Support Mach Effect Propulsion research via the Space Studies Institute fund raising effort

The Space Studies Institute is raising $42,000 support Mach Effect Propulsion. They will provide the Woodward Lab at CalState Fullerton the new instrumentation, computers and power supplies that Emeritus Professor Jim Woodward and his colleague Professor Heidi Fearn need to continue their research on Mach Effect propulsion. Funds will be used by SSI to purchase new, larger power supplies and instrumentation for the lab, as well as to fabricate devices to be sent to other labs for replication. All donations are tax-deductible.

A book by Professor Jim Woodward, Making Starships and Stargates: The Science of Interstellar Transport and Absurdly Benign Wormholes (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration), has further heightened interest in “exotic” physics propulsion concepts.

While no one can predict if or when these technologies might become practical, we can say for certain that not funding basic research will consign any breakthroughs to the realm of science fiction forever.

Advanced and exotic means propellentless high acceleration up to near light speed and even possible stargate wormholes. Recent experiments produced 2-3 micronewtons and a refined theoretical model now more closely expects 3.2 micronewtons based upon the materials and other methods used in this case.

Nextbigfuture has been following the Woodward Mach Effect Propulsion work

Mach’s Principle and the Propulsion Problem

James Woodward explains several general relativity papers to explain how Mach effect could be used for propulsion for Stargates.

How one views the propulsion problem depends on how ambitious one is. The least ambitious version deals with the problem that serious deep space travel is all but made impossible by the requirement that one take along ridiculous amounts of propellant to get anywhere interesting in a reasonable amount of time. This version of the problem can be stated as: Is there a way to accelerate an object without expelling material propellant? The more ambitious version of the problem addresses the issue of whether it is possible to make practicable wormholes. These have been known since the work of Morris and Thorne in 1988 to require a Jupiter mass of negative restmass material confined in the throat of the wormhole. Mach’s principle leads to the prediction of transient effects that can be used to address both versions of the propulsion problem.

These effects and their implications are briefly reviewed. An experiment designed to test for the presence of Mach effects that may be applicable to the less ambitious version of the propulsion problem is then described. The effect in question is a mass fluctuation that results when an object is accelerated while its internal energy is changing. It consists of accelerating a capacitor with a piezoelectric actuator as the capacitor is driven with an alternating voltage to produce the changing internal energy needed.

Dr. James woodward, California State University Fullerton. Fullerton, California.

There are some audio problems with this Question and Answer interview video

Making Starships and Stargates: The Science of Interstellar Transport and Absurdly Benign Wormholes