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Last week, a leaked NASA paper appeared to show that scientists had successfully created a working EmDrive prototype.
The radical fuel-free engine defies the laws of physics and has long been dubbed ‘impossible,’ but if achieved, it could get humans to Mars in just 10 weeks.
While many have cast doubt on the findings, experts now say there ‘may really be something there’ – but, the cause might be something entirely different than what’s been proposed.
Rather than the quantum vacuum theory which was initially cited to explain the findings, a phenomenon known as the ‘Mach effect’ could be to blame, according to Motherboard.
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A fuel-free engine, described as 'impossible' to create, may now be a step closer to reality, according to leaked Nasa documents. Pictured is a prototype of the EMDrive that some say power a spacecraft to Mars in just 10 weeks
The paper, which has since been accepted for publication in the AIAA’s Journal of Propulsion and Power, describes a series of successful tests carried out at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.
Essentially, the EmDrive generates thrust by harnessing particles of light and bouncing microwaves around inside a closed chamber, shaped like a cone.
The movement generates thrust at the slim end of the cone, which drives the engine forward.
But as it has no fuel to eject, this system goes against Newton’s Third Law, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
‘The issue involved here is whether the experiment is seeing something real or not,’ Jim Woodward, a physicist at California State-Fullerton, told Motherboard.
‘I know Paul [March, one of the lead researchers] does clean work and to be honest, I suspect there may really be something here.
‘But the result they’re seeing can’t actually be explained in terms of the theory they’re proposing. So the question is: what is causing it?’
Researchers in the past have proposed both the quantum vacuum theory – which states that the microwaves are pushing off virtual particles in the cavity to generate thrust – and an explanation in which radiation pushes against the machine’s walls.
But according to Woodward, neither of these are likely to be correct, as they do not follow the laws of physics.
‘Can any disposition of microwaves inside the cavity produce thrust? There’s a simple answer to that question: No, it cannot,’ Woodward told Motherboard.
‘Conservation of momentum dictates that any purely electromagnetic system that is enclosed cannot produce thrust.
‘This is for both quantum theory and classical electrodynamics. It’s physically impossible.’
The tests managed to generate powers of 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt (mN/Kw), a fraction of the current state of the art Hall ion thruster, which can achieve a massive 60 mN/Kw (illustrated)
Instead, the physicist says the seemingly impossible nature of the EmDrive may be explained by the Mach effect without breaking the laws of physics.
By this effect, which Woodward first theorized in the 1990s, some of the force applied to an accelerating body of mass is stored as potential energy in its body rather than generating kinetic energy, according to Motherboard.
This causes fluctuations in the object’s resting mass, and this effect could be harnessed to create the type of thrust seen in the experiments.
But, tests to attempt to reproduce the results of the NASA study using the Mach effect theory would be necessary to confirm this.
The propulsion system may make deep space travel as in Star Trek a possibility. However, Nasa's said earlier this year: 'There are many 'absurd' theories that have become reality over the years of scientific research. 'But for the near future, warp drive remains a dream'
The controversial paper, was first leaked on a Nasa Spaceflight forum by Australian user Phil Wilson before being taken down by administrators, reports IBTimes.
It was subsequently published by NextBigFuture, and describes how early tests of the system in a vacuum, recreating the conditions of the engine if it were used in space.
Engineers carried out controlled bursts at 40, 60 and 80 watts, reporting the thrust achieved in a vacuum was similar to the performance achieved in air.
The tests managed to generate 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt (mN/Kw) of power, a fraction of the current state of the art Hall thruster, which can achieve a massive 60 mN/Kw.
But the researchers say the lack of fuel consumption could make up for the drop in power.
In the leaked paper, the researchers explain: ‘…for missions with very large delta-v requirements, having a propellant consumption rate of zero could offset the higher power requirements.’
Despite Nasa’s apparent test success, there is no indication the paper has been through peer review – a critical part of the scientific process – and has not been published in a journal.
MailOnline contacted Nasa for comment.
A number of groups are reported to be working on the technology, including Nasa’s Eagleworks Laboratories, which is developing advanced propulsion systems and is cited in the recent paper.
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