There have been "thought experiments" on how UFOs might work (on paper, as no hardware is available, at least publicly). Books have been written by Paul R. Hill (written 1970s, published 1995), James McCampbell (1970s), Leonard G. Cramp (1966), Plantier (1953); who all approached the UFO phenomenon from a "nuts-and-bolts" craft perspective and their theories on UFO manoeuvring were based on the idea that a UFO's source of propulsion is rigidly attached to the craft. Other engineers and physicists who have shown a public and persistent interest in the UFO subject, or speculated on how UFOs might work, are Hermann Oberth, James E. McDonald, James Harder, Harley D. Rutledge, Jack Sarfatti, Harold Puthoff, Claude Poher (who in the late 1970s headed GEPAN, the French government's UFO project) and many others. This page is complementary to my Quick Technical Overview: What we think we know about UFOs page.

Summary : If we are to explain UFOs in terms of physics we understand to some degree, yet still conform to witness observations, it seems essential to assume UFOs are capable of generating artificial gravity fields (in GR terms, to manipulate the curvature of the fabric of space-time), much as we produce magnetism with electric currents. An approximation -probably oversimplified- of overall UFO behaviour is via accepting such a (hypothetical, or at least not known to us) gravity-like repulsive "force-field". The glow / luminescence in various colours around the UFO (apparently shape depends on UFO's shape as well as its current maneuver, so the UFO's outline as seen by external observer can change), is thought to be due to ionization of surrounding air (atmosphere around the UFO "lights up", much like what happens in neon-lamps), hereafter referred to as "UFO plasma sheath". Brightness/color changes of the "UFO plasma sheath" seem to be related with thrust/acceleration. The air ionization seems to be caused by the EM radiation emitted by the UFO, and is thought to be a secondary effect of the propulsion system. This includes UV (suggested by many cases of sunburn-like effects and eye and skin irritation) and soft X-rays (suggested by "burn ring" traces on ground where UFOs landed). Considering the difficulty of creating plasma in normal atmospheric conditions, in combination with other observations, like the luminosity of submarine UFOs, the sudden appearance of condensation / mist when starting up in high humidity conditions and noise patterns, it all suggests an envelope of lower atmospheric density near the UFO's surface. A near vacuum, i.e. the air/water is "pushed away" from the skin of the craft (confirmed by observations when UFOs rise from water), which minimizes friction and heating issues. Plasmas can interact strongly with electromagnetic radiation, "Plasma Stealth" is a proposed process that uses ionized gas (plasma) to reduce the radar cross section (RCS) of an aircraft. This may explain why sometimes UFOs are seen visually, but not tracked on radar. Often UFOs have a very strong magnetic field. Also, in several cases, light (e.g. from car headlights or beaming spotlights) is reported to "bend" in front of the UFO, an effect which some suggest is related with the most controversial aspect of UFO reports: the apparent ability to disappear / "blink out" or seem to "implode" (diminish in angular size) [miniature-scale "gravitational lensing"-type phenomenon?]. Physiological effects on humans include: sunburn-type effect and eye irritation, extreme dryness of the nasal area and of the throat, color changes in vision, extreme headaches and a heating/burning sensation. Witnesses and animals have become sick and even died, with symptoms similar to radiation poisoning, after close approach to a UFO. Given the tremendous amount of energy UFOs seem to be expending, their power source is a big mystery. Many ideas have been proposed, including that UFOs are storing energy in a very concentrated form, or converting gravity to usable energy (H.Oberth 1950s), or utilising ambient energy (speculations about being able to tap the so-called Zero-Point-Energy) or utilize remote transmission of power (wireless energy transfer).

It seems that UFOs defy our currently accepted Physics, e.g. the conservation of momentum (UFOs accelerate without throwing any material out the backside). Both Newton's gravity and General Relativity (Einstein's theory of gravitation), require the existence of "negative mass" (or energy) for antigravity to be possible. This has been a major hurdle to the study of UFOs by many "mainstream" physicists in previous decades (e.g. read Markowitz, W., "The Physics and Metaphysics of Unidentified Flying Objects", Science, Vol. 157, 1967).

My opinion : Having spent considerable time researching the UFO subject, it seems to me that the public scientific research most promising to be related to the UFO propulsion question, is the so-called Gravitomagnetism (the subject of field effects caused by moving matter, it has nothing to do with magnetism despite its name) and in particular any connection of gravitation with superconductivity, the purported "enhanced or boosted Gravitomagnetism". I am inclined to also include claims made in the 1990s by Russian materials scientist E.Podkletnov of "gravity shielding" effects when experimenting with rotating superconductors in a magnetic field, characterised "controversial" and apparently had a negative effect to his carreer. In Mar-2006, an experiment by Austrian physicist M.Tajmar et al funded by ESA (European Space Agency), reported generation of a toroidal (tangential, azimuthal) gravitational field in a rotating accelerated (time dependent angular velocity) superconducting Niobium ring. My opinion stems from the fact that UFO literature since the 1940s consistently documents: 1/ direct gravity-like effects 2/ perception of rotation on UFOs, such as at the rim of saucer-/saturn-/sphere-shaped UFOs 3/ saucers flying in a manner as if the drive is acting perpendicular to the plane of the disk 4/ strong magnetic fields. The commonly observed UFO shapes (disk, spheroid) are seemingly not chosen for aerodynamic purposes (considering when discoid UFOs want to fly away fast, they tilt and fly with the plane of the disk directed forward). Very early in the UFO study, there was the idea that "saucers do their business at the rim" (APRO, Hill), the same area which generally is reported to rotate and glow. However, in this page I provide links to other ideas on possible UFO propulsion which have been proposed over the years, such as Magneto[Hydro/Aero]Dynamics (the most popular), to Pulsed EM, to mag-lev type levitation.

Extract from Paul Hill's (NASA aeronautical engineer, bio) book "Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis" on UFO illumination (colors, brightness) and performance (acceleration). Review of Paul Hill's book by Hal Puthoff, PhD theoretical physicist:

To the degree that the engineering characteristics of UFOs can be estimated by empirical observation, in this reviewer's opinion the above-referenced, recently-published book by Paul Hill provides the most reliable, concise summary of engineering-type data available. 1 The data were compiled over decades of research by a Chief Scientist-Manager at NASA Langley Research Center 2 who acted as an informal clearinghouse for UFO-related data. The strength of the compilation lies in its thoughtful separation of wheat from chaff, and the analysis of the former into coherent patterns, including detailed calculations. Perhaps surprising to the casually interested, under careful examination the observations, rather than defying the laws of physics as naive interpretation might suggest, instead appear to be solidly commensurate with them, as the following discussion shows.



One of the most consistently-observed characteristics of UFO flight is a ubiquitous pattern in which they tilt to perform all maneuvers. Specifically, they sit level to hover, tilt forward to move forward, tilt backward to stop, bank to turn, and descend by "falling-leaf" or "silver-dollar-wobble" motions. Detailed analysis by Hill shows that such motion is inconsistent with aerodynamic requirements, but totally consistent with some form of repulsive force-field propulsion. Not satisfied with paper analyses alone, Hill arranged to have various forms of jet-supported and rotor-supported circular flying platforms built and tested. Hill himself acted as test pilot in early, originally-classified, versions, and found the above motions the most economical for control purposes. Pictures of these platforms are included in the text.



In an effort to examine the force-field propulsion hypothesis yet further, Hill analyzed a number of cases involving near-field interactions with an apparent craft in which some form of force was in evidence. These include examples in which a person or vehicle was affected, tree branches were parted or broken, roof tiles were dislodged, objects were deflected and ground or water were disturbed. Under close analysis the subtleties of these interactions combine to point unequivocally to a repulsive force field surrounding the craft, while discriminating against propulsion mechanisms involving jet action, pure electric or magnetic effects, or the emission of energetic particles or radiation (although the latter may accompany the propulsive mechanism as a secondary effect). Further detailed investigation indicates that the particular form of force field propulsion that satisfied observational constraints is what Hill labels a directed acceleration field; that is, a field that is, in general, gravitational-like in nature, and, in particular, gravity-canceling. 3 Such a field acts on all masses in its sphere of influence as does a gravitational field. Corollary to this conclusion is that observed accelerations ~100g relative to the environment could be sustained without on-board high-g forces.



One of the consequences of the above identification of field propulsion type by Hill is his conclusion, supported by detailed calculation, computer simulation and wind-tunnel studies, that supersonic flight through the atmosphere without sonic booms is easily engineered. Manipulation of the acceleration-type force field would, even at supersonic speeds, result in a constant-pressure, compression-free zone without shockwave in which the vehicle is surrounded by a subsonic flow-pattern of streamlines, and subsonic velocity ratios. An additional benefit of such field control is that drops of moisture, rain, dust, insects, or other low-velocity objects would follow streamline paths around the craft rather than impact it.



Another puzzle resolved by Hill's analysis is that craft observed to travel continuously at Mach 4 or 5 do not appear to generate temperatures sufficiently high to be destructive to known materials. In other words, UFOs appear to prevent high aerodynamic heating rates rather than permitting a heating problem to arise, then surviving it with heat-resistant materials as is the case of the NASA Space Shuttle, whose surface temperatures can reach 1300°C. The resolution of this potential problem is shown by Hill to derive from the fact that the force-field control that results in the prevention of shockwave drag as discussed above is also effective in preventing aerodynamic heating. In effect the airflow approaches, then springs away from the craft, depositing no energy in the process.



A further example of the type of correlation that emerges from Hill's analytical approach is provided by an analysis of the economy of various flight-path profiles. It is shown that high-angle, high-acceleration departures on ballistic-arc trajectories with high-speed coast segments are more efficient than, for example, intermediate-level, horizontal-path trips, both in terms of required impulse-per-unit-mass and time-of-flight parameters. This he correlates with the observation that UFO departures are of the dramatically high-angle, high-acceleration type.



Also of interest is Hill's analysis of the spectra and intensity of an apparent plasma sheath surrounding such craft, the details of which correlate with what one would expect in terms of it being a secondary effect associated with the propulsion system; for example, a blue shift and intensity increase during a "power-up" phase, and the opposite during hover and landing maneuvers. An additional fine point that emerges from this analysis is resolution of the paradox that observation on a direct line-of-sight to a near part of the craft can reveal a metallic-like structure while the attempt to observe the outline of the craft, necessarily by an oblique line-of-sight, results in an indistinct blur. Analysis shows this to be a reasonable outcome of an expected re-absorption of reflected light by the surrounding plasma in the longer-length path associated with the more oblique view.



Another typical nugget of information is found in Hill's discussion of the results of the analysis of a possible UFO artifact, the famous Ubatuba magnesium fragments, claimed to have originated from an exploded unidentified craft near Ubatuba, Brazil. Laboratory analysis of the samples found the magnesium to be not only of exceptional purity, and anomalous in its trace composition of other elements, but 6.7% denser than ordinary pure magnesium, a figure well beyond the experimental error of the measurement. Hill's calculation shows that this observation can be accounted for by assuming that the sample contained only the pure isotope Mg-26, rather than the naturally-occurring distribution among isotopes Mg-24, Mg-25, and Mg-26. Since the only isotope separation on a significant scale in terrestrial manufacture is that of uranium, such a result must be considered at least anomalous, and possibly as evidence for extraterrestrial manufacture. (editor's note: a recent analysis of the "Ubatuba magnesium" can be found in Composition Analysis of the Brazil Magnesium by Peter Sturrock, JSE, 15, 69-95, 2001)



Additional calculations concerning the parameters of interstellar travel (including relativistic effects), and the energetics of such travel, have been performed and are included in tabular and graphical form. The wealth of material in these sections, along with discussion of the broad implications of this material, reveal the dedication and thoroughness of Hill's approach to his self-assigned task.



In the final analysis, one must conclude that Hill has assembled as good a case as can be made on the basis of presently available data that the observation of some "unconventional flying objects" is compatible with the presence of engineered platforms weighing in at something around 30 tons, which are capable of 100-g accelerations and 9000-mph speeds in the atmosphere. Perhaps more important for the technical reader, however, is Hill's supporting argumentation, based on solid analysis, that these platforms, although exhibiting the application of physics and engineering principles clearly beyond our present-day capabilities, do not appear to defy these principles in any fundamental way.



H.E. Puthoff, Ph.D.

Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin

4030 W. Braker Lane, Ste. 300

Austin, TX 78759

1 The book also comes highly recommended in a Frontispiece by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Ph.D. and in a Foreword by retired McDonnell Douglas R&D Manager, Robert M. Wood, Ph.D.



2 Asst Chief, Pilotless Aircraft Research Div., Assoc. Chief Applied Materials and Physics Div. Retired from NASA in 1970.



3 Recent examples of the discussion of the technical aspects of candidate field propulsion mechanisms of this type are given in M. Alcubierre, "The Warp Drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity," Class and Quantum Grav. 11, L73 (1994), and in H. Puthoff, "SETI, the velocity-of -light limitation and the Alcubierre Warp Drive: An integrating overview," Phys. Essays 9, No. 1, 156 (March 1996).



This book review originally appeared in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 10 No. 4, 1996.

There are at least four highly interesting radar/visual cases which are well documented.

Gravity effects, examples of direct gravity effects are:

The Coyne UH-1H helicopter-UFO encounter 1973 (occured at the start of a major UFO wave that was happening in the USA in the latter part of 1973 to early 1974) which was a situation wherein a helicopter and its crew were apparently moved from about 1,500ft to 3,500ft of altitude in a time of a few seconds without any feeling of acceleration by the crew.

Interviews with the helicopter crew members, from an extract from the 1979 documentary "UFOs: It has begun" (you can ignore the stuff after the interviews):



More: ufologie, ufoevidence, nicap, cufon foia. Also note that the UFO was last seen moving towards Lake Erie, i.e. the UFO-water connection I keep highlighting throughout these pages.

Interviews with the helicopter crew members, from an extract from the 1979 documentary "UFOs: It has begun" (you can ignore the stuff after the interviews): More: ufologie, ufoevidence, nicap, cufon foia. Also note that the UFO was last seen moving towards Lake Erie, i.e. the UFO-water connection I keep highlighting throughout these pages. Wanaque, New Jersey Jan-1966, which was the site of a report involving the rising of water by a foot or so directly under the UFO. Website WaterUFO.net by Carl Feindt, concentrates in UFO water activity and most importantly on physical influences of UFOs on water, compiled by putting together elements from 100s of reports:



Many reports of cases of levitation (ref: Bob Pratt's work in Brazil).

Light effects:

Rotation of the plane of polarization of light (ref: Dr. Harder presented the Webb 5-May-1953 case in the 1968 Congressional hearings - src1 src2).

Light beam bending, e.g.: The Norwood Searchlight Incident 19-Aug-1949 ufocasebook, nicap Burkes Flat case 4-Apr-1966 car headlight beams "bending" towards UFO (src, drawing, src2)

Many night-time UFO photos once developed show just a mesh of colorful "squiggly lines of light" (e.g. stills from the recent Stephenville, Texas USA Jan-2008 video, the "ambersand UFO" of the famous sightings at New Zealand Dec-1978, night-time photos taken in the Smoky Mountains National Park in Feb-2008 or those taken in 1999 by Rhonda Rose, filmed near the Columbia River, close to Hood River, Oregon pic1, pic2).

Watch NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" piece on the videos shot by Mrs Dorothy Izatt of Vancouver, Canada. Back in the 1970s, she captured interesting material on Super-8 home-movie tape on 1/18sec single-frames without bleed-over to the next frames: pic1, pic2, pic3:

Vehicle interference: Gasoline engines stop (but oddly enough, diesel engines are apparently unaffected). CUFOS database lists 441 such cases. Several ideas have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, the two most prevalent are:

A strong magnetic field might saturate the ignition coil and reduce voltage to the spark plugs. Joe Kirk Thomas, while employed as a EM interference engineer, did some experiments which led him to believe that "interference with automotive ignition systems could occur at magnetic field levels (at the point of interference) of 0.1 Tesla / 1000 Gauss and frequency of 100 Hz." (src: MUFON Journal Sep-1987, Oct-1989) Under this scenario, automobiles with diesel engines are immune to being stalled by the proximity of a UFO, because diesel engines do not utilize a high voltage ignition system.

Another idea, suggested by J.McCampbell, was that the ionization of air around the UFO. Once ionized to form a plasma, air loses its normal insulating properties and will conduct electricity at lower voltages (commonly referred to as the insulator 'breakdown voltage') and thus short-circuits the high-voltage part of the ignition. Note: could this be related to the "tingling sensation", "hair stood up on end" etc physiological effects reported by human witnesses?. More (from MUFON 1983 Symposium proceeding).

Magnetic effects (e.g. compass swinging wildly, even a case of compass reversing polarity): Fifty-six (56) aircraft pilot sightings involving EM effects by Richard Haines, Ph.D. Often electrical circuitry and radio communications are interrupted, batteries are burned out. Strong Magnetic Field detected follwing sighting of a UFO by B. Maccabee, Ph.D, 1994,2000.

"Following the brief sighting of an unidentified flying object in Gulf Breeze, Florida in September 1992, investigators made an area search using a fluxgate gradient magnetometer and found a strong magnetic field gradient, indicative of a strong source of magnetic field, which appeared to be at or above the tops of some trees near a small pond. Three circles of depressed grass were found in the bottom of the shallow pond. This paper discusses the sighting, the area search, the circles and the field gradient measurements. An estimate of the field strength is presented and compared with magnetic effects associated with other sightings."

Radar stealth? Quite often, UFOs not only seen, but are also tracked on radar, both ground and airborne radar. Such cases include the Washington "Merry go round" of 1952, the famous RB-47 1957 case, the Minot AFB Oct-1968 case, JAL-1628 Nov-1986 case, Belgium wave 1989-1990 etc. Based on the testimonies such as the one by Disclosure Project witness Mr Michael Smith, who was an Air Traffic Controller with the US Air Force:



one could assume that radar operators are under instructions to not report them, nor write anything down and basically to lie to eye-witnesses who ask for radar confirmation of what they see with their lying eyes.

Nevertheless, it seems that sometimes UFOs are seen visually, but not tracked on radar e.g. enlisted men who served in one of the major military radar installations here in Greece, on island Samos, reported (privately, but these are not carreer military officers who would fear their pensions) that on at least one occasion they could see a UFO do erratic maneuvres for minutes, yet their radar didn't log anything. "Plasma Stealth" is a proposed process that uses ionized gas (plasma) to reduce the radar cross section (RCS) of an aircraft. This may explain why sometimes UFOs are seen visually, but not tracked on radar. BTW there is speculation that USA's B-2 stealth bomber is using "plasma stealth".

Sonic boom elimination: In Plantier's theory, the same artificial gravity field he assumed the craft used for propulsion, could also be used to hold a protective layer of air around the craft. As Michel further summarized Plantier's work in 1957:

Such a vessel would be able to move at the most terrifying speeds without noise, and to break the sonic barrier without producing the 'sonic boom.' For the force field centered on the engine would also act on the surrounding air. The air molecules would be dragged along at speeds proportional to their proximity to the engine. As a result, whatever may be the real speed of the craft, its speed with respect to the nearest molecules will always be much less than the speed of sound; these molecules in their turn will travel more slowly than the engine, but more rapidly than the molecules of the next layer, and so on. Thus no relative supersonic speed will be observed, even if the engine is traveling at 20,000 miles per hour. This reasoning seems perfectly logical: what causes the strident noise typical of supersonic aircraft, and the 'boom' of the sound barrier, is their continuous impact against the motionless air. But according to Plantier's reasoning, the air is drawn along at a distance by the engine, so that there is never any shock, but a gliding upon one another of the successive layers. For the same reason, the machine would be able to travel through the atmosphere at enormous speeds without overheating: the frictional heat, instead of being concentrated on the skin of the vessel, would be dispersed in the vast volume of air drawn along by the force field.

Ideas on UFO propulsion, along the lines of "gravity-type force field", since the 1940s (sorted chronologically):

Lt Plantier of the French Air Force, first published his theory in "La Revue Mensuelle de l'Armee de l'Air," #84, September 1953, the monthly review of the French Air Forces. - ufologie rr0. He further developed it in his book "The Propulsion of the Flying saucers," Mame, Paris.

Prof. Hermann Oberth, visionary pioneer of modern rocketry, whose 1922 doctoral thesis on Rocketry was rejected, and who hired Werner von Braun as his assistant in the 1930s, said this about UFOs: "UFOs are propelled by distorting the gravitational field, converting gravity into useable energy. With the ability to create their own gravitational fields, UFOs would be able to do all the things witnesses had attributed to them: hover motionlessly, accelerate at tremendous speed, make violent turns that would cause ordinary craft to disintegrate.

Wilbert Smith (former Head of Canadian UFO Project "Magnet" 1950-1954) - archive

Dr.Paul Santorini: Greek physicist, "Manhattan Project" scientist (Santorini had been a developer of the proximity fuse on the first A-bomb and held patents on guidance systems for Nike missiles and radar systems), born 1893 died 1986. He researched UFOs in Greece in 1947, after several sightings over Thessaloniki (my town) on 1-Sep-1946, thought to be Russian missiles flying over Greece. In a Feb-1966 interview to journalist K.Meraneos of national TV/Radio, he reported that "Ghost rocket" UFOs investigation in Greece was stopped and results were suppressed, after intervention by "foreign officials" (USA). He also refers to French Plantier and his hypothetical gravity-like "Plantier force" and his "flying saucer physics" are very close to the ones outlined by Paul R. Hill.

Electrogravitics systems were considered by USAF and major research contractors in the 1950s (more)

James M. McCampbell e-book Ufology I Ch.7 Flight and Propulsion" and Effects of UFOs Upon People (.PDF)

Hints: James McDonald work on the RB-47 case and James Harder report on the concentric circles appearing on polarizing glasses

Leonard G. Cramp - UFOs and Anti-Gravity: Piece for a Jig-Saw

UFOs and Gravity Drive by Dr. Robert E. Farrell

Thomas Valone

Rho Sigma [Rolf Schaffranke] "Ether-Technology: A Rational Approach to Gravity Control" (.PDF, amazon). The anonymous "Rho Sigma" writes about devices and electrogravitic theory, overunity devices and UFO physics.

"Theory of Universons" by Claude Poher, PhD [English/French] (registration needed). Poher, in 1977, created and headed GEPAN, the official French UFO project at CNES. "Effectively, in January 2006, based on my Universons theory, I invented several types of emitters of an anisotropic flux of Universons. According to my theory, such a flux is a gravitational field. This means that, since January 2006, I know how to create artificially such a field." www.universons.com

Edward Halerewicz, Jr. Observations of apparent propulsion technologies for Big-Black-Deltas (7-Nov-2004) PDF

Jack Sarfatti: The UFO must follow a self-generated self-steered timelike geodesic so that there is complete free float weightlessness inside it for all objects in it with small tidal force. This is Paul Hill's "acceleration field propulsion" seen in Alcubierre's warp drive. How to make the exotic support regions is the key of course.

Antigravity and conventional physics: In both Newton's law of gravitation and the general theory of relativity (Einstein's theory of gravitation), a requirement for antigravity to be possible is the existence of negative mass. Most scientists regard negative mass as a purely hypothetical concept with no basis in reality. A related idea that has been discussed by theoretical physicists involves gravitational shielding.

Links related to gravity: Gravity's secret @ NewScientist 11-Nov-2006, Podkletnov @ americanantigravity, Tajmar experiment @ ESA, The Physics of Burkhard Heim and its Applications to Space Propulsion by by Illobrand von Ludwiger, M.Sc. Paper on Extended Heim Theory Aug-2006 PDF 5MBytes

Todo: Look for parallels between experiments with rotating superconductor claims of "antigravity" effects (read Podkletnov-Interview.pdf), with:

UFO reports, where eyewitnesses talk about a rotating components - often "flashing", like a spinning ring (sometimes referred to as "catwalk") around the circumference of saucer-shaped UFOs (and even in case of ovals, e.g. Antonio Villas Boas - Brazil 1957, John Weygandt - Peru 1997) or an annular indentation or bulge Alleged abductees describing the inside of a UFO, mention a "tube" or some devices around the circumference (e.g. policeman Sgt Shirmer Dec-1967,) "Vimanas" the mythological flying machines, described in the ancient literature of India (Vedas, Ramayana, Mahâbhârata) which have whole chapters devoted to describing airships [to check: Vaimanika Shastra purportedly an "ancient Sanskrit text" is a "channelled" scam from the 1920s, and has been exposed as a scam by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in the 1970s]. I have to rely on translations (of questional reliability) from Sanskrit. Some versions suggest that the story simply tells of airships whose tails spout fire and quicksilver, whereas others go as far as to interpret them as a "rotating mercury engine". Indologist William Clarendon, who has written down a detailed description of the mercury vortex engine in his translation of Samaranga Sutradhara quotes: Inside the circular air frame, place the mercury-engine with its solar mercury boiler at the aircraft center. By means of the power latent in the heated mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in a most marvellous manner. Four strong mercury containers must be built into the interior structure. When these have been heated by fire through solar or other sources the Vimana (aircraft) develops thunder-power through the mercury. Edgar Fouche's story on the alleged TR-3B deep black US project: "A circular, plasma filled accelerator ring called the Magnetic Field Disrupter, surrounds the rotatable crew compartment and is far ahead of any imaginable technology... The plasma, mercury based, is pressurized at 250,000 atmospheres at a temperature of 150 degrees Kelvin, and accelerated to 50,000 rpm to create a super-conductive plasma with the resulting gravity disruption"

Other online resources about possible UFO propulsion system, BUT based only on Physics we know , of pure electric or magnetic effetcs on charged matter (i.e. without resorting to the hypothetical "force field" / "antigravity"). Such are Magneto-[Hydro/Aero]-Dynamics-based, i.e. ionize the ambient medium (air / water) and then work with magnetic fields. This includes the recent July-2008 announcement of an experimental "Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle" (WEAV) by scientist Subrata Roy of the University of Florida.

[Note: IMHO the following ideas on how UFOs might work, while conforming to the physics we know, do not conform to the evidence. Witnesses invariably report virtually no air displacement / turbulence and noise, and the landing-marks suggest that UFOs are massive -according to Ted Phillips' CPTR soil compression tests where UFOs had landed, never resulted in a craft of under 8 tons-. For a massive MAD-craft to stay aloft, we should be seeing a huge rush of air similar to VTOL aircraft, but with UFOs we don't observe that. Not to mention tremendous accelerations and the apparent ability to disappear]. Anyway, here they are:

Purely magnetic effects, i.e. a magnetic field, that repells the Earth's natural magnetism. This might hypothetically be via room-temperature superconductors, that may have magnetic fields on the order of 10^6 Gauss (i.e. over a million times higher than the Earth's natural magnetic field) and "mag-lev train"-type modus operandi. This was the assumption of Canadian government's UFO project "MAGNET", run by engineer Wilbert Smith between 1950-1954. Also Dr Pajak "magnetocraft".

Dr. Auguste Meessen Belgian, professor of Physics at the Catholic University of Louvain and Ufo researcher, formulated a "Pulsed EM Propulsion" model. It involves the action of electric and magnetic fields on electric charges, resulting from an adequate ionization of the ambient air. He also shows how the required, extremely intense, but low frequency field can be produced.

Stanton Friedman on UFO propulsion - again MagnetoAeroDynamics (i.e. ionize the surrounding medium and then work with electromagnetic fields), gives the example of the EM submarine tested in Santa Barbara, CA in 1966. In the mid-1960s and electromagnetic submarine designed by Dr. Stuart Way, who was on leave from Westinghouse Research Laboratory, was successfully tested. It made use of the fact that electric and magnetic fields at right angles to each other produce a (Lorentz) force at right angles to both. The force pushes against the surrounding electromagnetically conducting fluid (seawater) which pushes back and moves the submarine. It is possible to envision an airborne analog in which seawater is replaced by ionized electrically conducting air, and conventional electromagnetic fields are produced by superconducting magnets which need little space, very little power and weight, and generate very high magnetic fields. Substantial research, much of it classified, has been done showing that a magnetoaerodynamic system would be capable of solving all the problems of high-speed flight by controlling lift, drag, heating, and sonic-boom production--all electromagnetically rather than mechanically or chemically. The resulting system would be symmetric, highly maneuverable, relatively silent, often have a glow around it, and be capable of sudden starts and stops. It could carry its own power supply or be charged up on board its mother ship in much the same manner as a golf cart which carries only a storage battery. He also contends that the g-forces observed (UFOs have been observed to do 100g's) could be sustainable by living beings, if applied for a very short time, what he calls the "hot potato effect". (more)

He also contends that the g-forces observed (UFOs have been observed to do 100g's) could be sustainable by living beings, if applied for a very short time, what he calls the "hot potato effect". (more) French physicist JP Petit (again MagnetoHydroDynamics): (French) homepage about MagnetoHydroDynamics, and ufo-science.com [Engligsh/French]

Dr. Barry M. Warmkessel, 2002: An analysis is offered as to how extra-terrestrial alien "saucers" ease their passage through our low atmosphere at supersonic speeds without sonic "booms" and what electromagnetic radio frequencies may leak from their related (and now patented) Aerodynamic Augmentation Device (AAD). Explained are UFO related enigmas like magnetic fields, glowing saucers and the lack of "sonic booms" during high speed encounters. more

There is current fundamental research work by Jack Sarfatti, Harold Puthoff, Bernard Haisch (calphysics.org), Eric Davis, Mark Pesses, Rueda, Tom Valone, Gennady Shipov, Michio Kaku. Sarfatti in his book "Super Cosmos" (2005) has the most detailed "theory" based on the recent discovery of the repulsive anti-gravity field "dark energy" (of the matter+energy content in the universe, ~73% is made of "dark energy", 23% "cold dark matter" and 4% atoms) that is accelerating the expansion of the 3D space of our universe. Sarfatti also cites Alcubierre's weightless warp drive without time dilation as essential conditions for "propellantless propulsion" in what Puthoff has called "metric engineering." Sarfatti's key idea is that the ship is able to control its own zero-g force geodesic flight path using small amounts of energy. This is controversial ofcourse, but he does have a paper on the physics archive with the mathematics of his theory. Kaku writes of "Type IV" advanced civilization supertechnology that is close to Puthoff's idea of "metric engineering" the fabric of spacetime itself.

The mysterious dark energy, which has puzzled astrophysicists, is actually "zero-point vacuum fluctuations with positive energy density and negative quantum pressure. Dark matter is the same, but with negative energy density and positive pressure. Zero-point energy is 96 percent of all the "stuff" in our visible universe. What controls the sign of the zero point energy density at a given place and time and at a given scale of resolution? That is the 64 trillion dollar question, whose solution is the key to the metric engineering of weightless warp drive and star-gate wormholes.

Other assorted links (this section needs some re-organisation and cleanup):

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Written by Last modified: Sunday 12-Aug-2012 03:52:48 EEST