SpaceX Transporter 9 – Quantum Drive [Live: 11.11.23; 18:49 UTC]

6 months ago (Edited)

SpaceX is regularly offering ride-share missions where companies can get their experiments and satellites into orbit. Most of these are very small satellites.

This mission carries 109 payloads. Deployment of all satellites will take around 30 minutes.

One experiment is particularly interesting because the company claims that it might break physics.

It is a Quantum Drive engine for satellites. The claim is that this propulsion system will not require any kind of fuel, only electricity.

This would extend the lifespan of space machines tremendously. It would also reduce space junk and increase payloads of satellites. It could also be used as a perpetual space tug which lowers defunct space objects into orbits from where they can decay faster and in a more planned fashion.

Summary by the Electric Viking: Quantum drive with 'limitless power' from Sun flies to orbit on SpaceX rocket

Press release by IVO Ltd: IVO Ltd. to Launch Quantum Drive Pure Electric Satellite Thruster into Orbit on SpaceX Transporter 8 with partner Rogue Space Systems
The company claims that it has cracked a long theorized about concept of quantum inertia and was able to validate it in lab settings on earth.

They say quantized inertia violates Newton’s First Law.
As McCulloch puts it:

Quantised inertia explains inertia, for the first time, by combining relativity and quantum mechanics.

According to relativity, an accelerating object will see a Rindler horizon in the direction opposite to that of its acceleration vector. This is because information travels at the speed of light.
An accelerating object will see itself surrounded by so-called Unruh radiation. The horizon splits virtual particles, so that they become real radiation.

Quantized Inertia combines these two predictions by saying that the horizon damps (reduces) the Unruh radiation on one side of the object. The resulting gradient in the quantum vacuum pushes the object back against it acceleration, explaining inertia

Source: About Quantized Inertia

From 2007 onwards, McCulloch has published many papers about his theory of Quantized Inertia. A collection can be found at: https://quantizedinertia.com/papers/

These are extraordinary claims. Some might remember similar claims about creating energy from electricity only from a few years ago the EmDrive. This concept seemed to produce thrust in lab settings. Eventually it was refuted and the errors were mostly attributed to faulty test designs.
Scott Manley: