不用推進劑，可加速到光速99%的概念引擎

When it comes to space, there's a problem with our human drive to go all the places and see all the things. A big problem. It's, well, space.

一提到太空，人類想去所有地方看所有事物的欲望就會遇到一個問題，而且是個大問題，那就是“太空”。

It's way too big. Even travelling at the maximum speed the Universe allows, it would take us years to reach our nearest neighbouring star.

太空太大了，即使以宇宙允許的最快速度行駛，我們也要花幾年時間才能到達離我們最近的恒星。

But another human drive is finding solutions to big problems. And that's what NASA engineer David Burns has been doing in his spare time.

但人類的另一個欲望是找到解決大問題的辦法，NASA工程師David Burns就一直利用業(yè)余時間研究這個。

He's produced an engine concept that, he says, could theoretically accelerate to 99 percent of the speed of light - all without using propellant.

他提出了一個概念引擎，他說理論上可以加速到光速的99%，而且完全不用推進劑。

He's posted it to the NASA Technical Reports Server under the heading "Helical Engine", and, on paper, it works by exploiting the way mass can change at relativistic speeds - those close to the speed of light in a vacuum. It has not yet been reviewed by an expert.

他將其發(fā)表在NASA技術報告服務器上，標題是“螺旋引擎”。理論上來說它的工作原理是利用相對論性速度(即與真空中光速接近的速度)下質(zhì)量變化的方式。至今還沒有專家對此做出評論。

Understandably this paper has caused buzz approaching levels seen in the early days of the EM Drive. And yes, even some headlines claiming the engine could 'violate the laws of physics'.

可以理解的是這個論文已經(jīng)引發(fā)關注，其熱度可以媲美無燃料引擎早期的關注度。甚至有些新聞聲稱該引擎可能“違反物理定律”。

But while this concept is fascinating, it's definitely not going to break physics anytime soon.

雖然這個概念很吸引人，但短期內(nèi)絕對不會打破物理規(guī)律。

As a thought experiment to explain his concept, Burns describes a box with a weight inside, threaded on a line, with a spring at each end bouncing the weight back and forth.

Burns利用一個思維實驗解釋他的概念，他描述說一個盒子里面有一個重物，穿在一條線上，兩端用彈簧來回彈起重物。

In a vacuum - such as space - the effect of this would be to wiggle the entire box, with the weight seeming to stand still, like a gif stabilised around the weight.

在真空狀態(tài)，比如太空中，這樣做的結果是整個盒子都會動，重物似乎靜止不動，就像放置在重物周圍的動圖。

Overall, the box would stay wiggling in the same spot - but if the mass of the weight were to increase in only one direction, it would generate a greater push in that direction, and therefore thrust.

總的來說，這個盒子會在同一個地方擺動，但如果重物質(zhì)量只向一個方向增加，那個方向推動力更大，因而產(chǎn)生推力。