3 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: xkcd: Quantum Vacuum Virtual Plasma
Thing is, VASIMR's reaction mass is already tiny, gives decent thrust, doesn't require physics to break itself, and is well on its way to actual use. It's not obvious that a reactionless drive with tiny thrust would actually be a practical improvement.
Attempts at reactionless drives and perpetual motion machines will come and go, but there's a whole bunch of science out there that actually works, and it's amazing.
Comment by hdooster at 06/08/2014 at 13:01 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
VASIMR is doing well indeed. But remember it started out as a concept as well.
Doesn't require physics to break itself
replace this with:
Requires us to rethink our models of physics
This alone is reason for great excitement. This thing isn't perpetual motion or other nonsense. I've yet to refresh my quantum mechanics so I only understand slight concepts of what *could* be going on.