Comment Re:not completely physics defying (Score 1) 480
several plausible proposals
Filtered for
a. better than "can be assumed to be a hoax"
b. "really reactionless"
Woodward: I wouldn't call it plausible because many experiments have failed to produce thrust and the thrust produced is in the range of measurement error.
EM and Cannae drive: EM is the drive we are talking about. Cannae is similar.
So in fact we have 2 similar methods. One of them is what this discussion about so it doesn't count. The other is similar to that one.
My conclusion: the word "several" is pulled out of your ass.
And, yes, devices that do not generate thrust are still a reactionless drive: they are reactionless and they move.
A tennis ball in a car is reactionless and moves. That doesn't make it a drive. By definition if it doesn't produce trust it is not a drive in the sense of an engine.
However I shall comment on the devices mentioned:
The Alcubierre drive is very far beyond our current technology and is not really an engine as the EM drive is. It is more of a way to help an engine cheat the laws of physics.
I say this because the Alcubierre drive doesn't move you from A to B. It makes the distance from A to B shorter so a normal engine (be it rocket, orion or reactionless) can get there in a reasonable amount of time.
"Swimming in spacetime" is not a drive because it's not a device. It is an interesting theory and if proven correct it may eventually be possible to build a drive based on it but for now it's not a drive.