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Thread: The thrust of curiosity that leads men to try to go where no one has gone before. (The Space thread)

  1. #111
    Quote Originally Posted by overpowered View Post
    ...Maybe we'll see if this EM drive is anything other than the bullshit that it seems to be.
    Is it? From everything I've read, it appears that the tests (independent ones run in the US, UK, and China) all seem to show two things:
    1. It works.
    2. Science cannot explain why.


    Now I know this rocket science is WAY above my head, but I not-so-modestly consider myself an educated man (which also means that this can make me the most dangerous of uneducated men). What do you think about it makes it bollocks? Not trying to start a debate... I'm just trying to absorb as many theories as possible about this thing.

    For me, the EM drive sounds sexy. Traveling over 9% of the speed of Light! If this thing is for real, it's a gateway into a whole new future.

    But science is rarely sexy.

  2. #112
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    Except in the movies with scantily clad women.

  3. #113
    What fresh hell is this? overpowered's Avatar
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    I'm skeptical when people start claiming that they are violating Newton's laws of motion.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansie...nt-warp-drive/

    We're going to need to see extraordinary evidence that it really works before we start revising the laws of motion.

  4. #114
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    Quote Originally Posted by JSGeneral View Post
    Is it? From everything I've read, it appears that the tests (independent ones run in the US, UK, and China) all seem to show two things:
    1. It works.
    2. Science cannot explain why.


    Now I know this rocket science is WAY above my head, but I not-so-modestly consider myself an educated man (which also means that this can make me the most dangerous of uneducated men). What do you think about it makes it bollocks? Not trying to start a debate... I'm just trying to absorb as many theories as possible about this thing.

    For me, the EM drive sounds sexy. Traveling over 9% of the speed of Light! If this thing is for real, it's a gateway into a whole new future.

    But science is rarely sexy.
    When there are no theories for you to absorb, what do you want to absorb?

    I think this is kinda like discovering for the 1st time that time is relative, without Einstien's theory of relativity. Scientists have discovered something odd, but have no way to explain nor predict any of their discoveries. Anyway, I'm sure they'll figure it out somehow if the discovery is really true.

  5. #115
    Senior Member Leon's Avatar
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    The great thing about science, is that it turns out we don't know everything.

  6. #116
    What fresh hell is this? overpowered's Avatar
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    True, and if they come up with extraordinary proof, I will applaud them. I'm just skeptical at this point. We haven't really seen the proof.

  7. #117
    Quote Originally Posted by overpowered View Post
    True, and if they come up with extraordinary proof, I will applaud them. I'm just skeptical at this point. We haven't really seen the proof.
    Totally fair. Without skeptics, science would NEVER advance. Science would never be challenged, if there are only those with blind faith and those others who are excited and want to believe. Keep them honest!

  8. #118
    Junior Potato
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    It's the second-most full of shit story this week.

    The first-most, of course, being the beard-poo story.

  9. #119
    What fresh hell is this? overpowered's Avatar
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    The FACTS as we currently know them about the EmDrive and Cannae Drive

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/...hem_about_the/

  10. #120
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    Quote Originally Posted by overpowered View Post
    I just looked it up and high altitude balloons can sometimes get as high as 36km though more typically pop at about 30km. The Kármán line is 100km, so I think it's probably more like 70km short.

    Apparently the BU60-1 balloon made it to 53km. It was specially made by a team trying to set new records; not your typical off the shelf weather balloon.
    In reality the distinction between the atmosphere and space is an arbitrary one. Above 20km there's very little that resembles air and many spy satellites come closer than 100km during their orbit.

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