Mach Effect progress

[GIThruster]

Anyway, any particular milestones we should be looking forward to this year?

I can't release milestones until we are committed to a project and plan, and have the okay from both my partners. I can tell you that we don't consider fundraising a milestone, and we won't be discussing that much. Also I can tell you that we intend to try to pursue both the ceramic characterization and radiation hardening technology simulation concurrently. I should be able to note when those projects each have an official start and may have a projection I can share at that time.

[kunkmiester]

Let me know if you get a thruster with decent thrust. Would love to make a quadcopter with mlts.

[JoeP]

A good milestone is a solid test with a simple apparatus that is reliable and repeatable. Good luck GI, I will only worry if you create an online blog called the "Journal of Mach Effect Physics" and start complaining about snakes.

[GIThruster]

Joe, I doubt we'll build a thrust lab in the next year. We need to get these other projects in order first.

[tokamac]

I'm curious no one has said a thing about the art work. It's not mine, but I just think it is great stuff. Did it seem over the top for either article? I'd like to stay with stuff this grabbing if it doesn't put anyone off.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/space-su ... -ron-stahl

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mach-eff ... -ron-stahl

At first I thought those artworks were excerpts from a video game. Who designed those beautiful graphics?

[tokamac]

Let me know if you get a thruster with decent thrust. Would love to make a quadcopter with mlts.

If the Mach Effect Thruster is proven to work as expected (repeatedly and with decent thrust), then the first devices that will be "flown" would be in orbit, because the force they will generate at first will be tiny, about the same as a ion thruster, which can only move in space and can not take off, from the ground.

But after that, at some truly exciting point when METs could counter their own weight in Earth gravitational field, may I suggest to consider a bolder move than a MET quadcopter toy? That would be the analogy of asking the inventor of the first internal combustion engine to power a new kind of lawnmower you'd be dreaming of… Wouldn't you prefer to sat in a full-size personal vehicle powered by a MET array, than playing with a scale model quadcopter driven by your iPhone?

Imagine also that such a personal vehicle, accelerating at constant 1g, properly pressurized and with enough oxygen onboard, could also escape our atmosphere and reach any planet or orbital base anywhere in our solar system, and you're even way beyond the "simple" concept of the flying car… but alas for security reasons no government would allow anybody to fly anywhere like this. Not today, not tomorrow.

With such 1g-force technology, we need to change our mind, way further. It's a complete paradigm shift.

[GIThruster]

I can't say where the graphics came from as that's my hidden stash.

If we are able to generate the kinds of thrust figures of merit one would like, of course the goal is something that can qualify as a launch vehicle. If you can fly in atmo, you can launch to the Moon or Mars from the palm of your hand and don't need to worry about the huge TRL7 launch expenses. So yeah, a flying demo even in a board meeting room is a big deal.

"Hey, we can build flying cars!" is truly disruptive stuff, but there's more. Given sufficient GN&C, you could send something to go win all the various portions of the $30M Lunar X prize, then fly to Mars.

But first things first. I'd be happy with 20mN thrust from something the size of a microwave oven so long as it is clearly evident, cannot be from a spurious source and is so well mastered that it always performs as expected. Then we'll worry about the launch vehicles and flying cars.

And I would note to you, despite we probably won't even have a thrust balance for another year, Jim Woodward is still working, and any day he could stun the world with a breakthrough.

[kunkmiester]

Let me know if you get a thruster with decent thrust. Would love to make a quadcopter with mlts.

If the Mach Effect Thruster is proven to work as expected (repeatedly and with decent thrust), then the first devices that will be "flown" would be in orbit, because the force they will generate at first will be tiny, about the same as a ion thruster, which can only move in space and can not take off, from the ground.

But after that, at some truly exciting point when METs could counter their own weight in Earth gravitational field, may I suggest to consider a bolder move than a MET quadcopter toy? That would be the analogy of asking the inventor of the first internal combustion engine to power a new kind of lawnmower you'd be dreaming of… Wouldn't you prefer to sat in a full-size personal vehicle powered by a MET array, than playing with a scale model quadcopter driven by your iPhone?

Imagine also that such a personal vehicle, accelerating at constant 1g, properly pressurized and with enough oxygen onboard, could also escape our atmosphere and reach any planet or orbital base anywhere in our solar system, and you're even way beyond the "simple" concept of the flying car… but alas for security reasons no government would allow anybody to fly anywhere like this. Not today, not tomorrow.

With such 1g-force technology, we need to change our mind, way further. It's a complete paradigm shift.

Mostly I would imagine it would be be so, so, much cheaper. Besides, you hear the term "rub it in your face" concerning naysayers? Much easier and safer to do with a foam covered quadthruster (right? It's not propellers, so "copter" really doesn't work) than a 2000+ lb flying car. With a flying car you'd have to make do with parking it in their upper floor office or filling their garage with moon rock or some similar juvenile prank.

[alexjrgreen]

I'm curious no one has said a thing about the art work. It's not mine, but I just think it is great stuff.

I like them. It would be good to see David Demaret and Maxim Revin credited for their work.

[GIThruster]

Then they should put signatures or watermarks on. They have them posted up as is and unless one tries to make cash with them, that's fair use.

[raelik]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mach-eff ... -ron-stahl

Excellent article, very well done! The parallels between the idea of gravinertial flux and electromagnetic field fluxes was particularly revealing. That idea really makes me think that there may be a much simpler way to take advantage of mass fluctuations that we're somehow missing, similar to how Bussard missed that having the magrid shells be conformal to the magnetic field would reduce electron losses by an order of magnitude. That said, I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It's kind of like having a word on the tip of your tongue.

What I worry about is that, while useful for proving that the effect is real and exploitable to achieve propellant-less thrust, various forms piezoelectric or electrostrictive capacitors might be a dead-end as far as making real-world devices is concerned. The frequencies necessary to achieve useful thrust are almost certainly going to reduce the lifespan of any material currently available, and the crystalline structure changes from mechanical stress and temperature changes may make the performance characteristics too unpredictable.

The MLT idea was a good approach conceptually, but missing the bulk acceleration effect made it unworkable. Is there possibly some other method that hasn't been dismissed out of hand?

[GIThruster]

That idea really makes me think that there may be a much simpler way to take advantage of mass fluctuations that we're somehow missing. . .

There are shades of this I think, in Woodward's book. For example, he notes the "bootstrapping" method of using constructive interference between two elements in a wormhole generator, near the end of his book. If we can use the radiation reaction from a Mach Effect event to affect not only the rest of the universe, but local effects as well, then there is a whole range of possibilities for new technologies. The obvious way to check is to build an array of several thrusters and see how they perform when various elements are moved into and out of what ought to be a radiation reaction range. This is on the table for our first UHF investigation, and also one of the strongest reasons DST has to invest heavily in a theory team.

The frequencies necessary to achieve useful thrust are almost certainly going to reduce the lifespan of any material currently available, and the crystalline structure changes from mechanical stress and temperature changes may make the performance characteristics too unpredictable.

You've hit on one of the key concerns for commercialization. Longevity is a very important part of producing workable technology. There are actually a handful of fixes--ways to repair damage to any ceramic element that degrades over time, and some of them are useable while the ceramic is in the thruster. Obviously I cannot share details of this but there are several solutions at hand for this problem you note.

Is there possibly some other method that hasn't been dismissed out of hand?

Yes. The gaseous MLT that has been described here on several occasions is one. The plasma MET is another. Ways to determine whether these are fruitful approaches without building them are at hand and waiting UHF thruster testing.

[alexjrgreen]

Then they should put signatures or watermarks on. They have them posted up as is and unless one tries to make cash with them, that's fair use.

Using art and photos: How copyright law applies

[GIThruster]

Alex, they were posted up by their creators without attribution. I got them from another site where they were not attributed. People who post artwork on the web without their watermark, etc., expect it to be separated from their name, or they are hopelessly stupid. And if one is not making money off a copyrighted work, there is no remedy expected regardless of violation, with the only exception if the artists work has been damaged in some way.

I'm perfectly aware of the law. I'm a screenwriter. And this is the third time now, in very recent days, you have been a pain in my ass for no reason. Knock that shit off.

[krenshala]

Alex, they were posted up by their creators without attribution.

Just because you found them on a site without attribution does not automatically make them free for your use. That like saying that because you stole it, I can steal it too.

I don't know what the copyright status is for the images you are using, but unless you know for sure -- preferably from the artist/copyright holder -- what the status is, it is almost always best to assume they are covered by copyright and not in the public domain.