EM Drive

[ladajo]

It's amazing on many fronts.
The Space Access point alone is worthy of deep discussion. SpaceX has so abruptly changed the argument, major space companies are still not fully grasping it. Falcon 9 has done more for space than Apollo at this point. Now, with Starship on the verge of successful flight, and being a core part of the Return to the Moon program, we will see more game changes.
Starship is mind boggling for space access given its full reusability, 150 tons to LEO in a 9 meter fairing. No one else is anywhere close to this. What it really means is Real Space Stations can now be built with spiny-wheel gravity and the whole bit, not to mention possibly doing station keeping with EM Drive like thrusters. The three main factors for space stations remain radiation, micro-gravity, and station keeping. SpaceX is poised to support solutions for all three. We will get off this rock yet!

Glad to see this thread is still running after so long. Cool.

[Carl White]

IVO Limited has announced that they rebooked for October on SpaceX transporter 9. No indication whether this was a last minute decision or not.

EDIT: Think about this a little, it's possible that some new test failed, or they realized they needed to revisit their results in the light of some new thought or information, so they took it off the launch manifest until they decide what to do. I wouldn't be surprised if it never goes to orbit now.

[mvanwink5]

Real Space Stations can now be built with spiny-wheel gravity and the whole bit, not to mention possibly doing station keeping with EM Drive like thrusters. The three main factors for space stations remain radiation, micro-gravity, and station keeping. SpaceX is poised to support solutions for all three. We will get off this rock yet!

We still do not know how much 'gravity' is needed for human health. A rotating space station would enable a test to be performed to determine the threshold level. IMO on board fusion is needed to get out of the near sun limit of solar cells. We are nearly there.

[mvanwink5]

IVO Limited has announced that they rebooked for October on SpaceX transporter 9. No indication whether this was a last minute decision or not.

That is disappointing. For skeptics it is unsurprising. There is too much good news these days so I am not starved for hopium.

[Giorgio]

That is disappointing. For skeptics it is unsurprising. There is too much good news these days so I am not starved for hopium.

I am still willing not to show any skepticism and to oversee this as a simple delay if all they need is more time to revise their setup.
But, should they start to ask money for investment than I will feel obliged to make the obvious comparison between them and the Rossi's saga of 2011....

[ladajo]

That is disappointing. The decision must have been tracking from a while back given no mention of this until now, and SpaceX Transporter 8 flying yesterday. I am curious to see what develops with IVO in this regard. I anticipate another Press Release to further explain and not spook investors/potential investors.

[windmill]

Short interview with Richard Mansell about the quantum drive project:
https://thedebrief.org/impossible-quant ... ce-flight/

[usesbiggerwords]

IVO Limited has announced that they rebooked for October on SpaceX transporter 9. No indication whether this was a last minute decision or not.

Interesting, and almost comically so, that this turned out to be your standard vendor delay issue that has plagued every company ever since time began, at least according to the interview. The next 8 months should be very interesting.

[JoeP]

If the test fails then their venture is done for. So the delay sure looks sus. And any success must be scrutinized and replicated. Easy to make a crappy ion thruster with similar componentry. Ion wind, Biefeld–Brown effects. Such a thruster that doesn't actually or accidently use ions as reaction mass would revolutionize space travel.I'm hoping it isn't fake but it seems to violate physics! Looking forward to the October launch.

[Carl White]

SpaceX Transporter 9 launched today, carrying Rogue Space System''s Barry-1 which houses two of Ivo Ltd's Quantum Drives.

Richard Mansell, CEO of IVO, tweeted:

We have several weeks of LEOP before we can start our testing. Don't expect any testing until December sometime. Collecting a baseline of orbital data before firing up the Drives will be vital to proving the Drives work.

Won't that be something if they work?

[RERT]

Can anybody speculate on what they might be trying to do if they don’t expect it to work?

[KitemanSA]

Can anybody speculate on what they might be trying to do if they don’t expect it to work?

Why do you assume they don’t expect them to work?

[Giorgio]

We have several weeks of LEOP before we can start our testing. Don't expect any testing until December sometime. Collecting a baseline of orbital data before firing up the Drives will be vital to proving the Drives work.

A little weird, I do not see the need to collect a "baseline of orbital data" if you have 45mN of thrust with a single W of consumption as claimed.
They could simply switch them on and check if the orbit rises or not over one or more days.
That is unless there is more fundamental operational details that have been omitted from the press releases.

[RERT]

Why do you assume they don’t expect them to work?

Either:

1) They expect it to work (rightly or wrongly)
2) Something else (so its a scam)

I can’t think of any sane reason to put it on a satellite in case 2. So I’m tempted to conclude that 1 must be true. However, I was wondering if others had a better imagination than me as regards why case 2 might make sense.

[Carl White]

A little weird, I do not see the need to collect a "baseline of orbital data" if you have 45mN of thrust with a single W of consumption as claimed.
They could simply switch them on and check if the orbit rises or not over one or more days.
That is unless there is more fundamental operational details that have been omitted from the press releases.

Here's what they said in an interview (posted by windmill above):

“Our goal is to raise the orbit,” said Mansell. “We would like to do several demonstrations. We’re going to do several orbits of just no thrust whatsoever to get a baseline set of data so we know what the background noise is. And then we’ll turn on the thrusters, the Quantum Drives, and raise the orbit. Then, the goal is to lower the orbit and be able to do this predictably, back and forth, and see if we can change the inclination of the orbit. That would be fantastic.”

Along with the onboard sensors that will measure any change in orbit, Mansell says third-party observers who have no investment in the success or failure of the Quantum Drive will confirm any observed altitude changes from the ground.

“We have both onboard data gathering equipment, as well as ground stations and third-party individuals and groups that will be working to verify these orbital changes,” he explained.

WHEN WILL THE TEST RESULTS BE MADE PUBLIC?
Mansell says that the first few weeks after the launch are reserved by Rogue Space Systems for initial testing and orientation of the satellite. But soon thereafter, his tests will begin.

I like the part about third-party observers. They can't just make claims, there will be others watching as well. Also, there are no other thrusters aboard the Barry-1, so it can't be claimed they are faking the results using something else. It sounds like they are being very careful to eliminate doubt.