Feasibility study of a mission to Sedna – Nuclear propulsion and solar sailing

Already in orbit is OTP-2, which has 2 novel drive systems, one based on non-Newtonian thrusters, and the other based on an ION drive.[1]

Edit: The latter is "Fusion enhanced"[3]

  The company’s the FireStar Drive uses is a water-fueled pulsed plasma thruster that uses a form of aneutronic nuclear fusion to boost its performance.

I watch the orbital observations closely to see if any altitude is being gained.[2] This is their second satellite in orbit, the first one had high voltage power supply issues so they never got to try the thruster.

[1] https://www.nanosats.eu/sat/otp-2

[2] https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/graph-orbit-data.php?CA...

[3] https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/space/roc...

Already in orbit around Earth, notably. Not Sedna.

Non-Newtonian drives have to prove they work outside the influences of a laboratory, if they work in low earth orbit, they should work anywhere. The Semi-Major Axis Altitude (SMAA) is a great proxy for orbital energy, and if they can make that number go way up, we should all take note, and start looking for new physics.

*IVO – Quantum Drive Propellantless Thruster - *The objective of the IVO Quantum Drive is to test the system in the LEO environment and qualify the drive’s ability to provide thrust utilizing proprietary quantum technology with no required propellant. Estimated Thrust: 1.75mN.

Why does this give me EM-Drive vibes? Haven't we established that some kind of propellant is required for conservation of momentum?

Similar thing... it shouldn't work, according to the established laws of physics, though it does seem to work on the ground. If it actually does work in space, then our rules of physics need tweaking.

some measured effects in such experiments happen because of, for example, magnetic interference with the lab equipment. Well, on LEO there still present the Earth magnetic field, unlike in any usable interplanetary space. Interaction with the Earth magnetic field is already used by some satellites for orientation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetorquer

1.75mN can certainly be measured on earth. I would of course be happy to hear about a new physics breakthrough, but putting all the VC buzzwords together "proprietary quantum whatever" does not instill confidence.