iflscience
http://www.iflscience.com/physics/controversial-em-drive-may-be-undergoing-peer-review-right-now

Controversial "Warp Drive" To Finally Undergo Peer Review

March 26, 2016 | by Robin Andrews


photo credit: This would be amazing if it exists – but, at the moment, it doesn't. 3000ad/Shutterstock

The so-called electromagnetic (EM) drive, which is loosely connected to NASA, is a hypothetical form of spacefaring propulsion that uses microwaves in a small chamber in order to produce thrust. Some in the media have mischievously claimed that this drive will actually be able to reach speeds wherein it will warp space and time around it.

So, has NASA really invented a warp drive? No, of course it hasn’t – but that won’t stop it being peer reviewed, according to a comment made by one of its chief architects on the NASA Spaceflight forum last week. Among all the cloak-and-dagger mystery surrounding the EM drive, a study written about it may have been sent out to a journal for some rigorous scientific examination.

There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding this drive. Back in 2011, NASA announced that they were implementing an advanced propulsion physics laboratory. Colloquially known as “Eagleworks,” it was designed to look into the possibilities of constructing systems capable of sending humans to the furthest, deepest, darkest regions of space.

One of the projects to emerge from this is the EM drive. The NASA-based group claimed there was a way to use microwaves to fire a craft through space without needing a heavy propellant. Not only does this mechanism appear to upend certain physical laws, but additional claims were made all across the wilderness of the Internet that during the testing of the drive, the researchers noticed that the fabric of space was being warped around it – hence, the “warp drive.” NASA, perturbed by all these rumors, actually came out and said that they’re not working on a warp drive.



The laws of physics are notoriously hard to break. Markus Gann/Shutterstock

Generating thrust without a propellant breaks the law of the conservation of momentum; with no pushback by any sort of propellant, you can’t get thrust. Claiming you can is like saying you can get to the Moon by just sitting in a tin can and leaning against the front end of it from the inside – believe it or not, this won’t work. So how on Earth this mechanism could hope to generate faster-than-light travel, then, is anyone's guess.

Nevertheless, Paul March, one of the Eagleworks researchers, recently claimed that they have still somehow developed a propellant-lacking thrust system in a space-like vacuum. Unfortunately, there weren’t any peer reviewed studies to back this up, and to date, there has been absolutely no confirmation that the EM drive has broken the laws of physics.

However, responding to a thread discussing the fate of Eagleworks and the EM drive, March told NASA Spaceflight forum users to “please have patience about when our next EM paper is going to be published.” He then noted that “peer reviews are glacially slow,” which could imply that one of their papers is currently undergoing the peer review process.

Without any additional information, it’s completely uncertain as to what Eagleworks researchers may or may not have been discovered, and what may be described in this EM drive study. Watch this space, but as always, remain skeptical – it’s not easy to generate thrust without a propellant or break the speed of light, after all.










Hssszn
http://hssszn.com/?p=10421

備受爭議的「曲速引擎」終於要接受同行評審了



所謂[#001eff]電磁驅動(electromagnetic drive, EM drive)[/#001eff](http://hssszn.com/?p=4756)，被零散地牽扯到NASA。它是一種宇宙飛行推進的理論形式，在一個小密閉空間內使用微波，來產生推動力。一些媒體人士[#001eff]戲稱[/#001eff](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3080846/Fly-moon-FOUR-hours-British-scientist-says-s-secret-Star-Trek-s-wrap-speed.html)這個驅動力實際上能夠達到扭曲它周圍時空的速度。

那麼，NASA真的發明了[#001eff]曲速引擎[/#001eff](http://hssszn.com/?p=9610)嗎？根據一份上周在[#001eff]NASA太空飛行論壇(NASA Spaceflight forum)[/#001eff](http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39772.msg1504707#msg1504707)的曲速引擎首席結構師之一的評論是沒有，當然沒有！ 但這不會停止它接受同行評審，在所有圍繞曲速引擎的陰謀神秘當中，一份有關它的[#001eff]研究[/#001eff](http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/news/a20076/the-emdrive-will-undergo-peer-review-that-it-wont-pass/)已經被送到一份期刊，接受一些嚴苛的科學檢驗。

有一大堆爭議圍繞在曲速引擎。回到2011年，NASA宣布他們正在設置一個先進推進力物理實驗室，通俗的名稱為[#001eff]”鷹工廠(Eagleworks)”[/#001eff](http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20110023492)。它被設計來研究一個系統的可能性，這個系統能夠把人類送到最遠、最深、最暗的太空地區。



電磁引擎是從Eagleworks浮現的計畫之一。以NASA為班底的一群人宣稱，有一種方法利用微波來點燃太空船引擎穿梭太空，而不需要龐大的推進燃料。在測試引擎期間，這項宣稱傳遍[#001eff]整個網路[/#001eff](http://www.techtimes.com/articles/50361/20150504/nasa-emdrive-one-step-closer-reality-warp-theoretically-possible.htm)，研究人員注意到太空的結構已經在它周圍被扭曲，"曲速引擎"從此開始。

他們真的已經發現到一種方法以超光速來旅行嗎？噢！還沒有。沒有推進燃料而產生推力是違反[#001eff]動量守恆定律(law of conservation of momentum)[/#001eff](http://mashable.com/2014/08/02/emdrive-mars-momentum/#J3juZ8PgjuqS)，沒有任何推進劑的往後推，你不會得到推力。宣稱你能，就像是僅僅坐在一個錫罐裡，從內部向前倚靠在它的前緣，你就能夠到達月球。信不信由你，這樣是行不通的。當時，有太多關於超光速旅行的理論。



然而，Eagleworks研究人員之一的Paul March最近[#001eff]宣稱[/#001eff](http://www.wired.com/2015/05/nasa-warp-drive-yeah-still-poppycock/)，他們依然以某種方法來發展一個在像太空的真空裡的無推進燃料推進系統。不幸的是，沒有任何同行評論的研究來支持。截至目前為止，沒有確切地證實電磁引擎違反物理定律。NASA被所有這些謠言所困擾，甚至出來說他們沒有在[#001eff]研發曲速引擎[/#001eff](http://hssszn.com/?p=7367)。

然而，回應討論Eagleworks的命運和電磁引擎的話題，March告訴NASA太空飛行論壇的成員："請有耐心等待我們下一次的電磁引擎論文發表。然後他提到：同行評論是相當的慢。" 可能暗示著一份他們的論文，目前正在進行同行評論。

沒有任何額外的資訊，完全無法確定Eagleworks研究人員有沒有發現到什麼？以及這項電磁引擎研究會描述什麼？但和平常一樣，看著這個太空，它依舊是可疑的，畢竟要[#001eff]打破光速[/#001eff](http://hssszn.com/?p=8880)是不容易的。

來源: [#001eff]Iflscience[/#001eff](http://www.iflscience.com/physics/controversial-em-drive-may-be-undergoing-peer-review-right-now)