Zero Emitting Thruster (ZET)

Let's begin with Einstein, watch a bobbycar race then examine the ZET-idea and then go nano.

Einstein

The most famous mass-energy equivalence equation from Albert E. is:

e = m * c²

where "e" is "everything" and "m" is "mass"

tells us:

Mass is everything (and the rest is light).

That mass is everything is pointed out in the book LIFTOFF which documents the raise of SpaceX.
The second launch of the Falcon 1 failed very late when sloshing occured and the stage was propelled around a new center of mass. That caused the rocket to leave the path and fail its mission.

Fun fact: Sloshing did not find its way into the top ten risk list. It was on place 11.

Bobbycars

Personally, I do believe this is an invention of the shoes industry.
The most safe way to slowdown this vehicle is by braking with the tips of the shoes.

You want to punish your son-in-law?
Get his kid a Bobbycar.

Now imagine two kids with their bobbycars. What would they do? A race, of course!

They violently accelerate by hitting the bottom frequently with the soles of the shoes. Nothing bad happens to the shoes before the (imaginary) finishing line is reached. There is a winner. Scarce. Do be discussed.
Again!
After some races this is boring. Something new! Each kid takes a carefully chosen stick.

New rule: Only the stick is allowed to touch the bottom.

Will there be a winner? Yes and no. Still there is a lot of discussion who made it first and there will be more than 1 races to be raced.

BORING!

New rule: Nothing is allowed to touch the bottom.

Let that sink in.

Nothing.

Now.

Will there be a winner? Of course: Yes. To be discussed? Only if both kids have about the same mass. Because both of them will reach the finishing line without touching the bottom. You can precisely predict the winner:

The kid with more weight.

Because, as Einstein told us: Mass is everything.

So now for all of that poor people that did not have a cart or a bobby car:
This works by moving the torso fast forward and a little bit slower backward while the bobbycar moves forward. This slows the forward movement of the car a little bit down but it works. A wild grin helps in the process.

Zero Emitting Thruster (ZET)

This wild name for that bobbycar-idea hopped right into my brain and did not leave since.
And it is a lie. The ZET will emit warmth.

Imagine a container - say a cylinder - containing a heavy slab on a shaft. The slab is pulled by an electric magnet and hits the rubber shield with a significant speed. Then it is slowly pulled back. Slow means: Electric magnet off, some means of rearranging the slab back to "bottom". The cylinder does not need to be long.
The duty of such a ZET would probably not be propulsion but steering.
A steering pad like this would consist of some flat cylinders of different sizes and weights. The AI will determine when to fire which.

A: "The time between firing a ZET is too long!"
B: "Use more of them."

Such ZETs could be mounted on the inside of the craft. I think they should go near the outer wall. No need to evacuate the vessel for maintaining them. I have "rubber" as the speed braking medium which certainly will fail in space conditions.
But at room temperature? In the vessel - not outside?
Any space engineer will certainly have something better in mind than rubber.

Think about that ISP - what is the propellant? How long will a ZET work? No more need for cold gas thrusters.

Zero Emitting Nano Thrusters (ZENT)

Imagine a foil that contains nano machines like little hammers that quickly hit up and slowly pull back. If an AI would control that billions of hammers in 5 different stages:

Would that foil move?
Would that foil fly?

I believe it might zent up rather quickly.
There are of course different materials to be tested. But more than one will work.

Last update: 2023-02-09