volume | PIER Journals

2020-01-17

Proposal of a Handy Setup for Discriminating Parasitic Effects for the Measurement of Impulsive Thrust from a Microwave Cavity

Jérôme Sokoloff,

Dr. Jérôme Sokoloff

Université Paul Sabatier/ CNRS

France

Homepage

Olivier Pascal,

Dr. Olivier Pascal

Univ Toulouse

France

Homepage

Olivier Pigaglio,

Dr. Olivier Pigaglio

UPS, INPT

Université de Toulouse

France

Homepage

Nathalie Raveu,

Dr. Nathalie Raveu

Université de Toulouse

France

Homepage

Hugo Peyre

Mr. Hugo Peyre

Electromagnetism Research Group

CNRS, Université de Toulouse

France

Homepage

Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 98, 269-281, 2020

doi:10.2528/PIERC19090507

Abstract

This paper details the work of the LAPLACE Electromagnetism Research Group to develop an original measuring setup dedicated to the detection of an EMDrive like force. Recent peer-reviewed experimental results [1, 2] were obtained using similar setups based on a torsion pendulum combined with an optical sensor. These very accurate measurement setups are appropriate for measuring such an extremely weak force. They also appear costly, which may discourage other research teams from working on this topic. Our main goal is then to provide an alternative configuration, based on a commercial precision balance, in order to build a measuring setup more affordable, handy, and accurate enough to measure an EMDrive like force. Our experimental system is capable of feeding a truncated cone shaped 2.45 GHz resonant cavity with power up to 140 W. To calibrate the EMDrive force and avoid false positive thrusts, an original setup has been proposed and evaluated. It allows us to really consider that the parasitic effects do not alter the hypothetical force measurement by the use of force direction switching during the measurement.

Citation

Copy Export

Jérôme Sokoloff, Olivier Pascal, Olivier Pigaglio, Nathalie Raveu, and Hugo Peyre, "Proposal of a Handy Setup for Discriminating Parasitic Effects for the Measurement of Impulsive Thrust from a Microwave Cavity," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 98, 269-281, 2020.
doi:10.2528/PIERC19090507

References

1. White, H., P. March, J. Lawrence, J. Vera, A. Sylvester, D. Brady, and P. Bailey, "Measurement of impulsive thrust from a closed radio-frequency cavity in vacuum," Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 33, 83084, Jul. 2017.

2. Kößling, M., M. Monette, M. Weikert, and M. Tajmar, "The SpaceDrive project --- Thrust balance development and new measurements of the mach-effect and emdrive thrusters," Acta Astronautica, Vol. 161, 139152, Aug. 2019.
doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.05.020

3. Tajmar, M. and G. Fiedler, "Direct thrust measurements of an emdrive and evaluation of possible side-effects," 51st AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, 4083, 2015.

4. McCulloch, M. E., "Can the emdrive be explained by quantised inertia?," Progress in Physics, Vol. 11, No. 1, 78-80, 2015.

5. McCulloch, M. E., "Propellant-less propulsion from quantised inertia," J. of Space Exploration, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329754104 Propellantless Propulsion from Quantised_Inertia, 2018.

6. McDonald, M. S., M. W. Nurnberger, and L. T. Williams, "Preparations for thrust measurement and error discussion of the impulse resonant microwave cavity," Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 70, 415-424, 2017.

7. Fetta, G. P., "Numerical and experimental results for a novel propulsion technology requiring no on-board propellant," 50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Jul. 2014.

8. McDonald, K. T., "Electromagnetic self-force on a hemispherical cavity,", http://www.physics.princeton.edu/∼mcdonald/examples/hemisphere.pdf, 2016.