Last year, NASA investigated a technology often described as a ‘warp drive’ – and when one of its scientists posted, ‘the anomalous thrust signals remain,’ on a message board, the world was electrified.
The concept of the EM Drive was considered impossible – and scientists suggested that it broke the laws of physics.
But that might not actually be the case, according to new research from the University of Helsinki in Finland.
The engine works by bouncing microwaves around inside an enclosed container, and was designed by British researcher Roger Shawyer.
But many researchers said it was impossible – and broke fundamental laws of physics.
Steven Thomson of the University of St Andrews wrote, ‘The EMDrive is designed to be a closed system that doesn’t emit any particles or radiation. It cannot possibly generate any thrust without breaking some seriously fundamental laws of physics. To put it bluntly, it’s like trying to pull yourself up by your shoelaces and hoping you’ll levitate.’
But the University of Helsinki researchers say that the engine does have an exhaust – but it’s invisible, consisting of two photons which ‘cancel each other out’.
Researcher Arto Annila told ScienceAlert, ‘”The EM drive operates by the same principle, for example, as a jet engine, where the high speed exhaust gases backwards (opposite reaction) push the airplane forwards.
‘Light at microwave lengths is the fuel that’s being fed into the cavity … and the EM drive exhausts backwards paired photons.
‘When two photons travel together, but having opposite phases, then the pair has no net electromagnetic field, and hence it will not reflect back from the metal walls, but goes through.
