गुरुत्वाकर्षण को नियंत्रित करना: विज्ञान कथा या वास्तविकता?

इंधन के बिना थ्रस्ट?

Since the very first V2 rockets in World War 2, the base concept for the propulsion of rockets has been to expel high-speed gases in the opposite direction of the rocket destination.

द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध में पहली V2 रॉकेटों से ही, रॉकेटों की थ्रस्ट का मूल सिद्धांत यह रहा है कि उच्च गति वाले गैसों को रॉकेट की दिशा के विपरीत दिशा में निकाला जाए।

आज तक, यह लगभग एकमात्र थ्रस्ट विधि है जिसका उपयोग रॉकेट और अंतरिक्ष यान पृथ्वी के गुरुत्वाकर्षण से बाहर निकलने और अंतरिक्ष में घूमने के लिए करते हैं।

यह रॉकेट समीकरण के तहत औपचारिक रूप से व्यक्त किया गया है, जो सरल शब्दों में कहता है कि जितना अधिक द्रव्यमान निकाला जाता है और उतनी ही तेज़ी से निकाला जाता है, उतनी ही अधिक थ्रस्ट उत्पन्न होती है। इसे कभी‑कभी “रॉकेट समीकरण की तानाशाही” कहा जाता है। इसका कारण यह है कि जितना अधिक इंधन उपयोग किया जाता है, उतना ही अधिक इंधन उसी इंधन को उठाने के लिए आवश्यक होता है।

एक सामान्य एक‑स्तरीय रॉकेट के लिए, लगभग 90% उसके प्रारंभिक लॉन्च द्रव्यमान को इंधन होना आवश्यक है ताकि पृथ्वी के गुरुत्वाकर्षण और वायुमंडलीय प्रतिरोध को पार किया जा सके। इससे केवल 10% रॉकेट की संरचना, प्रणालियों और पेलोड के लिए बचता है।

लेकिन अगर कोई विकल्प हो तो? बहुत लंबे समय तक, इंधन‑रहित थ्रस्ट को वैज्ञानिक समुदाय ने केवल कल्पना और विज्ञान कथा माना है।

फिर भी, कुछ गंभीर और सफल वैज्ञानिकों की असहमति वाली आवाज़ें आश्चर्यजनक प्रयोगात्मक परिणाम दिखा रही हैं और उन्हें समझाने के लिए अपरंपरागत सिद्धांतों की खोज कर रही हैं।

एक हालिया उदाहरण है डॉ. जॉन ब्रैंडेनबर्ग द्वारा 31 अगस्त 2024 को APEC Propulsion Conference में दी गई प्रस्तुति, जिसका शीर्षक “गुरुत्वाकर्षण संशोधन प्रयोग विवरण और परिणाम” था।

क्या एंटी‑ग्रैविटी वास्तविक हो सकती है

विश्वसनीयता

At first glance, the concept of antigravity seems very outlandish and “un-scientific,” more suited to science fiction, conspiracy theorists, UFO enthusiasts, and amateur inventors.

इसलिए यह आश्चर्यजनक है जब डॉ. ब्रैंडेनबर्ग जैसी प्रोफ़ाइल वाला व्यक्ति इस विषय पर प्रस्तुति देता है।

वह एक भौतिक विज्ञानी हैं जो प्लाज़्मा में विशेषज्ञता रखते हैं, नाभिकीय संलयन पर शोध का अनुभव रखते हैं, और “9 ½ साल नाभिकीय हथियार प्रयोगशालाओं में Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) और Sandia Labs in Albuquerque” में काम किया है, दोनों संस्थानों को गंभीर सुरक्षा क्लियरेंस की आवश्यकता होती है।

वह माइक्रोवेव‑इलेक्ट्रोथर्मल (MET) थ्रस्टर के आविष्कारक भी हैं, जो माइक्रोवेव का उपयोग करके अल्ट्रा‑हॉट प्लाज़्मा बनाकर अंतरिक्ष थ्रस्ट का एक उन्नत रूप है।

स्रोत: URA Thrusters

This background puts out of the way the idea that this is coming from an unserious, unscientific source.

Gravity Electro-Magnetism – GEM

मूलभूत बल

There are 4 fundamental forces of the Universe recognized by modern physics, 2 operating at a very short, atomic level or smaller, and 2 operating at a very large scale.

स्रोत: ResearchGate

GEM एक नई सिद्धांत है जो कहती है कि दोनों दीर्घ‑दूरी बल—इलेक्ट्रोमैग्नेटिज्म और गुरुत्वाकर्षण—को केवल एक ही अद्वितीय बल माना जा सकता है जो परिस्थितियों के अनुसार दो अलग‑अलग रूपों में प्रकट होता है।

This would be a continuation of the efforts by physicists to unify fundamental forces, especially following the discovery of the merging of electric and magnetic forces into electromagnetism in the early 19^th century and the electroweak interactions, merging the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force, rewarded by 2 Nobel Prizes in 1979 and in 1999.

गुरुत्वाकर्षण और इलेक्ट्रोमैग्नेटिज्म का एकीकरण

Going into the details of the mathematics of GEM would be beyond the scope of this article. Overall, the idea is that the main equations for electromagnetism and gravity are very similar.

This is something that Einstein already noted, as both forces act according to the inverse of the radius of the distance: 1/r2.

स्रोत: Mr. Naga Physics

इसलिए, जबकि यह निश्चित रूप से नया है, यह विचार स्वयं में पूरी तरह से असंगत नहीं है।

This is something Dr Brandenburg has been working on for a long time, with publications about this theory dating back more than a decade:

• “The Problem of Weak and Strong Nuclear Forces and Prediction of the Higgs‑Boson Mass using the GEM (Gravity Electro‑Magnetism) Unification Theory” STAIF II, Albuquerque, NM February (2012).
• “A Derivation of the Newton Gravitation Constant and the Proton Mass From the GEM Unification Theory of Baryon‑Genesis.” Journal of Cosmology Volume 17, 2011.
• “The Value of the Gravitation Constant and its Relation to Cosmic Electrodynamics,” IEEE Transactions On Plasma Science, Plasma Cosmology Issue Vol. 35, No. 4. p845.

यह विवादास्पद क्यों है?

The problem with such an approach is that it upends quite a few fundamentals of gravity as it is commonly understood today.

पहले, यह “G” स्थिरांक को बिल्कुल ही स्थिर नहीं रहने देगा।

दूसरे, इसका मतलब होगा कि नकारात्मक गुरुत्वाकर्षण, या एंटी‑ग्रैविटी संभव है। यह सभी भौतिकी को पूरी तरह बदल देगा, जिसमें वर्तमान क्वांटम भौतिकी भी शामिल है, जो नकारात्मक गुरुत्वाकर्षण के विचार को स्पष्ट रूप से अस्वीकार करती है।

ऐसे विचार आम तौर पर व्यापक वैज्ञानिक समुदाय द्वारा उपहास या outright ostracism का सामना करते हैं (उदाहरण के लिए, फ्रेंच प्लाज़्मा वैज्ञानिक Jean‑Pierre Petit की cosmological theory “Janus”, developed using negative gravity and rejecting the concept of dark matter or energy, effectively blacklisted)।

So, with extraordinary claims upending physics, as we know, serious proof is required.

एंटी‑ग्रैविटी मापी गई?

In his presentation, Dr. Brandenburg showed an experiment he performed using simple devices, such as a helium balloon, a toy motor armature, and thin wire and rope.

स्रोत: ResearchGate

स्रोत: ResearchGate

उन्होंने दावा किया कि जब धारा लागू की गई तो उपकरण ने 150 mg वजन घटाव मापा, और 8‑सेकंड के चुंबकीय पल्स ने 6‑सेकंड के तुलनात्मक पल्स की तुलना में अधिक वजन घटाव दिखाया।

स्रोत: ResearchGate

अन्य शोध

Brandenburg also points out other troubling experimental results by Brazilian researchers Elio B. Porcelli and Victo dos Santos Filho, which reported weight loss can be induced by a laser, explaining by electromagnetic effect induced by the laser.

This could also connected to another explained phenomenon, with the potential to create electrostatics thrusters described by NASA’s top expert in electrostatics, Dr. Charles Buhler.

Buhler’s devices tested in 2016 produced less than one hundred thousandth of a gravity. The unit they demonstrated in the 2020 paper and subsequent patent showed results up to 1 earth gravity (the amount of energy needed to overcome gravity on an item).

It could also be looked at with respect to the proposed “warp drives” and other Faster‑Than‑Light (FTL) theoretical propulsion systems.

Overall, Dr Brandenburg’s results are still from an unconfirmed experiment, but one that should be both extremely cheap and simple to replicate.

So we can hope more researchers take the time to check on it and at least confirm the puzzling loss of 150mg observed by Dr Brandenburg.

क्या आधुनिक विज्ञान इतना अंधा हो सकता है?

This looks a little too good to be true, and this single fact probably explains the general skepticism around this idea.

This would, however, not be the first time scientific consensus is wrong. Of course, there is the famous historical example of Galileo, realizing the place of the Earth orbiting around the Sun, against the intellectual consensus of his time.

But the modern scientific era has also often ignored inconvenient truths or abnormal experimental results:

• Albert Michelson—a famed scientist at the time, having recently disproved the existence of “ether” and Nobel Prize winner in 1907 — said in 1894 that “the great principles had already been discovered, and that physics would henceforth be limited to finding truths in the sixth decimal place”.
  • This was not long before the discovery of relativity and quantum physics.
• Lord Kelvin, one of the most eminent scientists of the 19th century, said about the future of aeronautics: “Neither the balloon, nor the aeroplane, nor the gliding machine will be a practical success”
  • This was just 3 years before the Wright brothers’ first flight.
• Meanwhile, Einstein was dismissive of quantum physics: “God tirelessly plays dice under laws which he has himself prescribed.”

So maybe in a few decades, the rejection of antigravity, negative mass particles, and GEM theory will be considered equally short‑sighted.

अन्य विदेशी थ्रस्ट सिस्टम

While we now have a glimmer of hope for antigravity propulsion, something that would instantly open the stars to colonization, a few other exotic propulsion systems based on known physics have been discussed over the years.

ऑरियन प्रोजेक्ट

The Orion project was a concept from the late 1950s based on nuclear pulse propulsion.

Behind this name is the rather surprising idea to use nuclear explosion (from A‑bombs) to propel a spacecraft to speeds so high to even potentially allow interstellar travel.

स्रोत: NASA

By using a significant percentage of the energy released by a nuclear explosion, this would have been the most fuel‑efficient propulsion system ever created.

Ultimately, the project would be abandoned, in large part due to the Cold War era 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, which banned nuclear explosions in space.

न्यूक्लियर थर्मल थ्रस्ट

A maybe less spectacular way to harness nuclear energy for propulsion is nuclear thermal propulsion.

The idea is that instead of using chemical reactions to propel a spacecraft in the void, nuclear power could be used to turn a gas into plasma and propel it at high speed.

As the rocket equation stipulates, the quicker the expulsion, the more thrust and fuel efficiency the propulsion system provides.

With the Moon and Mars soon in sight, NASA is revisiting this concept. It recently awarded $5M to BWX Technologies (BWXT ), General Atomics, and Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies for a concept of nuclear reactors able to perform this role.

Similar but non‑nuclear systems using electricity to propel ions at high speed, or Hall‑effect thrusters, are also being tested by NASA.

लेज़र और सौर पाल

Another way to propel spacecraft without propellant would be to use the push of light instead.

Such solar sails have already been tested and work for delivering small spacecraft to the deep parts of the solar system.

A step further in that concept would be a network of powerful lasers in deep space or orbit, pushing spacecrafts with the lasers’ light. This would have the advantage of not requiring any propellant onboard the spacecraft, and providing a small, but continuous acceleration during the whole travel.

Ultimately, such a network of laser‑powered fixed propellers pushing solar sails would likely be powered by collected solar energy, from large arrays of space‑based solar panels.

Such infrastructure could not only speed up space exploration but also provide unlimited energy to Earth, as we discussed in “Space‑Based Energy Solutions For Endless Clean Energy”.

पल्स फ्यूजन

A more speculative but in‑development propulsion method would be to propel a spacecraft using nuclear fusion (not fission, like in traditional nuclear power plants).

Energy‑positive nuclear fusion has been so far elusive, even if it made significant progress in recent years, as we discussed in “Nuclear Fusion – The Ultimate Clean Energy Solution on the Horizon”.

A key limit in fusion reactions for power generation is that they are difficult to sustain, so they produce positive energy returns.

Alternatively, a fusion propulsion system does not need to be positive energy; it just needs to be more efficient than the alternatives in generating thrust.

So, the energy input could be supplied by solar or traditional nuclear power, and even a negative return on energy could still be better than the alternative.

Such fusion drive leveraging a short pulse of nuclear fusion is what the startup Helicity Space is working on.

“Helicity’s work could enable humanity’s extensive access to the entire solar system and might even enable missions to the nearest stars.”
Gen. Pete Worden, PhD, Former Director of NASA Ames Research Center

Source: Helicity

अंतरिक्ष में निवेश

Space is a very established industry experiencing a rebirth and explosive growth on the back of reusable rockets. We discussed how this will create whole opportunities in our article “Reusable Rockets To Create Multiple New Markets By Lowering Costs Drastically”.

The current space market is $443B. Even when ignoring more speculative (but potentially very lucrative) ideas like asteroid mining, just space tourism & hypersonic flight could add another $350B in revenues, to which can be added a forecast of satellite‑based Internet worth $17B, as well as military applications and subsidized Moon bases, scientific projects, etc.

You can invest in space‑related companies through many brokers, and you can find on this website our recommendations for the best brokers in the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, as well as many other countries.

If you are not interested in picking specific space‑related companies, you can also look into ETFs listed in our article “5 Best Aerospace ETFs to Invest In” which includes ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX) or VanEck Space Innovators UCITS ETF (JEDI) to capitalize on the growth of the space sector as a whole.

You can read more about the space exploration in “The Future Space‑Based Economy“, “Space Infrastructure – Building Stairways To The Heavens“, and “Space Based Energy Solutions For Endless Clean Energy“.

नवाचारी थ्रस्ट कंपनी

One notable exception to privately‑listed startups dominating nuclear fusion is the publicly traded company Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT ), a giant of the defense industry.

Lockheed has worked since the early 2010s on Compact Fusion, a nuclear fusion reactor that is expected to be ready by the 2020s. However, it has since been announced that the work on the project was stopped in 2021.

The company has been very discreet about this project after an initial very public announcement. To this day, it is unclear what could have prompted the company to abandon the idea.

At the same time, it seems that it did not fully abandon the concept, notably with investments in 2024 in Helicity, a startup developing a fusion engine. As explained before, the idea would be to propel spacecraft with short bursts of fusion. Helicity is planning to use a plasma gun to achieve it.

Source: Helicity

Potentially, Lockheed’s own internal results have shown that their design could not sustain fusion in a way that is compatible with energy production.

But maybe, at the same time, short bursts are enough for the need for propulsion in space and much closer to becoming an actual product. It would also be a better fit with the overall aerospace and defense‑focused profile of the company than power generation.

Lockheed is also deeply involved in other aspects of space exploration and industry, with over the history of the company 8 planets visited by Lockheed Martin spacecraft and 300+ mission payloads built for customers.

Notably, its space division is currently working on:

• The Orion spacecraft (not to be misunderstood as the old Orion project previously mentioned), designed to bring back astronauts to the Moon, and later maybe in deep space projects
• The GOES‑R Series, a series of next‑generation weather satellites.
• Modernization of the GPS constellation.
• The Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) missile defense.
• Still in development hypersonic missiles.

Besides space, Lockheed is behind some of the most powerful (and expensive) weapon programs in the USA, like the F‑35. The stealth plane developed together with Northrop Grumman (NOC ) and BAE Systems (BSP.DE ) suffered a troubled development but is now “debugged” and getting built in large quantities, with demand outpacing production.

While it is active in all branches of the military, the company is mostly active in advanced technologies and aerospace, with aeronautics representing $6.2B of revenues in Q1 2023, missiles & fire control $2.3B (including the HIMARS, now famous in Ukraine), rotary (helicopters) $3.5B, and space $2.9B, for total sales of $15.1B total sales.

Lockheed is also active in cyber defense and naval systems (AEGIS anti‑air systems and long‑range anti‑ship missiles).