Scientists have announced that their electromagnetic propulsion drive or EM Drive test is successful, meaning, the world now has a device that could manifest travels faster than the speed of light, NASA published. "In terms of the Station, propellant-less propulsion could amount to significant savings by drastically reducing fuel resupply missions to the Station and eliminate the need for visiting-vehicle re-boost maneuvers," the space agency said.
Paul March, an engineer for NASA, said that they were able to test the EM Drive mechanics at Johnson Space Center's hard vacuum equipment. The drive was made possible through the conversion of electrical energy into thrust without fuel. Instead of using standard fuel, EM Drive developers utilized solar energy.
The test's validity, however, has been questioned considering that the EM Drive follows principles that violate physics' law of conservation of momentum which states that if no external factors are working against a system, its momentum therefore is kept at a constant rate. The law primarily supports the idea of why traditional rockets depend on the power of its propellants to be able to take-off.
Researchers from the United States, United Kingdom, and China have conducted similar tests prior to this, Science Times reported. Though they were able to achieve their expected results, it has remained controversial until today because no information could still support the mechanism of EM Drive's success.
NASA, however, placed theirs on the pedestal by saying that all other prior tests were inconclusive since all were tested without a vacuum system. They are confident that the experiment they have conducted will reveal multi-fold benefits, given it passes replication and review processes.