Significant resources to make Mach Effect Propulsion might have spaceship propulsion within ten years.
The theme for Space Technology Applications International Forum II in 2013 was: when will it be possible to build craft capable of reaching the stars in reasonable lengths of time? "Reasonable" was understood to be significantly less than a human lifetime. That can only be done by implementing "exotic" technologies that are presently thought to be the stuff of science fiction. But there is at least one proposal may make such technologies practicable. It rests on "Mach's principle" as Einstein called it. This paper, which captures the contents of the keynote talk at that conference, recapitulates how we have reached our present pass, and tells of recent experimental developments in the "Mach effects" project. Though a small-scale, table top project, steady progress has been made. For example, switching transients that may have propulsive applications are reported here. Post conference comments on claims that the quantum vacuum can be exploited for propulsive purposes are included. It is shown that such speculations are without merit.
The theory and experiments for Mach Effect Thrusters look good and are worth scaling. If it proves out and does scale with better materials and higher power levels (into the megawatt ranges) then it could enable propellantless propulsion up to 1G space drive and beyond.
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The Mach Effect Thruster (MET) is a device which uses Machs principle in Einsteins general relativity to produce a constant acceleration in a device which is undergoing internal energy changes and mass fluctuations. Machs principle is a statement that the inertia of a body is the result of the gravitational interaction of the body with the rest of the mass-energy in the universe. The MET device requires no fuel as a propellant, it just needs electric power of 100-200 Watts to operate. The thrusts at the present time are small of the order of a few micro-Newtons. The first part of the paper is devoted to experiment and a description of the MET device and apparatus for measuring thrusts. The second half of the paper, we re-introduce the idea of advanced waves, by summarizing Dirac, Wheeler-Feynman and Hoyl-Narlikar. We show how Woodward's mass fluctuation formula can be derived from first principles using the Hoyl-Narlikar (HN) theory which is a fully Machian version of Einstein's relativity. HN theory reduces to Einstein's field equations in the limit of smooth fluid distribution of matter and a simple coordinate transformation.
A series of tests conducted to explore the origin of the thrust signals have been performed and described, and two of those tests – the most likely spurious sources of thrust signals – are considered in some detail. The thrust signals seen, if genuine Mach effects, suggest that "advanced and exotic" propulsion can be achieved with realistic resources. Advanced and exotic means propellentless high acceleration up to near light speed and even possible stargate wormholes. Recent experiments produced 2-3 micronewtons and a refined theoretical model now more closely expects 3.2 micronewtons based upon the materials and other methods used in this case.
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Conclusions
It is shown that if Mach's principle is taken seriously and the inertia of a body can be described as the interaction of the body with the rest of the universe then the advanced and retarded fields transmitted between the particle and the universe can be used to solve for the force observed in the Mach Effect drive experiments.
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One-G constant acceleration and deceleration space drive would mean Earth-to-moon in 4 hours, Earth to Mars in 2-5 days, Earth to Saturn in 8-9 days.
The Space Studies Institute is raising $42,000 support Mach Effect Propulsion. They will provide the Woodward Lab at CalState Fullerton the new instrumentation, computers and power supplies that Emeritus Professor Jim Woodward and his colleague Professor Heidi Fearn need to continue their research on Mach Effect propulsion. Funds will be used by SSI to purchase new, larger power supplies and instrumentation for the lab, as well as to fabricate devices to be sent to other labs for replication. All donations are tax-deductible.
A book by Professor Jim Woodward, Making Starships and Stargates: The Science of Interstellar Transport and Absurdly Benign Wormholes (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration), has further heightened interest in "exotic" physics propulsion concepts.
While no one can predict if or when these technologies might become practical, we can say for certain that not funding basic research will consign any breakthroughs to the realm of science fiction forever.
Nextbigfuture has been following the Woodward Mach Effect Propulsion work and has dozens of articles
Mach's Principle and the Propulsion Problem
James Woodward explains several general relativity papers to explain how Mach effect could be used for propulsion for Stargates.
How one views the propulsion problem depends on how ambitious one is. The least ambitious version deals with the problem that serious deep space travel is all but made impossible by the requirement that one take along ridiculous amounts of propellant to get anywhere interesting in a reasonable amount of time. This version of the problem can be stated as: Is there a way to accelerate an object without expelling material propellant? The more ambitious version of the problem addresses the issue of whether it is possible to make practicable wormholes. These have been known since the work of Morris and Thorne in 1988 to require a Jupiter mass of negative restmass material confined in the throat of the wormhole. Mach's principle leads to the prediction of transient effects that can be used to address both versions of the propulsion problem.
These effects and their implications are briefly reviewed. An experiment designed to test for the presence of Mach effects that may be applicable to the less ambitious version of the propulsion problem is then described. The effect in question is a mass fluctuation that results when an object is accelerated while its internal energy is changing. It consists of accelerating a capacitor with a piezoelectric actuator as the capacitor is driven with an alternating voltage to produce the changing internal energy needed.
Excerpt from "Ancient Aliens: Aliens and Stargates", Season 6, Episode 12, January 24, 2014.
The video thumbnail is from the front cover of Jim Woodward's book "Making Starships and Stargates: The Science of Interstellar Transport and Absurdly Benign Wormholes", Springer Publishing, 2013:
http://vimeo.com/85105575
http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/12/significant-resources-to-make-mach.html