Summary
September 24, 2008: The Chinese government is sponsoring the construction of a so-called EmDrive (short for "Electromagnetical Drive") which, according to its inventor, the British scientist Roger Shawyer, is able to convert energy into thrust via microwaves, something called "impossible" by other scientist as it seems not to conserve momentum despite Shawyer's claims to the contrary. After his funding from the British government dried up, the research is continued by the Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, where local scientists are trying to create a demonstration prototype.
If it works, this drive could revolutionize spaceflight, as the drive (unlike conventional spacecraft) doesn't need any reaction mass. Shawyer estimates that the drive could take a manned mission to Mars within 41 days.
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Game and Story Use
- If this works, it could usher in an era of manned space flight and exploration of the solar system in an otherwise Twenty Minutes Into The Future setting.
- And instead of the usual American dominance, the Chinese could be in the lead of these efforts.
- Possibly this drive taps into other dimensions to power itself.
- And maybe those dimensions are inhabited, and the inhabitants might not like this disturbance…