Space startup Exodus Propulsion Technologies claims to have achieved a breakthrough, finding an entirely new force of nature that can power propulsion engines that don't need propellant to operate.
like debriefing ReportsCo-founder Charles Buehler — a former NASA engineer who has worked on a number of major programs including the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Space Shuttle — said the discovery could be a major turning point in humanity's quest for space exploration. .
Buhler makes some very ambitious claims that will likely face a lot of scrutiny from the scientific community — and it's not clear whether his startup's claims will stick.
“There are rules that involve conservation of energy, but if done correctly, one can generate forces unlike anything humanity has done before,” Buhler said. debriefing. “It will be this force that we use to propel things for the next thousand years… until the next thing comes along.”
The startup recently presented its findings at the Alternative Propulsion Energy Conference (APEC), which is very unusual.”Anti-Gravity Club“Which attracts some of the biggest names in the industry.
The team's motor, which it says uses static electricity to enable Bühler's “new power,” isn't exactly a power source, producing only 10 milliNewtons. To put that in perspective, hold a block of About 100 gramsOr a medium-sized apple, in the palm of your hand, exerts a force of 1 newton, or 100 times more.
But “size doesn't really matter, because anything above zero will work in space!” Buhler confirmed debriefing.
“Our materials consist of several types of charge-carrying coatings that must be supported on an insulating film,” he explained. “Our goal is to make them as lightweight as possible, but this is sometimes difficult because films and their coatings must have a high dielectric strength.”
For Buhler, this is a major breakthrough and means “there is some fundamental physics that can basically impose a force on an object” due to “an asymmetry in electrostatic pressure or some kind of divergent electrostatic field.”
Of course, Buehler's comments should be taken with a grain of salt, given their subject and the device's tense relationship with the established laws of physics.
“It's very difficult to reconcile that, from a scientific point of view because it seems to violate a lot of our energy laws,” Buehler said Tim Ventura, co-founder of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum and moderator of the session, said:Adding, “We hope to do some demonstrations” in the space.
It's a Moonshot reminiscent of other propulsion engines we've come across, like NASA's highly controversial EmDrive and the Applied Physics startup's “warp drive,” both of which are similar It seems to violate the laws of physics.
But let's be honest: if they are Do Somehow, making fuelless propulsion work would be pretty cool.
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