> The article is not very clear, and has no technical details, and has not a reference
to a peer review journal article. So it is very difficult to know if this theoretical device really works.
> I'm not sure, but it even looks like a perpetual motion example. (But it could be a problem with the press report.)
> And the article says that is a variation of the "Differential sail", but the most clear reference in Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Propulsion_Physics.... ) has many proposed devices that are very controversial and probably violates some physics laws.
This new article has no more information, I still can’t find a published article (or a prototype).
After reading the past article and the article linked from digitaljournal ( http://digitaljournal.com/article/325785 ), I think that the idea is that the device create photons using the dynamic Casimiri effect and then release them as propulsion. So it doesn’t release anything “material” like the combusted fuel in a normal rocket. The main question is: Is this more efficient than pointing a laser backwards? As the light of the laser goes backward the spacecraft is affected by a (small) forward force. And nothing “material” is released. Obviously you need a power source for the laser or for the proposed device. The problem is “only” the efficiency (and size, weight, cost, durability, ...).
> The article is not very clear, and has no technical details, and has not a reference to a peer review journal article. So it is very difficult to know if this theoretical device really works.
> I'm not sure, but it even looks like a perpetual motion example. (But it could be a problem with the press report.)
> And the article says that is a variation of the "Differential sail", but the most clear reference in Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Propulsion_Physics.... ) has many proposed devices that are very controversial and probably violates some physics laws.
This new article has no more information, I still can’t find a published article (or a prototype).
After reading the past article and the article linked from digitaljournal ( http://digitaljournal.com/article/325785 ), I think that the idea is that the device create photons using the dynamic Casimiri effect and then release them as propulsion. So it doesn’t release anything “material” like the combusted fuel in a normal rocket. The main question is: Is this more efficient than pointing a laser backwards? As the light of the laser goes backward the spacecraft is affected by a (small) forward force. And nothing “material” is released. Obviously you need a power source for the laser or for the proposed device. The problem is “only” the efficiency (and size, weight, cost, durability, ...).