LughM to [email protected]English • 2 months agoAlthough not peer reviewed or replicated, a NASA veteran claims their Propellantless Propulsion Drive, that physics says shouldn’t work, just produced enough thrust to overcome Earth’s gravitythedebrief.orgexternal-linkmessage-square49fedilinkarrow-up1126arrow-down135cross-posted to: [email protected]
arrow-up191arrow-down1external-linkAlthough not peer reviewed or replicated, a NASA veteran claims their Propellantless Propulsion Drive, that physics says shouldn’t work, just produced enough thrust to overcome Earth’s gravitythedebrief.orgLughM to [email protected]English • 2 months agomessage-square49fedilinkcross-posted to: [email protected]
minus-square@jordanlundlinkEnglish3•2 months agoThey did this on Mythbusters in small scale years ago and the science of it is fascinating. I don’t think it would do much to break orbit, but once IN space it could be interesting. https://youtu.be/UCiU96rJJoo This is what they were testing: https://youtu.be/006d36WWyaQ You take a lightweight balsawood frame, wrap it in tinfoil and lightweight wire, then pump high voltages through it. https://hackaday.com/2016/07/13/expanding-horizons-with-the-ion-propelled-lifter/
minus-square@macarthur_parklinkEnglish34•2 months agoNote that what the mythbusters looked at was a form of ion propulsion. The high voltage on the sharp boundary of the aluminum foil repels air molecules. If you put one of those in a vacuum (or space) it wouldn’t have any thrust.
minus-square@[email protected]linkfedilinkEnglish3•2 months ago If you put one of those in a vacuum (or space) it wouldn’t have any thrust. IIRC, the MythBusters did exactly that later in the episode. Unsurprisdngly, the devices produced no thrust in a vacuum chamber.
minus-squareferretlinkfedilinkEnglish15•2 months agoThat isn’t propellant-less. The propellant is air, and in space where there is no atmosphere they typically use xeon gas
They did this on Mythbusters in small scale years ago and the science of it is fascinating.
I don’t think it would do much to break orbit, but once IN space it could be interesting.
https://youtu.be/UCiU96rJJoo
This is what they were testing:
https://youtu.be/006d36WWyaQ
You take a lightweight balsawood frame, wrap it in tinfoil and lightweight wire, then pump high voltages through it.
https://hackaday.com/2016/07/13/expanding-horizons-with-the-ion-propelled-lifter/
Note that what the mythbusters looked at was a form of ion propulsion. The high voltage on the sharp boundary of the aluminum foil repels air molecules. If you put one of those in a vacuum (or space) it wouldn’t have any thrust.
IIRC, the MythBusters did exactly that later in the episode. Unsurprisdngly, the devices produced no thrust in a vacuum chamber.
That isn’t propellant-less. The propellant is air, and in space where there is no atmosphere they typically use xeon gas