The coming age of space colonization…the EmDrive system

The coming age of space colonization…the EmDrive system   

By E. Stanley Ukeni

In a recent novel by Journalist Julian Guthrie, the famed British cosmologist Stephen Hawking once again espoused his deeply held conviction that the future survival of the human race lies in the exploration and colonization of space. Professor Hawking has consistently advocated the importance of space exploration as a mean of ensuring the survival of humanity, far into the future.

For those of us unfamiliar with Professor Stephan Hawking, he is a world renowned theoretical physicist who has long suffered from a rare early-onset of slow-progressing form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) that has left him paralyzed—leaving him only able to communicate using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating computer device attached to his wheelchair.

In the book by Julian Guthrie, the Oxford born scientist writes, “I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as a sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers…”

He continues, “I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go to space.”

He further advised, “We need to inspire the next generation to become engaged in space and in science in general, to ask questions. What will we find when we go to space? Is there alien life or are we alone? What will a sunset on Mars look like…”

In fact, in 2013, the seventy-one year-old Stephen Hawking notably declared, at a lecture in Los Angeles that, ‘it is unlikely that humanity would survive another one thousand years without spreading out beyond the confines of our fragile planet’. This was just one of the numerous times that the renowned theoretical physicist had postulated that, some sort of cataclysmic disaster, either natural or manmade, will cause the annihilation  of all life on earth if humanity does not fan-out across the universe.

These may sound like a gloomed outlook of the future of humanity, but I for one think it’s more of a forward-thinking view of a possible challenge and solution to humankind’s proven inability to foreseeing an unintended consequence of its insatiable desire for dominion, and greed.

I recently attempted to initiate a conversation with this dude, who I met at a coffee shop, about how appalled I was at Africa’s limited role in advancing the current effort at space exploration. He was an articulate, seemingly upper middle-class African in his mid to late thirties, so I thought he would at least offer a meaningful insight on the subject.

I was so wrong to think that. He was so averse to the notion of expending any amount of resources to find habitable planets for human colonization, when as he puts it, ‘the world has not solved the problem of hunger’. He was so adamant and uninterested in a contrary opinion or point of view that we could not even have a meaningful conversation on the topic.

At the time, I felt it was such a shame that some of us are so closed-minded that we would not even consider entertaining any idea that challenges our cherished notions—even if such an opinion has some merit for consideration. I have to admit that it was an eye-opener to encounter one of the unyielding contrarians who are of the school of thought that humanity should waste the finite resources of our planet on the fools-errand of space exploration. 

My attempt at a conversation with this naysayer got me thinking about the practicality of human exploration of deep space. The issue of how to source fuel for a return trip to a distant planet engaged my imagination for a period. I figured that without a viable and practical solution to this problem, I might as well ascribe to the worldview that my coffee shop acquaintance espoused.  It was while I was musing about this issue that I came across an article about a new experimental technology that held a promise of solving this conundrum of practical manned-deep space exploration.  

The technology is a controversial EmDrive Space Propulsion System which incidentally, the United States Air Force and the China Academy of Space technology are presently testing hybrid versions of the revolutionary technology. Imagine, this futuristic space propulsion engine, when eventually actualized, holds the promise of powering a manned-space mission to Mars and back in a matter of weeks. This once science-fiction idea is close to becoming science-fact    

A Radio Frequency (RF) Resonant Cavity Thruster, equally known as an EmDrive is a controversial type of Electromagnetic Thruster where an anisotropicelectromagnetic field inside the microwave cavity purportedly produces measurable thrust.

The EmDrive was invented by a British scientist, Roger Shawyer in 2001. His invention, called EmDrive, is a design with a conical cavity that is based on the theory of special relativity. His model works by converting electricity into microwaves and then fired within a truncated cone-shaped closed metal cavity, causing the microwave particles to exert more force on the flat surface at the large end of the cone thereby generating thrust. Guido Fetta later invented the Cannae Drive—with a pillbox-shaped cavity. However, since 2008, a number of physicists have tested their own models of the Radio Frequency (RF) Resonant Cavity Thruster.  

Critics of this unorthodox technology have argued that, a reactionless drive, which does not expel propellant in order to produce thrust, would violate Newton’s Third law of conservation of momentum and as such impossible under known scientific norms—thus labeling the hypothesis pseudoscience. However, Shawyer counters this assertion by insisting that his invention conforms to the fundamental laws of physics involving the theory of special relativity. Indeed, all the scientists who are working on similar technology maintain that Radio Frequency (RF) Resonant Cavity Thruster does in fact conform to the law of conservation of momentum.  

Since 2014, a team at NASA known as the Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory or Eagleworks Laboratories, began testing Resonant Cavity Thrusters of their own design, and have been sharing some of their results with the broader scientific community. In November of 2016, they published their first peer-reviewed paper on this work, in the Journal of Propulsion and Power— https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.B36120  

Even as NASA announced, in February 22, 2017, of the discovery of seven, mostly Earth-size Exoplanets, in the habitable zone of a single star, called TRAPPIST-1—all of them with the potential for water on their surface, we should all be heartened to know that the technology to get us there may be just around the corner.      

In closing, I would like to hope that, as humanity advances onto the next frontier of human advancement, Africans would step-up and take on a pioneering role among the emerging deep-spacefarers. It’s important that Africa start a conversation about its role in this emerging frontier of human endeavor.

Authored by E. Stanley Ukeni, © 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material and other articles or stories posted on this blog site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed, in whole or in part, without prior expressed written permission from the author, E. Stanley Ukeni.

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Photo credit: NASA