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Sep 9, 2016

Breaking Newton’s Third Law: Impossible Space Engine ‘The EMdrive’ Passes Peer Review

Posted by in categories: physics, space travel

The EmDrive is a new type of rocket engine first proposed by British scientist/electrical engineer Roger Shawyer in 1999. Unlike conventional space rocket engines, the EmDrive doesn’t require any kind of propellant (also known as a reaction mass) to make propulsion possible, and hence partially disobeying Newton’s Third Law: “To each action there’s an equal and opposite reaction”.

Despite the fact that this seems to violate the known laws of physics, a prototype device was submitted to NASA’s Eagleworks lab for testing which came back positive, reports Digital Trends.

The paper resulting from the test, “Measurement of Impulsive Thrust from a Closed Radio Frequency Cavity in Vacuum” by Harold White et al., was accepted for publication in the peer reviewed Journal Of Propulsion And Power, by AIAA according to Dr. José Rodal, NASA Spaceflight forums.

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