2010, and EmDrive prototypes were sent to space ^{[39 ]} for testing on board the Tiangong-2 space laboratory ^{[40] [41] [42]} . Dr. Chen Yue of CAST, according to an International Business Times publication, confirmed the manufacture of a prototype engine for low Earth orbit testing ^{[43] [44] [45] [46]} .

In September 2017, new messages appeared about the successful creation of a working prototype of the EmDrive engine in China ^{[47] [48]} .

Plymouth University

In 2018, DARPA allocated $ 1.3 million to the to study and create a “fuel-free type engine” based on “quantized inertia” (an alternative cosmological hypothesis by Mike McCulloch, which contradicts the special and general theory of relativity ^[49] ) ^[50] . Some media outlets report the connection of the project with the ideas of EmDrive ^[51] .

Theoretical physics predicts that EmDrive is unworkable and any positive experimental results can only be artifacts of measurements, since the working capacity of EmDrive would be contrary to the law of conservation of momentum .

For the alleged fact that EmDrive was working, various theoretical explanations were proposed, which, however, contradict the concepts established in physics about the nature of vacuum , inertia, and electromagnetic waves ^{[52] [9]} .

• E-cat
• Michael brady
• Perpetual motion machine
• Warp engine
• Bubble Alcubierre
• White Interferometer - Judea

• Ethan Siegel. No, NASA Did Not Accidentally Invent Warp Drive (2015) // Forbes
• Tatyana Fam ImDrive Impossible Engine: Into Space Without Fuel // Popular Mechanics Magazine, No. 2, February 2017
• Nadia Drake, Michael Greshko. NASA Team Claims 'Impossible' Space Engine Works — Get the Facts . National Geographic November 21, 2016
• David Hambling. The Impossible Propulsion Drive Is Heading to Space // Popular Mechanics Magazine, September 2, 2016
• J. Baes The incredible shrinking force (2014). (eng.)
• José Rodal, Jeremiah Mullikin and Noel Munson. Evaluating NASA's Futuristic EM Drive . // NASASpaceflight, April 29, 2015.