A Mythical Form Of Space Propulsion Finally Gets A Real Test
A less sensitive version of this balance was also used by the NASA team when they thought their EmDrive produced thrust. When power flows to the EmDrive, the copper cone heats up and expands, which shifts its center of gravity just enough to cause the torsion balance to register force that can be mistaken as thrust. Over the course of 55 experiments, Tajmar and his colleagues registered an average of 3.4 micro-Newtons of force from the EmDrive, which was very similar to what the NASA team found.
Source: www.wired.com