General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: NASA Tests "Impossible" Perpetual Motion Drive; Says it Works [View all]The Traveler
(5,632 posts)But hard to tell how much wider. We don't understand the physics here, really. Not yet. So we can't even speculate on the practical limits of a technology based on the physics this model is demonstrating for us.
But low thrust is not necessarily a big impediment. Ion drives are low thrust ... and they have long been considered viable for interplanetary flight due to their very high specific impulse. Low thrust is fine in space ... you just have to keep thrusting for a long time. And with this thing you might be able to thrust for practically ever.
This machine does need a power source (hence fuel of some sort ... or solar arrays) but it doesn't need a working fluid ... that is, it doesn't need mass that it spits out to produce a reaction. That is an incredible thing! Quite possibly a game changer.
Harold White at NASA has been working on "Q thrusters" which they hope will exploit quantum vacuum particles in a manner analogous to a propeller. (Not a clear analogy ... works off the Casimir effect IIRC.) Not sure where that research is right now ... wonder if he is looking at this.
Trav