Space Forum / Space Flight / March 2006

Well, as physicists like to say -- everything's local. To me, this
means that if this phenomenon could achieve levitation, then it would
be acting upon local space, and not by "pushing off" another mass like
earth's.

Besides, consider that gravity has a notoriously much longer range than
electromagnetism does. Pluto and other Kuiper objects are orbiting the
Sun because its huge gravitational field extends out that range, even
though its electromagnetic fields aren't felt much out there. Heck,
cosmologists talk about galaxies attracting each other from huge
distances away.

But it's interesting to muse whether this artificial gravity phenomenon
-- if it is indeed valid -- would allow for some kind of new
"field-based propulsion" which doesn't rely upon Newtonian
action-reaction and expenditure of a limited onboard propellant supply.

As for whether or not it's real or experimental error, I'm hoping that
other labs will quickly rush to investigate, and either prove or
disprove this thing. At least if it's disproven, we can all move on and
look for something else.

Oh well, here's a videoclip of an interview with Dr Tajmar (Warning:
Tajmar comes across as reasonable and low-key, but the interviewer
sounds like the stereotypical lamer who hangs out at sci-fi
conventions):

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8222045907997981867

Anyway, hopefully Tajmar's announcement is noteworthy enough to at
least attract the efforts of de-bunkers, so that the question will be
resolved one way or the other.

on 26 Mar 2006 00:04:02 -0800, manofsanATyahoo.com <manofsan@gmail.com> sez:
` Here is the link to their publication:

` http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0603033

` They're claiming 10^-4g (ie. a ten-thousandth of a g)

Ah, 10^-4. I wondered; the original article I saw was ambiguous - it said
"100 millionths" which could be read as 10^-4 or 10^-8.

Well, they may have worked for two years to suppress errors, but
I don't know, when you have a high magnetic field in the area
of your equipment spinning at 6000rpm, any kind of equipment
can suffer weird effects, let alone stuff that's trying to
detect gravitational changes. That's a particularly hard type
of measurement to do. I guess we'll hear about it soon enough
if it's real. Well, let's have a look... looking at the article,
if I'm understanding correctly, it is only the mass of the electrons
(Cooper pairs) that is being affected? ie, you're down to one part
in 1500 of any mass before you start.

` Alright, standard disclaimers (ie. extraordinary claims require
` extraordinary proof, must be reproducible, must be thoroughly
` de-bunked/analyzed/investigated, etc)

` Just for the sake of engineering conjecture, let's say the science
` rationale behind this phenomenon is valid. So from an engineering
` perspective, how would one go about making something useful out of it?

` In sci-fi TV shows, we've all seen depictions of "field-based
` propulsion," whereby a vehicle is propelled through space without
` having to expel some limited onboard supply of propellant to achieve
` motion.

` If this gravitomagnetic phenomenon scales up with rpm, and if the
` 10^-4g was produced with a mere 6500rpm, then how fast and how massive
` does your superconductive flywheel have to be, in order for your flying
` car to get off the ground?

` What rpm would you need to achieve reasonable round-trip time to Mars?

The force is really to low for anything large. But it will be great
news for ppl trying to understand SR. The experiments can be done in
the lab. Its progress.

Greg