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[LordBucket]

First the mildly exciting news:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/04/eagleworks-nasa-updated-emdrive-models.html
http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/31ryfb/eagleworks_nasa_updated_emdrive_models_show/


There's a design for one of these devices based on observed results that they're anticipating would generate 2000 newtons of force for ~100kw input. I did the math. Acclerting to the halfway point, then turning around and slowing down for the second half of the trip, that works out to roughly 15 days to Mars at minimum distance assuming a ship with the mass of a 72 seat schoolbus, with a 45x45 foot array of solar panels. And no reason you couldn't use multiple thrusters if you can power them. We're talking an order of magnitude that means not only is regular commercial travel to Mars on the table, even personal 1-2 man craft to Mars may be realistic. Magnetrons are OLD technology that we know very well. They're the thing in microwave ovens that produce microwaves. The emdrive is basically a really big one of those in a metal tube with a particular shape. There's no need for them to be particularly expensive.

Now the crazy exciting news:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36313.1860

Nobody really seems to know how or why these things work. Well, apparently a couple weeks ago somebody at NASA noticed that the measurements they were getting on one of their tests looked very familiar for some reason. And apparently the reason looked familiar was that they were the predicted results for an Alcubierre warp drive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

So thinking that maybe this thing works because it's warping space, they did a test where they fired a couple lasers at various points and measured how long it took for the beams to arrive. Light travels at slightly different speed depending on the density of the medium it's traveling through. Heat changes the density of air, so a certain amount of variation in the travel times were expected. The amount of variation they measured was 40 times what they expected:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=36313.0;attach=825622;image

It's possible we might be on the verge of faster than light travel.

A more precise test is planned for this summer.

And hey, even if we're not about to become an interstellar civilization, casual interplanteary travel is pretty cool too.

[Baffler]

PTW with great interest.

[TempAcc]

PTW and inb4 imperium of man

[nenjin]

PTW and inb4 imperium of man

inb4 the Dark Age of Technology.

[Eagleon]

This is what I casually thought might be happening back when I first heard about the thing, based entirely on the shape of the thing, the shape of those air vortex guns from a while back, and ass-pull physics
http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vortex-ring-toy.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_ring
I'm not saying I'm right, but it'd be pretty cool if I was right. Could you make a toroidal vortex that affects energy 'pressure' that way? I got so far as wanting to test it, and then I thought "Nah, that way lies kookery, I'm not a physicist or mechanical or plasma or any kind of engineer"

[DreamCarver]

So excited. Here's hoping that we've been born just in time to see the birth of the Human Stellar Empire.

[Bauglir]

I call bullshit, but it's more of the "lolwut" variety than the "I'm sure they're wrong" kind. I'm totally unqualified to have an opinion on the veracity of the whole thing, so meanwhile I'm gonna have some skeptical optimism[/oxymoron]

[MagmaMcFry]

ptw

[~Neri]

So excited. Here's hoping that we've been born just in time to see the birth of the Human Stellar Empire.

I hope so, nothing interesting has happened this generation yet.

[Bohandas]

It would be cool if accurate, but I'm gonna bet the measurements are an equipment error like those neutrinos a couple of years back

[Teneb]

I sincerely hope this is correct. I wonder how viable it would be, in monetary terms.

[ggamer]

yooooooo

is there gonna be an official press release on this soon?

[NullForceOmega]

If we go interstellar without dealing with our major 'Earth' problems first, this will just result in Donald Trump turning into Frieza.

[MagmaMcFry]

Have you guys realized the consequences of this technology yet?

MOTHER FUCKING HOVERBOARDS

[TempAcc]

If we go interstellar without dealing with our major 'Earth' problems first, this will just result in Donald Trump turning into Frieza.

Good