This paper (non-paywall version)[1] is from last August.
It's another one of those phenomenon that's so near the noise threshold that it's hard to measure reliably. They get forces around 70 μN. This is very small, and although they have a balance sensitive enough to measure it, there are lots of effects which can produce tiny forces like that.
The experimental work described in the paper is disappointing, in that the original cavity system apparently had a Q of something like 100,000, but their system only has a Q of 50, because it's mistuned for the microwave oven magnetron they're using. ("Unfortunately, the absorption peak at the resonance we were aiming at was smaller then expected (probably also due to misalignments after soldering).") The highest thrust reported by anybody with this is 720 mN, but that was in air. They're almost four orders of magnitude below that, in vacuum. For reference, the ion thrusters on the Dawn spacecraft deliver 90mN.
If they had hardware that generated 720mN in air, and tried that in hard vacuum, that would be useful. (In air, all sorts of things, such as heating or electrostatic repulsion, can generate air movement and thus tiny amounts of thrust. So results in air are not too interesting.)
Paper cited by article does not confirm it works: "Our test compaign therefore cannnot confirm nor refute the claims of the EMDrive but intends to independantly assess possible side-effects in the measurement methods used so far"
tiny, tiny amount of thrust during large, large amounts of time = enormous amounts of propulsion...
I know article is awful, sorry about that; submited only just because I wanted to read more comments about EMDrives on HN as I think they are cool; and the way HN works old threads are never seen again by most users...
haha, no need to apologise, this site is full of educated people who make up their own mind. I think I snapped a little with my comment (mid way building an iPhone App so stressed) Apologies.
Stick a few of them on a generator's rotor so that they'll spin it when powered. Use the generated power to run them, and harvest the excess. Infinite free energy!
Best way to test the engine is for Elon Musk to make one and send it up on his rocket if it works then he can bring his timeline for mars down a few years.
If you have sure-fire evidence that this is indeed 'crackpot' then you should bring it forward otherwise you're offering an opinion minus pertinent observation or support. Perhaps I'm wrong but why should that be interesting enough to post here? Most of the British newspapers including the Guardian and Daily Mail provide an outlet for such comments.
It's another one of those phenomenon that's so near the noise threshold that it's hard to measure reliably. They get forces around 70 μN. This is very small, and although they have a balance sensitive enough to measure it, there are lots of effects which can produce tiny forces like that.
The experimental work described in the paper is disappointing, in that the original cavity system apparently had a Q of something like 100,000, but their system only has a Q of 50, because it's mistuned for the microwave oven magnetron they're using. ("Unfortunately, the absorption peak at the resonance we were aiming at was smaller then expected (probably also due to misalignments after soldering).") The highest thrust reported by anybody with this is 720 mN, but that was in air. They're almost four orders of magnitude below that, in vacuum. For reference, the ion thrusters on the Dawn spacecraft deliver 90mN.
If they had hardware that generated 720mN in air, and tried that in hard vacuum, that would be useful. (In air, all sorts of things, such as heating or electrostatic repulsion, can generate air movement and thus tiny amounts of thrust. So results in air are not too interesting.)
[1] http://moscow.sci-hub.bz/ded43880657f12f27fc596f46abbbfe6/10...