[–] redsedfred 0 points 19 points 19 points (+19|-0) ago
I want to believe, but it's hard not to be skeptical.
[–] didntsayeeeee 1 point 15 points 16 points (+16|-1) ago
Sigh. Read some more skeptical articles before you get excited. The scientific hype cycle makes me sad. This has FTL neutrinos (or cold fusion) written all over it.
The big red flag is that each time the experiment is performed more carefully, the effect is smaller. It's already a thousandth of what it was supposed to be. The latest actual research says "yeah we've checked a few things now, but there's still some effect from the wires which we haven't properly taken into account, maybe it's that".
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof, and the possibility of some experimental error is not even close to having been eliminated. Sorry.
[–] SongAboutYourPost 1 point 4 points 5 points (+5|-1) ago
it appears to function but they don't know how nor why.
Still... SIGN ME UP!
[–] RayLomas 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago (edited ago)
It would be lovely if it was true, but it isn't. The drive is neither confirmed, nor disproved - considering that it contradicts very basic laws of physics, "not being disproved" is a hell of achievement already.
The issue, though, is that the thrust is so tiny, that until it's tested in space, it won't be neither disproved or confirmed in a way that will end all speculations. That comes to the main problem - to reliably test it in space we'd need to move it reasonably far away from earth LEO (maybe GEO or L2) to avoid interference from debris and earth's magnetic field. We would need to supply a lot of power to it to be able to measure results (at least a strong RTG would be needed). This all means that it would be expensive as hell - and nobody wants to foot the bill to test a device that gets results just slightly above the measurement error levels...
[–] trolleyfan 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Except they haven't. All they've proved is that they haven't proved it doesn't work yet.
[–] Relapse 1 point 17 points 18 points (+18|-1) ago
Don't get ahead of yourself. This drive would change everything we think we know about physics. Some kind of measurement error is more likely. I choose to be skeptical until one is tested in space and we see it actually happening.
[–] Mr_YUP 3 points 1 point 4 points (+4|-3) ago
I thought they already had tested one in space
[–] flibolimay 0 points 6 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago
NASA tested one in a vacuum chamber, but no one has tested one in space yet.