It's hard to believe... If all is well, according to Wired, before mankind is just about to open a new era of space travel.
EmDrive (abbr. of "electromagnetic engine") uses an electromagnetic microwave cavity for the direct conversion of energy into thrust without having to use fuel. First proposed Satellite Propulsion Research, a British research company, founded by aerospace engineer Roger Scheuer, the concept of the EmDrive was expected for the most part rejected by the scientific community as violating the laws of physics, including the law of conservation of momentum.
However, NASA Eagleworks under the direction of Harold white at the Johnson Space center investigated the EmDrive and presented encouraging test results in 2014 at the 50th Joint Propulsion Conference.
White suggested that the thrust generated by the EmDrive virtual particles in the quantum vacuum that extract fuel from the very fabric of space-time and eliminate the need for fuel. Although many scholars criticized the theoretical model white, others think he's at least pointing in the right direction.
Cholera often rejected research institutions, because it was not peer-reviewed scientific publications, but the white and Tamara track record is impeccable, so to deny them out of idle contempt impossible. Physics is an experimental science, and the fact that the EmDrive works, confirmed in the laboratory. "For the first time this involved someone with a well-equipped laboratory and with a strong background excluding the error in the experiment, not engineers who can unconsciously wishful thinking," writes Wired, referring to the work of Tamara.
"Our measurements confirm the thrust expected from the previous statements, after careful investigation of thermal and electromagnetic interference, the scientists write. — If successful, it could revolutionize space travel."
Despite sensational statements that hit the press, EmDrive is not a "warp drive" travel faster than the speed of light. It can, however, if you follow the current experimental evidence, to be a revolutionary development to create faster and cheaper space transport. EmDrive could reach Pluto in less than 18 months and explore the moons of Saturn in just three years.
"Light damage to our physical theories is quite acceptable, if we will have a working space drive" — joking experts. And it's hard to disagree.