Day 14 - 4/17/2017 - Atlanta - Jamie & The EM Drive

Jamie & His Frustum: The Copper & White Cylinder to the Left

Jamie & the EM Drive has nothing to do with Jem and the Holograms, a movie that granddaughter Elise really wanted to see, and I never saw so much glitter in my life.

Jamie is Jamie Ciomperlik, a young man who is working to change our access to the universe. No foolin'.

Some of you have already been been perplexed with my explanations of the EM Drive that I have been following closely for over 2 years (Thank you Alex Benenson, I am forever in your debt).

When you fire a rocket, the burning of the fuels rushes out through the tail of the rocket in a mighty roar, sometimes generating millions of pounds of thrust. Look at the picture: The thrust forces the rocket to go up, the opposite of the direction of the fireball leaving the tail. This is a result of one of the most momentous insights ever made by the human race. Sir Issac Newton who said simply: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

That, and his other insights, are greatly responsible for what we call physics today.

Yes, it IS rocket science.

Many years ago, before there were drones you could buy on Amazon, Jamie made his own quad-copter, complete with electronic control circuits, on his own. He showed it to me with well deserved pride.

He told me that his interest in electromagnetic drives began some years ago when he tried to develop a propulsion system that used the earths magnetic fields to generate thrust. Didn't work, but it also didn't deter him.

Roger Shawyer, an engineer with microwave satellite experience, first proposed and developed the Electro-Magnetic Drive in 2001. The fundamental difference is that the EM Drive appears to violate the laws that Newton laid down over 300 years ago. There appears to be thrust, with no exhaust, powered only by electricity. A sealed contained system with no apparent exhaust. That is a VERY BIG deal.

Even though NASA researchers performed tests and measured thrust in a published peer-reviewed journal, the vast majority of scientists are still unconvinced.

A sealed system that uses electricity, not tons of rocket fuel, is a game changer. One thing humans do exceedingly well is generating electricity. Power plants, windmills, fuel cells and small scale nuclear reactors already used in spacecraft all generate electricity easily.

As Michelle Broyles, another EM investigator pointed out, what they are trying to measure is thrust equivalent to the weight of a single snowflake.

Once in space, An EM Drive generating very small amount of continually operating thrust, cuts travel time to Mars from around 160 days to maybe a couple of weeks. Travel to our nearest star neighbors by unmanned spacecraft becomes possible.

So today Jamie graciously allowed me to visit and see his apparatus. He is meticulous in his work and has worked to simplify, simplify and improve, and scientists from around the world have taken notice. The wires and boxes you see on the top beam are all of the electronics and battery needed to operate the device. He's also programming computerized controls to maximize the performance of the microwave generator.

Yeah, microwaves, operating at frequencies close to that of your microwave oven, but much better controlled and more sophisticated. Physicists and Engineers playing around with microwave ovens. You never know where inspiration can come from.

Jamie showed me his control systems, amplifiers, damping systems and much more too technical to relate. He fired up the system to show me, not as a fully planned test.

There appeared to be a thrust signature.

People like Jamie, Michelle, Dave Distler, Paul March, Jose Rodal, Todd Desiato, Phil Wilson and many others is why I have hope for the human race.

Maybe some day Jamie will sit in the Captains chair and say "Make it so."