Another news article regarding new trends in space travel technology



This is another news article relating to a previous blogpost regarding current trends exploring new technologies in space travel. One of those blogposts identified ion drive technology. It explains ion drive as an ion thruster, or ion engine, as a form of electric propulsion intended for spacecraft propulsion. That technology creates thrust as a process of electricity by accelerating ions.

This blogpost is about quantum drive. Recent media headlines used the company’s project name as an interpretation to the concept of quantum drive. The company’s technology uses a different concept than the science fiction term. Quantum drive is different than ion drive. The purpose of this blogpost article is for clarification. The theory of Quantum Drive applies an operational concept in a manner similar to the Biefeld-Brown Effect technology. The Biefeld-Brown Effect encases the vehicle in a magnetic like state which creates an attractive force on the leading edge and a propulsive force on the trailing edge. T. Townsend Brown referred to this technological process as electrogravitics.

The IVO Quantum Drive is the designated company name. The name Quantum Drive is a popular term in science fiction for Warp Drive.

The Warp Drive concept relates to a 1994 paper by Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre. The theory of Alcubierre drive theory states that if spacetime is contracted in front of a spacecraft then the trailing space behind the craft is expanded. Therefore, a wave in spacetime has been created. A spacecraft, within this bubble, can theoretically transpose this warp in spacetime to move along this wave. The Alcubierre drive transposes time in this wave shift.

The IVO Quantum Drive is very different than the concept of Alcubierre drive. The IVO Quantum Drive is an all-electric propulsion system for satellites.   

Media headlines are misleading. The recent headline from The Independent, touted its Tuesday 21 November 2023 headline to read: SpaceX launches ‘zero fuel’ engine into space.  Does this headline indicate that SpaceX used ‘zero fuel’ for its most recent launch? The launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 was on November 11, 2023. Incidentally, the Transporter-9 mission was a different ship than the experimental SpaceX Starship, serial #10  launched Nov 18, 2023, 

One of the payloads of the Transporter-9 mission was to launch the IVO Quantum Drive satellite.

The applied theory of quantum drive was implemented into application by IVO, Ltd. From the website: universetoday; provides a clear explanation for the IVO Quantum Drive: On June 10th, 2023, an all-electrical propulsion system for satellites (the IVO Quantum Drive) will fly to space for the first time. The system was built by North Dakota-based wireless power company IVO, Ltd., and will serve as a testbed for an alternative theory of inertia that could have applications for propulsion. The engine will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of a dedicated rideshare (Transporter 8) hosted by commercial partner Rogue Space Systems. If the technology is validated, the Quantum Drive could trigger a revolution in commercial space and beyond. And if not, then we can relax knowing that the laws of physics are still the laws of physics!

Founded in 2017 by Richard Mansell, Ken Mansell, Daniel Telehey, and Matthew Silbernagel, IVO was launched to address the major issues facing technology and innovation today. To this end, IVO has focused on developing wireless energy transmission solutions using a technology known as Capacitive Based Aerial Transmission (CBAT). This flexible, scalable technology allows manufacturers to reduce their battery size by up to 50% and is on track to disrupt the green energy industry.

In 2021, IVO began to develop a new all-electrical propulsion system that leveraged an alternate theory about inertia. Known as the IVO Quantum Drive, this proposed system relies on the theory of Quantized Inertia (QI), a controversial idea that many physicists view as a fringe theory.

Popularmechanics.com, ran another Quantized Inertia (QI) article. Apparently, headlines are written by a different group of people: trained in marketing to attract readers, instead of knowledgeable scientists. ‘Defies Newton’s laws’, is a stretch but, apropos to a preconceived perception of artistic imagination based on absence of physics principles.

This proposed technology is a big step for space flight.

University of Plymouth physicist Mike McCulloch sees applications of QI theory, as an avenue to develop EmDrive.

Although this blogpost is a news article, it does relate to the current events of space travel and it does indicate the space industry’s recognition that improvements are necessary.