Martin Tajmar is a physicist and professor for Space Systems at the Dresden University of Technology. [1] He has research interests in advanced space propulsion systems, FEEP thrusters, breakthrough propulsion physics and possible connections between gravity and superconductivity. [2]
Tajmar completed his PhD in numerical plasma physics at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, in 1999, and is now an external lecturer for the university. [3] He also published the textbook Advanced Space Propulsion Systems in 2003. [4]
In a 2003 paper, [5] Tajmar proposed that a gravitational effect may explain the long-standing discrepancy between the mass of Cooper pairs first measured in superconductors by Janet Tate et al. and the theoretically-expected value.[ citation needed ]
In 2006 Tajmar and several coworkers announced their claim to have measured a gravitomagnetic version of the frame-dragging effect caused by a superconductor with an accelerating or decelerating spin. [2] As of April 2008, the effect has not yet been observed independently.
In February 2008 Tajmar filed an international patent application for a "Process for the generation of a gravitational field and a gravitational field generator." [6]
In June 2008, Tajmar reported a new phenomenon suggesting that signals could be induced in a gyroscope resulting from a new property of rotating low-temperature helium. He also reported that because the rings in the experiment were accelerated pneumatically, and not with high acceleration, the earlier reported results could not be discounted. [7] His further research suggests the anomaly may indeed be coming from liquid helium in the setup. [8]
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. General relativity generalizes special relativity and refines Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time or four-dimensional spacetime. In particular, the curvature of spacetime is directly related to the energy and momentum of whatever matter and radiation are present. The relation is specified by the Einstein field equations, a system of second order partial differential equations.
Zero-point energy (ZPE) is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. Unlike in classical mechanics, quantum systems constantly fluctuate in their lowest energy state as described by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Therefore, even at absolute zero, atoms and molecules retain some vibrational motion. Apart from atoms and molecules, the empty space of the vacuum also has these properties. According to quantum field theory, the universe can be thought of not as isolated particles but continuous fluctuating fields: matter fields, whose quanta are fermions, and force fields, whose quanta are bosons. All these fields have zero-point energy. These fluctuating zero-point fields lead to a kind of reintroduction of an aether in physics since some systems can detect the existence of this energy. However, this aether cannot be thought of as a physical medium if it is to be Lorentz invariant such that there is no contradiction with Einstein's theory of special relativity.
The Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project (BPP) was a research project funded by NASA from 1996 to 2002 to study various proposals for revolutionary methods of spacecraft propulsion that would require breakthroughs in physics before they could be realized. The project ended in 2002, when the Advanced Space Transportation Program was reorganized and all speculative research was cancelled. During its six years of operational funding, this program received a total investment of $1.2 million.
Anti-gravity is a hypothetical phenomenon of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to either the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or to balancing the force of gravity with some other force, such as electromagnetism and aerodynamic lift. Anti-gravity is a recurring concept in science fiction. Examples are the gravity blocking substance "Cavorite" in H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon and the Spindizzy machines in James Blish's Cities in Flight.
Gravity Probe B (GP-B) was a satellite-based experiment to test two unverified predictions of general relativity: the geodetic effect and frame-dragging. This was to be accomplished by measuring, very precisely, tiny changes in the direction of spin of four gyroscopes contained in an Earth-orbiting satellite at 650 km (400 mi) of altitude, crossing directly over the poles.
The Pioneer anomaly, or Pioneer effect, was the observed deviation from predicted accelerations of the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft after they passed about 20 astronomical units (3×109 km; 2×109 mi) on their trajectories out of the Solar System. The apparent anomaly was a matter of much interest for many years but has been subsequently explained by anisotropic radiation pressure caused by the spacecraft's heat loss.
Tests of general relativity serve to establish observational evidence for the theory of general relativity. The first three tests, proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915, concerned the "anomalous" precession of the perihelion of Mercury, the bending of light in gravitational fields, and the gravitational redshift. The precession of Mercury was already known; experiments showing light bending in accordance with the predictions of general relativity were performed in 1919, with increasingly precise measurements made in subsequent tests; and scientists claimed to have measured the gravitational redshift in 1925, although measurements sensitive enough to actually confirm the theory were not made until 1954. A more accurate program starting in 1959 tested general relativity in the weak gravitational field limit, severely limiting possible deviations from the theory.
The term gravitational shielding refers to a hypothetical process of shielding an object from the influence of a gravitational field. Such processes, if they existed, would have the effect of reducing the weight of an object. The shape of the shielded region would be similar to a shadow from the gravitational shield. For example, the shape of the shielded region above a disk would be conical. The height of the cone's apex above the disk would vary directly with the height of the shielding disk above the Earth. Experimental evidence to date indicates that no such effect exists. Gravitational shielding is considered to be a violation of the equivalence principle and therefore inconsistent with both Newtonian theory and general relativity.
Ning Li was a Chinese American scientist. Born in Shandong, she graduated from the Department of Physics of Peking University, and in 1983 she emigrated with her family from China to the United States. She is known for her physics and anti-gravity research. In the 1990s, Li worked as a research scientist at the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, University of Alabama in Huntsville. In 1999, she left the university to form a company, AC Gravity LLC, to continue anti-gravity research.
A reactionless drive is a hypothetical device producing motion without the exhaust of a propellant. A propellantless drive is not necessarily reactionless when it constitutes an open system interacting with external fields; but a reactionless drive is a particular case of a propellantless drive that is a closed system, presumably in contradiction with the law of conservation of momentum. Reactionless drives are often considered similar to a perpetual motion machine. The name comes from Newton's third law, often expressed as: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
The EmDrive is a concept for a thruster for spacecraft, first written about in 2001. It is purported to generate thrust by reflecting microwaves inside the device, in a way that would violate the law of conservation of momentum and other laws of physics. The concept has at times been referred to as a resonant cavity thruster.
Gravitational waves are waves of the intensity of gravity that are generated by the accelerated masses of binary stars and other motions of gravitating masses, and propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light. They were first proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1893 and then later by Henri Poincaré in 1905 as the gravitational equivalent of electromagnetic waves. Gravitational waves are sometimes called gravity waves, but gravity waves typically refer to displacement waves in fluids. In 1916 Albert Einstein demonstrated that gravitational waves result from his general theory of relativity as ripples in spacetime.
In general relativity, Lense–Thirring precession or the Lense–Thirring effect is a relativistic correction to the precession of a gyroscope near a large rotating mass such as the Earth. It is a gravitomagnetic frame-dragging effect. It is a prediction of general relativity consisting of secular precessions of the longitude of the ascending node and the argument of pericenter of a test particle freely orbiting a central spinning mass endowed with angular momentum .
In classical theories of gravitation, the changes in a gravitational field propagate. A change in the distribution of energy and momentum of matter results in subsequent alteration, at a distance, of the gravitational field which it produces. In the relativistic sense, the "speed of gravity" refers to the speed of a gravitational wave, which, as predicted by general relativity and confirmed by observation of the GW170817 neutron star merger, is equal to the speed of light (c).
Field propulsion is the concept of spacecraft propulsion where no propellant is necessary but instead momentum of the spacecraft is changed by an interaction of the spacecraft with external force fields, such as gravitational and magnetic fields from stars and planets. Proposed drives that use field propulsion are often called a reactionless or propellantless drive.
Gravitoelectromagnetism, abbreviated GEM, refers to a set of formal analogies between the equations for electromagnetism and relativistic gravitation; specifically: between Maxwell's field equations and an approximation, valid under certain conditions, to the Einstein field equations for general relativity. Gravitomagnetism is a widely used term referring specifically to the kinetic effects of gravity, in analogy to the magnetic effects of moving electric charge. The most common version of GEM is valid only far from isolated sources, and for slowly moving test particles.
In physics, the gravitomagnetic clock effect is a deviation from Kepler's third law that, according to the weak-field and slow-motion approximation of general relativity, will be suffered by a particle in orbit around a (slowly) spinning body, such as a typical planet or star.
According to general relativity, a massive spinning body endowed with angular momentum S will alter the space-time fabric around it in such a way that several effects on moving test particles and propagating electromagnetic waves occur.
Frame-dragging is an effect on spacetime, predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, that is due to non-static stationary distributions of mass–energy. A stationary field is one that is in a steady state, but the masses causing that field may be non-static — rotating, for instance. More generally, the subject that deals with the effects caused by mass–energy currents is known as gravitoelectromagnetism, which is analogous to the magnetism of classical electromagnetism.
A gravity laser, also sometimes referred to as a Gaser, Graser, or Glaser, is a hypothetical device for stimulated emission of coherent gravitational radiation or gravitons, much in the same way that a standard laser produces coherent electromagnetic radiation.
