How many of you are familiar with the lifters? How about with asymmetric capacitor propulsion?
Well, years ago (2002) I was heavily involved and after I concluded it was ionic thrust I abandoned it all, but I keenly remember the disappointment when my electromagnetic computational code for calculating thrust showed insignificant thrust that only got smaller with the size of the grid, really convincing me it was quantization error and so asymmetric capacitors are truly balanced if no charge leaks away.
Fast forward to Dec 19th 2012, last day of work for me before the holidays, when to my surprise I stumbled on a configuration that unbalanced the forces, not seeking it directly, but designing an antenna and simulating away.
This particular geometry is not based on electrostatics, but electrodynamics. What I found is a non-radiative transmission line that has an electric field that produces thrust, and so far from the symmetry of the configuration, the magnetic field does not cancel it.
This is quite exciting if you're into that kind of a thing. I wasn't going to say anything until I build it, but at my current pace that may take a while.
Anyway, 2013 could pan out to be quite an adventure, and I'm so glad I've been reconnected with the thrill of electromagnetic propulsion.
EM
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