Already since 1990, James F. Woodward, professor of physics at the California State University, provided a set of equations showing that it should be possible, via Mach’s Principle, to change transiently the mass of a body. Several devices were developed, that suggest that the phenomenon is real. The main goal of the experimental campaign proposed here is to perform an independent test for the existence of machian mass fluctuations: we will study the behavior of a test device using a very sensitive thrust balance developed for field emission thrusters. The balance has a sub μN accuracy, which should prove the effect at least with a thrust‐to‐noise ratio of 100:1. This mass fluctuation effect, if proved to be genuine, would open the doors to a new kind of propellantless propulsion which could be directly applied to space exploration. Another aspect of our work is to explore also the possibility to achieve higher power efficiency and a more compact design, making then these devices attractive for practical application.


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    Title :

    Experimental Study of the Machian Mass Fluctuation Effect Using a μN Thrust Balance


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    SPACE TECH.& APPLIC.INT.FORUM-STAIF 2006: 10th Conf Thermophys Applic Microgravity; 23rd Symp Space Nucl Pwr & Propulsion; 4th Conf Human/Robotic Tech & Nat'l Vision for Space Explor.; 4th Symp Space Coloniz.; 3rd Symp on New Frontiers & Future Concepts ; 2006 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 813 , 1 ; 1313-1320


    Publication date :

    2006-01-20


    Size :

    8 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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