Electromagnetic Propulsion Thoughts and David Goodwin....space travel

I was talking to my step son this afternoon about a show he watched in class today, by Bill Nye, about magnets and he brought up electromagnets. For some reason my brain immediately jumped to using them in space travel. When I got home I started "Googling" electromagnetic propulsion systems. It appears they have been talked about for some time, but one story really caught my attention.

How Electromagnetic Propulsion Will Work

When cooled to extremely low temperatures, electromagnets demonstrate an unusual behavior: For the first few nanoseconds after electricity is applied to them, they vibrate. David Goodwin, a program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics, proposes that if this vibration can be contained in one direction, it could provide enough of a jolt to send spacecraft farther and faster into space than any other propulsion method in development.

In the mid-1990s, Goodwin chaired a session for NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project, which is working to design propulsion systems that have no propellant, use a very high energy system and can eventually overcome inertia.

NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics


Now the article itself is very interesting to anyone that likes to dream of space travel. While reading the article is speaks a lot about nuclear power, in collusion with electromagnets, being a large part of being able to travel large distances.

The U.S. Department of Energy also is working on plans for a nuclear space reactor for NASA. Goodwin believes that this reactor could be used to power the electromagnetic-propulsion system. The DOE is working to secure funding from NASA, and a 300-kilowatt reactor could be ready by 2006. The propulsion system would be configured to convert the thermal power generated by the reactor into electric power.
"For deep space, Mars and beyond, you pretty much need to go nuclear if you are going to move any mass," Goodwin said.

My reason for bringing this tidbit up is because of all the UFO sitings and incidents around nuclear facilities, test sites and rocket launches. If these sitings are indeed real and truly involve E.T. life then nuclear power must have some interest to universal travelers. I have read numerous threads on ATS about the theories of magnetism and perpetual energy/motion as well as theories on how this may be involved in space travel for UFO's.

Now I know this is in the science and tech forum and I am bringing up UFO's, but this is really a tech related idea and somewhat of a question....really more of me just throwing an idea out there that popped in my head today.

If these are the two ways that NASA and others have looked at travelling large distances in our universe (Electromagnet propulsions and nuclear energy), then would it be a great leap to say that this is why there is an interest in our nuclear programs, especially those that involve flight, by E.T. life? And would it also be a great leap to suggest that we are actually on the right track and this is why there is such an interest? Could it be that electromagnetic propulsion with nuclear power is the beginning to the key of long distance travel in space by us and that has E.T. life either worried or interested to see if we can accomplish it?

Just a thought that ran through the head today so please don't shoot me for sharing with those that I fully expect to give me unbiased and straight forward answers.

I am no scientist and only know what I have read......well not a scientist in the nuclear or electromagnetic field anyway.....

P.S. Read as much as you can on David Goodwin....fascinating scientist with a LOT of great ideas and very influential in the scientific energy arena. He works for the US Department of Energy ASCR (Advanced Scientific Computing Research) and is the Program Manager for the NERSC (National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center) and the ALCC (ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge).

ASCR

NERSC

ALCC

And now that I think about it a bit more, isn't it precisely when we (and I say we being the US) become interested in something that we begin to take interest or interfere. For example every other country's nuclear program or space program or weapons program, etc.....

Would it be that far of a stretch to believe that is the reason for many of the sitings that are truly of E.T. nature (for those of us that believe they really exist that is) ? While I believe in E.T. life, I don't for half of a second believe that all or even most sitings are actually valid....I believe they are very few and far between compared to what is reported.

Again...just a crazy thought that I couldn't let go of and happened so quickly and fluidly that I could not ignore it today.

Skeptics of such a system say that all Goodwin will accomplish is to vibrate the magnet very rapidly, but it won't go anywhere. Goodwin admits that there's no evidence yet that his propulsion system will work. "It is highly speculative, and on my most wildly optimistic days, I think there's one chance in 10 that it might work," said Goodwin.

Spaceships powered or flown the electromagnetic propulsion have been an idea for years in science fiction although much different than the form in the OP. As far as how this engine will work, I don't entirely understand how you get an electromagnet to "vibrate in one direction"...

The explanation was a little weak.

All the talk about ETs is speculative since we've yet to have any confirming evidence that such things are in fact ET as opposed to just being some other unexplained and possibly as of yet understood natural phenomenon.

Regarding propulsion systems, it was my understanding that the next big investment in high-energy propulsion, especially as to how it applies to nuclear energy would be the Fusion Rocket, which to my understanding is on the table as a potential real candidate for space travel.

A 6 month journey to Mars could be cut down to 6 weeks with a Fusion Rocket.

Then, there's that whole thing with the Warp Drive if the problem with energy requirements and a few other engineering hurdles can be gotten over.

No it won't.
Electrostatic is the word and you will not hear of any working with that type
of electricity. This is what Tesla worked with while others went into the radio
news and entertainment business.

reply to post by Vasa Croe


Check out EMDrive for a real working EM drive. This guys research has been funded by the UK government.

Chinese university replication paper (pdf)

Apparently he has undertaken a 'Technology Transfer' to Boeing.

Here is a presentation (pdf) on his 2nd generation system.

reply to post by Vasa Croe


If another race can travel here from another star system, then their propulsion & power generation methods will make nuclear power stations look like nothing more than the equivalent of a portable power pack to them.

In the mean time, while awaiting more exotic concepts we could be using:

Nuclear Thermal (en.wikipedia.org...)
Nuclear VASIMR (www.adastrarocket.com...)

In realistic timescales we need to get over the PR problems with fission reactors in space or we aren't accomplishing much.

reply to post by Druscilla


Yes. Warp drive essentially gravitic/ time propulsion and would be a great candidate
for future space travel.

Originally posted by EasyPleaseMe
reply to post by Vasa Croe

 

Check out EMDrive for a real working EM drive. This guys research has been funded by the UK government.

Chinese university replication paper (pdf)

Apparently he has undertaken a 'Technology Transfer' to Boeing.

Here is a presentation (pdf) on his 2nd generation system.

Great links and read....thanks!

Originally posted by Druscilla

All the talk about ETs is speculative since we've yet to have any confirming evidence that such things are in fact ET as opposed to just being some other unexplained and possibly as of yet understood natural phenomenon.

Regarding propulsion systems, it was my understanding that the next big investment in high-energy propulsion, especially as to how it applies to nuclear energy would be the Fusion Rocket, which to my understanding is on the table as a potential real candidate for space travel.

A 6 month journey to Mars could be cut down to 6 weeks with a Fusion Rocket.

Then, there's that whole thing with the Warp Drive if the problem with energy requirements and a few other engineering hurdles can be gotten over.

Thanks for the links! Fusion Rocket link is great.....have not seen that before though I have heard a bit about it. From 6 months to 6 weeks would indeed be a game changer.

Originally posted by justwokeup
In the mean time, while awaiting more exotic concepts we could be using:

Nuclear Thermal (en.wikipedia.org...)
Nuclear VASIMR (www.adastrarocket.com...)

In realistic timescales we need to get over the PR problems with fission reactors in space or we aren't accomplishing much.

That VASIMR link had a great natgeo video....thanks!

Originally posted by Angelic Resurrection
reply to post by Druscilla

 

Yes. Warp drive essentially gravitic/ time propulsion and would be a great candidate
for future space travel.

Once we get advanced enough for FTL, then we will get something faster, less resource intensive, safer & easier to manage.

If it turns out that it's the only way for us to explore parts of our galaxy, then we should of course go for it, but hopefully something else comes along in the meantime.