survivor
Reposted via THE JAKE WYATT RIOT
Monday, April 25, 2016
Nearing affordable extraction of uranium from seawater, which would unlock over 800 times current reserves and with breeder reactors provide resources for billion years of current world power
http://ift.tt/hZ0OVi
The oceans hold more than four billion tons of uranium—enough to meet global energy needs for the next 10,000 years if only we could capture the element from seawater to fuel nuclear power plants.
For half a century, researchers worldwide have tried to mine uranium from the oceans with limited success. In the 1990s, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) scientists pioneered materials that hold uranium as it is stuck or adsorbed onto surfaces of the material submerged in seawater. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a program involving a multidisciplinary team from U.S. national laboratories, universities and research institutes to address the fundamental challenges of economically extracting uranium from seawater. Within five years this team has developed new adsorbents that reduce the cost of extracting uranium from seawater by three to four times.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers developed a fiber to adsorb uranium from seawater. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory exposed the fibers to Pseudomonas fluorescens and used the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory to create a 3-D X-ray microtomograph to determine that the fiber structure was not damaged by the organism. Image credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy
“Understanding how the adsorbents perform under natural seawater conditions is critical to reliably assessing how well the uranium adsorbent materials work,” Gill said. “In addition to marine testing, we assessed how well the adsorbent attracted uranium versus other elements, adsorbent durability, whether buildup of marine organisms might impact adsorbent capacity, and we demonstrated that most of the adsorbent materials are not toxic. PNNL also performed experiments to optimize release of uranium from the adsorbents and adsorbent re-use using acid and bicarbonate solutions.”
American Chemical Society - The Uranium from Seawater Program at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: Overview of Marine Testing, Adsorbent Characterization, Adsorbent Durability, Adsorbent Toxicity, and Deployment Studies
Marine testing at PNNL showed an ORNL adsorbent material had the capacity to hold 5.2 grams of uranium per kilogram of adsorbent in 49 days of natural seawater exposure—the crowning result presented in the special issue. The Uranium from Seawater program continues to make significant advancements, producing adsorbents with even higher capacities for grabbing uranium. Recent testing exceeded 6 grams of uranium per kilogram of adsorbent after 56 days in natural seawater – an adsorbent capacity that is 15 percent higher than the results highlighted in the special edition.
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is evaluating the performance of adsorption materials to extract uranium from natural seawater. Testing consists of measurements of the adsorption of uranium and other elements from seawater as a function of time using flow-through columns and a recirculating flume to determine adsorbent capacity and adsorption kinetics. The amidoxime-based polymer adsorbent AF1, produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), had a 56-day adsorption capacity of 3.9 ± 0.2 g U/kg adsorbent material, a saturation capacity of 5.4 ± 0.2 g U/kg adsorbent material, and a half-saturation time of 23 ± 2 days. The ORNL AF1 adsorbent has a very high affinity for uranium, as evidenced by a 56-day distribution coefficient between adsorbent and solution of log KD,56day = 6.08. Calcium and magnesium account for a majority of the cations adsorbed by the ORNL amidoxime-based adsorbents (61% by mass and 74% by molar percent), uranium is the fourth most abundant element adsorbed by mass and seventh most abundant by molar percentage.
Marine testing at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with the ORNL AF1 adsorbent produced adsorption capacities 15% and 55% higher than those observed at PNNL for column and flume testing, respectively. Variations in competing ions may be the explanation for the regional differences. Hydrodynamic modeling predicts that a farm of adsorbent materials will likely have minimal effect on ocean currents and removal of uranium and other elements from seawater when farm densities are less than 1800 braids per square kilometer. A decrease in uranium adsorption capacity of up to 30% was observed after 42 days of exposure because of biofouling when the ORNL braided adsorbent AI8 was exposed to raw seawater in a flume in the presence of light.
No toxicity was observed with flow-through column effluents of any absorbent materials tested to date. Toxicity could be induced with some non-amidoxime based absorbents only when the ratio of solid absorbent to test media was increased to part per thousand levels. Thermodynamic modeling of the seawater−amidoxime adsorbent was performed using the geochemical modeling program PHREEQC. Modeling of the binding of Ca, Mg, Fe, Ni, Cu, U, and V reveal that when binding sites are limited (1 × 10^–8 binding sites/kg seawater), vanadium heavily outcompetes other ions for the amidoxime sites. In contrast, when binding sites are abundant, Mg and Ca dominate the total percentage of metals bound to the sorbent.
Uranium from terrestrial sources can last for approximately 100 years, according to Erich Schneider of the University of Texas–Austin. As terrestrial uranium becomes depleted, prices are likely to rise. “If we have technology to capture uranium from seawater, we can ensure that an essentially unlimited supply of the element becomes available if uranium prices go up in the future,” Schneider said.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
The oceans hold more than four billion tons of uranium—enough to meet global energy needs for the next 10,000 years if only we could capture the element from seawater to fuel nuclear power plants.
For half a century, researchers worldwide have tried to mine uranium from the oceans with limited success. In the 1990s, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) scientists pioneered materials that hold uranium as it is stuck or adsorbed onto surfaces of the material submerged in seawater. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a program involving a multidisciplinary team from U.S. national laboratories, universities and research institutes to address the fundamental challenges of economically extracting uranium from seawater. Within five years this team has developed new adsorbents that reduce the cost of extracting uranium from seawater by three to four times.
- Uranium from seawater would unlock access to over 4 billion tons of uranium and more uranium goes into the ocean from rivers eroding land (all land has about 3 parts uranium per billion)
- Switching to advanced breeder reactors or extensive reprocessing can increase the efficiency of uranium usage by 60 times.
- New material would absorb one kilogram of uranium per ton of membranes every two months. This is dozens of times more efficient than than a peak uranium doomer assumed a few years ago. Ugo Bardi assumed recovering one kilogram of uranium would require processing at least 3 tons of membranes per year.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers developed a fiber to adsorb uranium from seawater. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory exposed the fibers to Pseudomonas fluorescens and used the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory to create a 3-D X-ray microtomograph to determine that the fiber structure was not damaged by the organism. Image credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy
“Understanding how the adsorbents perform under natural seawater conditions is critical to reliably assessing how well the uranium adsorbent materials work,” Gill said. “In addition to marine testing, we assessed how well the adsorbent attracted uranium versus other elements, adsorbent durability, whether buildup of marine organisms might impact adsorbent capacity, and we demonstrated that most of the adsorbent materials are not toxic. PNNL also performed experiments to optimize release of uranium from the adsorbents and adsorbent re-use using acid and bicarbonate solutions.”
American Chemical Society - The Uranium from Seawater Program at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: Overview of Marine Testing, Adsorbent Characterization, Adsorbent Durability, Adsorbent Toxicity, and Deployment Studies
Marine testing at PNNL showed an ORNL adsorbent material had the capacity to hold 5.2 grams of uranium per kilogram of adsorbent in 49 days of natural seawater exposure—the crowning result presented in the special issue. The Uranium from Seawater program continues to make significant advancements, producing adsorbents with even higher capacities for grabbing uranium. Recent testing exceeded 6 grams of uranium per kilogram of adsorbent after 56 days in natural seawater – an adsorbent capacity that is 15 percent higher than the results highlighted in the special edition.
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is evaluating the performance of adsorption materials to extract uranium from natural seawater. Testing consists of measurements of the adsorption of uranium and other elements from seawater as a function of time using flow-through columns and a recirculating flume to determine adsorbent capacity and adsorption kinetics. The amidoxime-based polymer adsorbent AF1, produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), had a 56-day adsorption capacity of 3.9 ± 0.2 g U/kg adsorbent material, a saturation capacity of 5.4 ± 0.2 g U/kg adsorbent material, and a half-saturation time of 23 ± 2 days. The ORNL AF1 adsorbent has a very high affinity for uranium, as evidenced by a 56-day distribution coefficient between adsorbent and solution of log KD,56day = 6.08. Calcium and magnesium account for a majority of the cations adsorbed by the ORNL amidoxime-based adsorbents (61% by mass and 74% by molar percent), uranium is the fourth most abundant element adsorbed by mass and seventh most abundant by molar percentage.
Marine testing at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with the ORNL AF1 adsorbent produced adsorption capacities 15% and 55% higher than those observed at PNNL for column and flume testing, respectively. Variations in competing ions may be the explanation for the regional differences. Hydrodynamic modeling predicts that a farm of adsorbent materials will likely have minimal effect on ocean currents and removal of uranium and other elements from seawater when farm densities are less than 1800 braids per square kilometer. A decrease in uranium adsorption capacity of up to 30% was observed after 42 days of exposure because of biofouling when the ORNL braided adsorbent AI8 was exposed to raw seawater in a flume in the presence of light.
No toxicity was observed with flow-through column effluents of any absorbent materials tested to date. Toxicity could be induced with some non-amidoxime based absorbents only when the ratio of solid absorbent to test media was increased to part per thousand levels. Thermodynamic modeling of the seawater−amidoxime adsorbent was performed using the geochemical modeling program PHREEQC. Modeling of the binding of Ca, Mg, Fe, Ni, Cu, U, and V reveal that when binding sites are limited (1 × 10^–8 binding sites/kg seawater), vanadium heavily outcompetes other ions for the amidoxime sites. In contrast, when binding sites are abundant, Mg and Ca dominate the total percentage of metals bound to the sorbent.
- Uranium coordination and computer-aided ligand design (ORNL)
- Thermodynamic, kinetic and structural characterization of the adsorbent (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ORNL, PNNL)
- Adsorbent synthesis using radiation to graft more polymer onto the polyethylene (ORNL, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Maryland)
- Adsorbent synthesis using a chemical method (ORNL, University of Tennessee)
- Adsorbent nanosynthesis (ORNL, PNNL, Hunter College, University of Chicago, University of South Florida, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, University of California–Berkeley)
- Laboratory testing and modeling of adsorbent performance (ORNL, Georgia Tech)
- Marine testing and performance assessment of the adsorbent (PNNL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Miami)
- Adsorbent durability and reusability (PNNL, University of Idaho)
- Adsorbent characterization, toxicity and biofouling studies (ORNL, PNNL, UI)
- Technology cost analyses and modeling (University of Texas–Austin)
- Green chemistry: Adsorbents prepared using marine shellfish waste (University of Alabama)
- Adsorbent deployment (PNNL, ORNL, MIT)
Uranium from terrestrial sources can last for approximately 100 years, according to Erich Schneider of the University of Texas–Austin. As terrestrial uranium becomes depleted, prices are likely to rise. “If we have technology to capture uranium from seawater, we can ensure that an essentially unlimited supply of the element becomes available if uranium prices go up in the future,” Schneider said.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
Collage House / S+PS Architects
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Reposted via ArchDaily
Living in Mumbai, India it is impossible to ignore the informal settlements in the city, and if looked at closely there are many lessons to be learnt in frugality, adaptability, multi-tasking, resourcefulness and ingenuity. A visual language emerges that is of the found object, ad-hoc, eclectic, patched and collaged. An attempt has been made here to apply some of these lessons without romanticizing or fetishizing them. The project looks at the idea of recycling and collage in several ways, from the very physical - like materials, energy, etc. to the intangible - like history, space and memories.
The front façade sets the tone for what lies within, with a “corner of windows” that recycles old windows and doors of demolished houses in the city. This becomes a major backdrop for the living room with a exposed concrete faceted ceiling above countered by the polished white marble with intricate brass inlay on the floor. Metal pipe leftovers pieced together like bamboo form a “pipe wall” integrating structural columns, rainwater downtake pipes and a sculpture of spouts that in the monsoon are a delight for all the senses.
Reposted via ArchDaily
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Aguas Claras House / Alfredo Comandari
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Reposted via ArchDaily
Although the owners already had a house in nearby Lomas Blancas, they were looking for a place where they could build something more private and away from the public’s eye. After a while searching they found, near the locality of Cachagua, a sloped piece of land located in the midst of a eucalyptus forest. It possessed the perfect qualities to attain such intimacy.
Reposted via ArchDaily
Friday, April 22, 2016
Today we like: sustainable design
http://www.dezeen.com
Reposted via Dezeen
To celebrate Earth Day, we've put together some of the best examples of green and eco-friendly projects on Dezeen – from a vertical garden covering the side of a five-storey Parisian block, to a bikini designed to absorb pollution from the sea. See more sustainable design »
Reposted via Dezeen
Casa Rampa / Andrés Remy Arquitectos
Gene therapy has been used to reverse shortening telomere aging marker by 20 years in a human beings white blood cells
http://ift.tt/hZ0OVi
Elizabeth Parrish, CEO of Bioviva USA Inc. has become the first human being to be successfully rejuvenated by gene therapy, after her own company's experimental therapies reversed 20 years of normal telomere shortening.
Telomere score is calculated according to telomere length of white blood cells (T-lymphocytes). This result is based on the average T-lymphocyte telomere length compared to the American population at the same age range. The higher the telomere score, the "younger "the cells.
In September 2015, then 44 year- old CEO of BioViva USA Inc. Elizabeth Parrish received two of her own company's experimental gene therapies: one to protect against loss of muscle mass with age, another to battle stem cell depletion responsible for diverse age-related diseases and infirmities.
The treatment was originally intended to demonstrate the safety of the latest generation of the therapies. But if early data is accurate, it is already the world's first successful example of telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual. Gene therapy has been used to lengthen telomeres before in cultured cells and in mice , but never in a human patient.
Telomeres are short segments of DNA which cap the ends of every chromosome, acting as 'buffers' against wear and tear. They shorten with every cell division, eventually getting too short to protect the chromosome, causing the cell to malfunction and the body to age.
Telomeres
Liz Parrish of Bioviva
Read more » 
Reposted via Next Big Future
Elizabeth Parrish, CEO of Bioviva USA Inc. has become the first human being to be successfully rejuvenated by gene therapy, after her own company's experimental therapies reversed 20 years of normal telomere shortening.
Telomere score is calculated according to telomere length of white blood cells (T-lymphocytes). This result is based on the average T-lymphocyte telomere length compared to the American population at the same age range. The higher the telomere score, the "younger "the cells.
In September 2015, then 44 year- old CEO of BioViva USA Inc. Elizabeth Parrish received two of her own company's experimental gene therapies: one to protect against loss of muscle mass with age, another to battle stem cell depletion responsible for diverse age-related diseases and infirmities.
The treatment was originally intended to demonstrate the safety of the latest generation of the therapies. But if early data is accurate, it is already the world's first successful example of telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual. Gene therapy has been used to lengthen telomeres before in cultured cells and in mice , but never in a human patient.
Telomeres are short segments of DNA which cap the ends of every chromosome, acting as 'buffers' against wear and tear. They shorten with every cell division, eventually getting too short to protect the chromosome, causing the cell to malfunction and the body to age.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
Armored ground vehicles are testing combat lasers in the 10 kilowatt range nowand railguns tests, 30 kilowatt lasers next year
http://ift.tt/hZ0OVi
The Fires Battle Lab at Fort Sill is now experimenting with new weapons technology that could potentially replace the howitzers and air defense missile systems of today.
Two laser systems and a railgun were demonstrated for the media at Thompson Hill Range Complex on Thursday.
The lasers are silent, invisible and deadly. On just a coffee cup's worth of diesel, they can pinpoint a drone and use auto-tracking to dog its path. Their photon beams can bring down an unmanned aerial system (UAS) by heating up one of the parts that controls its flight, such as a camera or a rotor, until it melts.
Fires Battle Lab Director John Haithcock explained how three radar systems (Sentinel, the new counter-battle Q-53 that can detect air and ground threats simultaneously and two Q-50s) and a modified Avenger weapon system with an infrared sight all come into play. He also pointed out a multi-purpose vehicle equipped with a command and control application, an electronic warfare circuit system and some enhanced sights.
There are also dismounted versions of what the vehicle has that provide counter-UAS and joint forcible entry capabilities.
Many entities are involved in the experiments. The Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center at Huntsville, Ala., brought a High Energy Laser Mobile Test Truck (HELMTT) mounted with a 10-kilowatt laser, according to Adam Aberle, who oversees the center's directed energy technology development and demonstrations.
The command also made arrangements with General Dynamics and Boeing to bring a 2-kilowatt laser mounted on a Stryker vehicle. The latter is called the Stryker MEHEL, which stands for Mobile Expeditionary High Energy Laser.
Robert Taylor, left, and Gary Hopper of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) get ready to explain the railgun at left and the mobile pulsar that powers it, housed in the vertical box behind it.
Fort Sill is also the site where hypersonic projectile's are being tested using Electromagnetic Railgun technology. The railgun delivers muzzle velocities greater than twice those of conventional guns.
One of those technologies being explored is whether drones can be knocked out of the battlefield skies with lasers.
"Think of it [2-10 kilowatt combat lasers] like a welding torch being put on a target, but from many hundreds of meters away," Isaac Neal, a Boeing engineer, said in a video about the new weapons system that was posted on the defense contractor's website.
In tests the lasers were able to locate, aim and fire at a small drone flying. The laser gun acts quickly (it took just 15 seconds for it to shoot the test drone out of the sky) and discreetly, according to Neal. Speedy reaction times can be important in battles when every second counts.
Read more » 
Reposted via Next Big Future
The Fires Battle Lab at Fort Sill is now experimenting with new weapons technology that could potentially replace the howitzers and air defense missile systems of today.
Two laser systems and a railgun were demonstrated for the media at Thompson Hill Range Complex on Thursday.
The lasers are silent, invisible and deadly. On just a coffee cup's worth of diesel, they can pinpoint a drone and use auto-tracking to dog its path. Their photon beams can bring down an unmanned aerial system (UAS) by heating up one of the parts that controls its flight, such as a camera or a rotor, until it melts.
Fires Battle Lab Director John Haithcock explained how three radar systems (Sentinel, the new counter-battle Q-53 that can detect air and ground threats simultaneously and two Q-50s) and a modified Avenger weapon system with an infrared sight all come into play. He also pointed out a multi-purpose vehicle equipped with a command and control application, an electronic warfare circuit system and some enhanced sights.
There are also dismounted versions of what the vehicle has that provide counter-UAS and joint forcible entry capabilities.
Many entities are involved in the experiments. The Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center at Huntsville, Ala., brought a High Energy Laser Mobile Test Truck (HELMTT) mounted with a 10-kilowatt laser, according to Adam Aberle, who oversees the center's directed energy technology development and demonstrations.
The command also made arrangements with General Dynamics and Boeing to bring a 2-kilowatt laser mounted on a Stryker vehicle. The latter is called the Stryker MEHEL, which stands for Mobile Expeditionary High Energy Laser.
Fort Sill is also the site where hypersonic projectile's are being tested using Electromagnetic Railgun technology. The railgun delivers muzzle velocities greater than twice those of conventional guns.
One of those technologies being explored is whether drones can be knocked out of the battlefield skies with lasers.
"Think of it [2-10 kilowatt combat lasers] like a welding torch being put on a target, but from many hundreds of meters away," Isaac Neal, a Boeing engineer, said in a video about the new weapons system that was posted on the defense contractor's website.
In tests the lasers were able to locate, aim and fire at a small drone flying. The laser gun acts quickly (it took just 15 seconds for it to shoot the test drone out of the sky) and discreetly, according to Neal. Speedy reaction times can be important in battles when every second counts.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
Penthouse Apartment in Bielefeld / Architekten Wannenmacher Möller
http://ift.tt/nNxAFF
Reposted via ArchDaily
The former factory building was converted to an inner-city living space in 2000. At total of 51 living units with various layouts were created in this listed former industrial area. One of the most spectacular was the tower apartment on the intersection of two streets, which extended over three floors and changed hands in 2008.
Reposted via ArchDaily
Emdrive may be explained by quantized momentum New Emdrive experiments are showing thrust replication and superconducting Cannae drive demo set for May 2016
http://ift.tt/hZ0OVi
A radio frequency (RF) resonant cavity thruster is a proposed type of electromagnetic thruster. Unlike conventional electromagnetic thrusters, a resonant cavity thruster uses no reaction mass and emits no directional radiation. Their design principles are not supported by prevailing scientific theories, apparently violating the law of conservation of momentum; as a result they are controversial.
Aerospace engineer Roger Shawyer designed the EmDrive in 2001 and has persistently promoted the idea through his company, Satellite Propulsion Research. Chemical engineer Guido Fetta designed the Cannae Drive, based on similar principles.
If they are found to work as claimed, providing thrust without consuming a propellant would revolutionise many propulsion applications.
Imagine something like the impulse drive in Star Trek. The Star Trek impulse drive may have been described in technical manual as a nuclear fusion powered drive using something like regular rocketry, but the Star Trek technical manual wanted to assist suspension of disbelief. In the Star Trek Stories Impulse drive could provide acceleration up to any limit desired by the writers and have it offset by antigravity. Also, there was generally no limit on fuel resources being expended. Therefore, the impulse drive in Star Trek per how it was used in the movies and books was more akin to a reactionless drive which provides excellent propulsion so long as the system has power. Impulse drive and EMdrive both still have speed of light (relativistic) limitations.
You would not have antigravity but whatever power level you could achieve would have constant acceleration up to relativistic limits. Limitations would be based on the energy density and energy levels of your power source.
There is write up on reactionless drives at projectrho.com
Cannae drive is preparing for another demonstration of our superconducting thruster technology in May. Here is a picture of our assembled thruster and test apparatus. The thruster is under vacuum and ready for cryogenic operation.
New Superconducting Cannae device demo
Various teams around the world have begun to build their own versions of the EmDrive and put them through their paces. And to everyone’s surprise, they’ve begun to reproduce Shawyer’s results. The EmDrive, it seems, really does produce thrust. In total, six independent experiments have backed Shawyer’s original claims.
How to explain the seeming violation of conservation of momentum from EMdrive and Cannae drive ? Quantized Momentum
Mike McCulloch at Plymouth University explanation is based on a new theory of inertia that makes startling predictions about the way objects move under very small accelerations.
Inertia is the resistance of all massive objects to changes in motion or accelerations. In modern physics, inertia is treated as a fundamental property of massive objects subjected to an acceleration. Indeed, mass can be thought of as a measure of inertia. But why inertia exists at all has puzzled scientists for centuries.
McCulloch’s idea is that inertia arises from an effect predicted by general relativity called Unruh radiation. This is the notion that an accelerating object experiences black body radiation. In other words, the universe warms up when you accelerate.
According to McCulloch, inertia is simply the pressure the Unruh radiation exerts on an accelerating body.
That’s hard to test at the accelerations we normally observe on Earth. But things get interesting when the accelerations involved are smaller and the wavelength of Unruh radiation gets larger.
At very small accelerations, the wavelengths become so large they can no longer fit in the observable universe. When this happens, inertia can take only certain whole-wavelength values and so jumps from one value to the next. In other words, inertia must quantized at small accelerations.
McCulloch says there is observational evidence for this in the form of the famous fly by anomalies. These are the strange jumps in momentum observed in some spacecraft as they fly past Earth toward other planets.
Arxiv - Testing quantised inertia on the emdrive
Read more » 
Reposted via Next Big Future
A radio frequency (RF) resonant cavity thruster is a proposed type of electromagnetic thruster. Unlike conventional electromagnetic thrusters, a resonant cavity thruster uses no reaction mass and emits no directional radiation. Their design principles are not supported by prevailing scientific theories, apparently violating the law of conservation of momentum; as a result they are controversial.
Aerospace engineer Roger Shawyer designed the EmDrive in 2001 and has persistently promoted the idea through his company, Satellite Propulsion Research. Chemical engineer Guido Fetta designed the Cannae Drive, based on similar principles.
If they are found to work as claimed, providing thrust without consuming a propellant would revolutionise many propulsion applications.
Imagine something like the impulse drive in Star Trek. The Star Trek impulse drive may have been described in technical manual as a nuclear fusion powered drive using something like regular rocketry, but the Star Trek technical manual wanted to assist suspension of disbelief. In the Star Trek Stories Impulse drive could provide acceleration up to any limit desired by the writers and have it offset by antigravity. Also, there was generally no limit on fuel resources being expended. Therefore, the impulse drive in Star Trek per how it was used in the movies and books was more akin to a reactionless drive which provides excellent propulsion so long as the system has power. Impulse drive and EMdrive both still have speed of light (relativistic) limitations.
You would not have antigravity but whatever power level you could achieve would have constant acceleration up to relativistic limits. Limitations would be based on the energy density and energy levels of your power source.
There is write up on reactionless drives at projectrho.com
Cannae drive is preparing for another demonstration of our superconducting thruster technology in May. Here is a picture of our assembled thruster and test apparatus. The thruster is under vacuum and ready for cryogenic operation.
Various teams around the world have begun to build their own versions of the EmDrive and put them through their paces. And to everyone’s surprise, they’ve begun to reproduce Shawyer’s results. The EmDrive, it seems, really does produce thrust. In total, six independent experiments have backed Shawyer’s original claims.
How to explain the seeming violation of conservation of momentum from EMdrive and Cannae drive ? Quantized Momentum
Mike McCulloch at Plymouth University explanation is based on a new theory of inertia that makes startling predictions about the way objects move under very small accelerations.
Inertia is the resistance of all massive objects to changes in motion or accelerations. In modern physics, inertia is treated as a fundamental property of massive objects subjected to an acceleration. Indeed, mass can be thought of as a measure of inertia. But why inertia exists at all has puzzled scientists for centuries.
McCulloch’s idea is that inertia arises from an effect predicted by general relativity called Unruh radiation. This is the notion that an accelerating object experiences black body radiation. In other words, the universe warms up when you accelerate.
According to McCulloch, inertia is simply the pressure the Unruh radiation exerts on an accelerating body.
That’s hard to test at the accelerations we normally observe on Earth. But things get interesting when the accelerations involved are smaller and the wavelength of Unruh radiation gets larger.
At very small accelerations, the wavelengths become so large they can no longer fit in the observable universe. When this happens, inertia can take only certain whole-wavelength values and so jumps from one value to the next. In other words, inertia must quantized at small accelerations.
McCulloch says there is observational evidence for this in the form of the famous fly by anomalies. These are the strange jumps in momentum observed in some spacecraft as they fly past Earth toward other planets.
Arxiv - Testing quantised inertia on the emdrive
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
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