APEC 2/17: Horizon Drive, Inertial Propulsion & Dark Matter

Mike McCullough will discuss Tests of a Quantum Horizon Drive, Christopher G. Provatidis will present a Review of Inertial Propulsion Devices, Andrew Beckwith will discuss Dark Matter / Axion Rockets & Neutrinos, Justin Pearson will discuss a proposed SpacePort in Aruba, and John Brandenburg will describe the Collateral Effects of the Martian Thermonuclear Holocaust. We’ll also be hearing updates from our lab partners and finishing off the event with an open discussion by conference attendees!



12:00pm PT – Mike McCullough – Tests of a Quantum (Horizon) Drive

Mike will discuss the theory of Quantised Inertia (QI), which explains inertial mass for the first time, eliminates the need for dark matter in galaxies, and predicted that metal structures can produce propellantless (quantum) thrust from the vacuum. Becker & Bhatt (2018) tested this successfully using capacitors and we are re-testing (DARPA funded) in an academic environment at Plymouth University. Thrusts of up to 25 mg (0.25mN), close to those predicted by quantised inertia, are being seen in our lab at Plymouth. They reverse when the capacitor is turned over. They only occur for capacitors hotter than 50oC and within 5-10% of the dielectric breakdown point, as expected. The results vary in line with the QI theory and buoyancy or EM artefacts have been excluded, but we only get thrust in typically 50% of cases.



1:00pm PT – Christopher G. Provatidis – Inertial Propulsion Devices: A Review

The use of the Google Scholar produces about 278 hits on the term ‘‘inertial propulsion.’’ If patents are also included, the number of hits increases to 536. This paper discusses, in a critical way, some characteristic aspects of this controversial topic. The review starts with the halteres of athletes in the Olympic games of ancient times and then continues with some typical devices which were developed or/and patented from the second fourth of the twentieth century till today. In this presentation, Christopher will deliver a review of many human attempts to create thrust by consuming energy but without expelling material from a vehicle, merely by rotating masses.



2:00pm PT – Andrew Beckwith – Dark Matter / Axion Rockets & Neutrinos

We present Dark Matter candidates from non SUSY processes, in a way emphasizing how a Dark Matter (DM) candidate of roughly 100 – 400 GeV could be formed. As has been said about the Photon rocket and Axions rockets, the presence of a mag- netic field supposedly would switch DM particle candidates to photons, in such a way as to in the end configure a photon rocket style device from DM in a thrust chamber. The presence of Dark Matter (DM) would in itself merely indicate that the emerging photon thrust would be comparatively greater than it would be for more conventional photon rockets. This amplifies and improves upon a so called axion rocket ram jet for interstellar travel. We assume that much the same sort of metho- dology for a would-be axion ramjet could be employed for DM, with perhaps greater thrust/power conversion efficiencies.



3:00pm PT – Justin Pearson – The Spaceport in Aruba

Justin Pearson founded Baldwin Aerospace in 2017, which is a research and development business specializing in hypersonic technologies emphasizing scramjet propulsion & hypersonic bodies. Justin works with a diverse and mid-sized team of aerospace engineers, and will be discussing his recent trip to Aruba and efforts to create a SpacePort in the ABC Islands to take advantage of lower equatorial launch costs for traditional rockets & facilitate economic development favorable to emerging aerospace technologies in the area.



4:00pm PT – John Brandenburg – Collateral Effects of the Martian Thermonuclear Holocaust

Dr. John Brandenburg will present an update to his hypothesis about an ancient thermonuclear holocaust on Mars – in particular, discussing the potential for neutron bombs to generate an “atmospheric chain reaction” described in the movie Oppenheimer. Brandenburg bases his research on the existence of rare isotopes in Martian soil typically only produced by thermonuclear devices, and speculates that Mars current unhabitable state is the result of ancient explosions.



5:00pm PT – Lab Partners – Experimental Research Updates

Learn about hands-on engineering & technical research on advanced propulsion experiments by our lab partners. Mark Sokol & the Falcon Space team will describe recent work on NMR / EPR gravity-modification experiments, Jarod Yates & Charles Crawford will provide updates on the Graviflyer, Bryan St. Clair will discuss research being done into new inertial propulsion experiments, and other labs are anticipated to share updates as well during this time.



6:00pm PT – Open Discussion & Ad-Hoc Presentations

Conference guests interested in presenting experimental info to the group are invited to participate at this time, and our presenters will be available to take questions & discuss experiments.