NASA tested an impossible space engine and it somehow worked

The Verge ^ | August 1, 2014 | Carl Franzen

[DannyTN]

If the tests of the Cannae Drive technology hold up, a trip to Mars could take weeks instead of months

7 inShare NASA has been testing new space travel technologies throughout its entire history, but the results of its latest experiment may be the most exciting yet — if they hold up. Earlier this week at a conference in Cleveland, Ohio, scientists with NASA's Eagleworks Laboratories in Houston, Texas, presented a paper indicating they had achieved a small amount of thrust from a container that had no traditional fuels, only microwaves, bouncing around inside it. If the results can be replicated reliably and scaled up — and that's a big "if," since NASA only produced them on a very small scale over a two-day period — they could ultimately result in ultra-light weight, ultra fast spacecraft that could carry humans to Mars in weeks instead of months, and to the nearest star system outside our own (Proxima Centurai) in just about 30 years.

... More at site

[UCANSEE2]

I’ve got an idea for a spaceship powered by a sharknado, think I can get some grant money?

Depends. Do you vote Democrat or Republican ?

[UCANSEE2]

Deep thought returned the answer forty-two which is actually not 42 but 38.

Doesn't the whole thing depend on which base numbering system Deep Thought was using ?

Since Deep Thought was a computer, my first guess would be Hexadecimal.

IIRC 42 base-sixteen would be 66 base-ten.

The answer is 66.

: )

[UCANSEE2]

Going very fast is not the problem.

The problem is slowing down and coming to a stop.

[UCANSEE2]

Solar panels can provide the energy

Only if you stay really close to a star. Between our solar system and the nearest star, it is dark and cold.

[B4Ranch]

No thanks. Those losers are all over SF, LA, Vegas, NOLA, you name it.

[PapaBear3625]

Only if you stay really close to a star. Between our solar system and the nearest star, it is dark and cold.

Well, yes. They're talking about this for keeping satellites in correct orbits. It would also be useful for interplanetary missions. For interstellar, you would use nuke power.

[DannyTN]

"The problem is slowing down and coming to a stop."'

True, it would probably take you as long to slow down as it took to accelerate.

[Moonman62]

Actually since 1 newton weighs about 3 1/2 ounces, 30-50 micronewtons is about 10 MILLIONths of an ounce. I wonder how close that is to the limits of detection?

They reported the result as "anomalous," which makes me think they didn't even bother with error bars.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

We could go to Mars in 2 weeks with nuclear engines based on the prototypes built in the ‘60’s.

[DannyTN]

"We could go to Mars in 2 weeks with nuclear engines based on the prototypes built in the ‘60’s."

My guess is the problem is the risk of getting nuclear material into space. If we could find or mine nuclear materials without risking a failed launch from earth, we could probably do that.

[null and void]

Flying carpets, pishhhaahhh. Mohammed had a flying horse.

Named Barack...

[null and void]

I just heard “42” in the office not 2 minutes ago.

About the time you posted that, I was telling a couple guys in my office that 42 was the answer. An Ebola outbreak is declared over when 42 days elapse without a case (two 21 day incubation periods)...

[itsahoot]

This is not an ion engine.

Thanks.

[PIF]

“My guess is the problem is the risk of getting nuclear material into space.”

That’s right! It is a risk the US cannot afford to take.

First of all, it would contravene numerous international treaties and agreements.

Second, the media outrage at such a risk would drive all the important issues off the air - like which sports star committed which crime. Who in his right mind would wish to sit through this sort of endless coverage?

Third, politicians of all stripes would be up in arms at the very possibility of polluting pristine space with radioactive debris. Can you imagine the horror our grand kids would have to face, if space were polluted with dangerous, carcinogenic, radioactive stuff?

Fourth, it would contravene the newly discovered American Law of Navel Gazing which says (in part), that anything not seen in a navel does not exist, cannot exist, and is downright impossible, and furthermore, dangerous.

All this space travel bunkum is best left to barbarians like the Russians and Chinese who have no moral authority, are firmly convinced that the Law of Navel Gazing is for idiots, unlike us Americans who have a firm grip on reality, the future, and What’s Worth Spending Our Hard Earned Dollars On.

[Jabba the Nutt]

What’s the Yamato? Sounds like a combination of a yam and a tomato.

[tanknetter]

What’s the Yamato? Sounds like a combination of a yam and a tomato.

The Yamato was a WWII Japanese super-battleship. Weighed about 1/3 more than the US Iowa class battleships and carried larger guns (18" vs 16" for the Iowas). It was sunk late in the war on a suicide mission to disrupt the US invasion of Okinawa.

In the late 1960s/early 70s the Japanese produced an anime series called "Space Battleship Yamato", in which the sunken Yamato was refitted into an interstellar starship with a year-long mission of crossing the galaxy to retrieve a device capable of saving and restoring an Earth nearly destroyed by an alien invasion.

In the series, the Yamato was powered by something called a "Wave Motion Engine", which seems almost identical in concept to this prototype motor.

Incidentally, "Space Battleship Yamato" was dubbed into English and released in the US as an afternoon kids cartoon called "Starblazers."

Additionally, there have been multiple additional anime series (and one recent live-action movie) based on "Yamato." AND they recently rebooted the series to update the anime and the storyline so it will appeal to modern audiences. The 26 episodes of the new series can be found here. It uses subtitles rather than dubbing, but for anyone who grew up with and loved Starblazers it really recaptures the experience of being a preteen again ...