Month: October 2008

Hi Rambabu,

As per the budget, I will be buying a computer for the lab and have put together a quote on a system below.  It is a quad core system with 4GB of memory, 1TB harddrive and a 24″ LCD.

Unless I hear from you otherwise, I will be putting the order through tomorrow.

Once the computer arrives, I will bring it and a check for the remaining $8500 to the university.

What should I do for the operating system?  Does the university have a standard OS they use, like XP and can I get the academic price for it?  Otherwise, I will purchase Windows XP.

Hi Rambabu,

I noticed an update to the Wired article in regards to Shawyer testing for ion wind:

UPDATE: When I asked him about the possibility of “ion wind” being the real cause of thrust, Dr Shawyer patiently explained that it had been addressed at a very early stage:”Air currents from whatever source were eliminated in the first Proof of Concept project by testing the experimental thruster mounted in a hermetically sealed box. The experiment was reviewed and accepted by professional government scientists.” [The research was being supported by the British government at the time.]

He also points out that real ion drives need much higher voltage and that “Anyone who thinks they can create grammes of thrust from ion wind at the voltages we work at clearly doesn’t understand physics.” He does not believe a vacuum chamber test would show anything, as ion drives function in a vaccum and there would still be the question of wehther some ionised material was somehow being ejected. However, the hermetically sealed box test should have negated that possibility.

This seems to strengthen the case for independent testing. But would it convince the skeptics? I suspect that even if the Emdrive was propelling a space probe around the solar system there would still be some saying “Yeah, it works but it can’t be working the way he says it does…”

It is encouraging that Shawyer has tested the device in a sealed box but he is wrong when he says “He does not believe a vacuum chamber test would show anything, as ion drives function in a vacuum…”.  Only ion drives specifically built with propellant on board work in a vacuum.  The “lifter” based ion-wind type requires air to ionize and an episode of Mythbusters shows clearly that the ion-wind based “lifters” do not work in a vacuum.  Mythbusters talk about the Biefeld-Brown “lifter” effect.

Shawyer is correct that his apparatus has neither the significant kilo-volts required, nor are any of the external surfaces of the apparatus in a highly charged state, both required for the Biefeld-Brown effect.

Hi Rambabu,

Below is a revised and more general version of the funding proposal (proposal is available in the wiki).  Notable differences are that I moved the references to the end and expanded the section on the tests that would be carried out.  I also removed the funding requirements because I don’t know what the University requires, besides $7K for a two year license to CST’s MWS.

Can you think of any other tests we could do?  If an enclosed cavity hanging from a pendulum inside a Faraday cage or vacuum chamber still moves, that will be quite some result.

Does the University have or have access to a vacuum chamber?

After spending a few hours looking at all the funding requirements by the various agencies, I have narrow them down to two:

• Banting Research Foundation – The proposal seems to fit all the requirements of their foundation including the amount of money we need and who can apply, except they are not clear if they only fund medical research.  I have sent them an email, of which you should have been cc’d.
• Alberta Energy Research Institute – This one is not a good fit, but it might fit under their “hydrogen economy” funding program.

I had a short list of four other funding sources, but the problem is that one or more of their requirements disqualifies us.  Does the university have any access to the Canadian Foundation for Innovation?  It sounds like only University level institutions can apply.

I am thinking that finding funding maybe more about personal connections then cold-calling organizations.  You know anybody that might be interested in this type of research?

If funding is not forth coming, would it be possible to have one of your graduate students take on this project?  The material costs should negligible if I have the cavity welded externally and purchase the rest of the parts myself, i.e. another waveguide-to-n transition for the probe and power coupler.