EPISODE · Jan 18, 2021 · 42 MIN
Interstellar travel via propellant-less propulsion: The Mach Drive that NASA is funding
from TechFirst with John Koetsier · host John Koetsier
Imagine a "rocket" that only uses electricity. Have a ragtag group of physicists and engineers exploited a little-known feature of Einstein's equations to built a true propellant-less space drive that doesn't require reaction mass ... just electricity? James Woodward, physics professor emeritus at Fullerton, thinks so. NASA has funded new research into it, and the result if successful would be the ultimate EV ... an electric vehicle that not only can propel a space ship to the planets and the stars, but also lift off out of gravity wells like Earth's.
What this episode covers
Imagine a "rocket" that only uses electricity. Have a ragtag group of physicists and engineers exploited a little-known feature of Einstein's equations to built a true propellant-less space drive that doesn't require reaction mass ... just electricity? James Woodward, physics professor emeritus at Fullerton, thinks so. NASA has funded new research into it, and the result if successful would be the ultimate EV ... an electric vehicle that not only can propel a space ship to the planets and the stars, but also lift off out of gravity wells like Earth's.
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Interstellar travel via propellant-less propulsion: The Mach Drive that NASA is funding
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