My thoughts exactly. Why don't they crowdfund this? For about $200k they could probably stick a prototype on a nanosat and just hit go. With the right tracking equipment the results should be pretty conclusive.
From my limited understanding, it seems that the current prototype requires a ton of power (far more than you could fit in a nanosat) and produces a miniscule amount of thrust (even in space with a nanosat it might not move much).
