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[Starver]

so like whoa man
what if you were a photon

Don't anthropomorphise photons.   They're fed up to their back teeth of people always doing that to them.

[Egan_BW]

I'll anthropomorphize photons it I want! Not like they'll mind.

[hops]

Ew, brighties are gross. They're just particles, man, that's like, scientiality!

[Osmosis Jones]

So, I'm sure everyone's aware of the Cannae drive? Or at the least, its original-recipe cousin, the Em-drive? A resonant microwave chamber that stubbornly (despite repeated refinements to the experiments) seems to produce thrust?

They're shooting one into space.

I think everyone can agree that the proposed theories put forward by both Shawyer and Fetta are all kinds of batshit insane, but the interesting thing is that results keep showing a non-zero thrust even in tests by independent research groups. The skeptical response to this is that it's an overlooked experimental artifact, with one of the most common being that the drive has never been tested in a sufficiently high vacuum. Well, this should put it to bed, one way or the other; either it's bollocks, or something cool is happening.

I must admit, I'm liking watching this unfold. It's a good example of the scientific method; spend any time in academia, and you quickly see that peer review on publication is little more than a cursory check of scientific literacy. Real peer review is what happens after you make a crazy claim, when groups try and replicate your work. While the theories have been quickly and thoroughly debunked, it's interesting to see a situation where the crackpot's experimental results seem more resilient. The best thing is, this topic is sufficiently "sexy" that there *is* a lot of attention, and that something like this launch can actually be done.

Sure, we're probably looking at another cold fusion... but the fact that there's even a small chance of a Michelson-Morley moment is an exciting thought.

[hops]

I cannae think how they expect that to work.

[Helgoland]

Em pretty sure it just doesn't.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It's driving me crazy.

[miauw62]

EMdrive 2: electric boogaloo

honestly if theyre launching one into space that should probably just end this discussion for once and for all, one way or another.

[Max™]

Quite, the joys of science: whatever you think a valid explanation for something may be, in the end only an experiment will let you determine if you were actually on the right track or not.

Chucking one of these into orbit and seeing if it doots around without caring about what it should be doing is a good trial, chucking lots of them up into and beyond orbit and seeing what they do is better.

[TheBiggerFish]

Woo!

[Il Palazzo]

Or is  it woo-woo?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

No, it's woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

[Arx]

honestly if theyre launching one into space that should probably just end this discussion for once and for all, one way or another.

Yeah. Either it works in space and we don't know why, but it works, or it doesn't.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It's obvious why it works. Microwaves. Magic.

That's no coincidence. It's clear that the lost arts of the arcane were eventually corrupted and rediscovered as a heating appliance for the sterilized packaged food of a rational industrial order. Now, finally, we have started to find our way back to the true microwaves of life.

[TempAcc]

:v
Lets be positive about it, if it doesn't work, maybe the ISS can fetch it and use the components to make an actual microwave oven.
If it does work we can yet again enjoy the feeling of being slapped in the face by physics.