[vannrox]

Whether you believe in UFO's or not. This is interesting.

[Joe Brower]

[dark_lord]

Another interesting and potentially important propulsion development are the so-called "gravitational shielding" experiments. In these experiments small weights are suspended by extremely sensitive strain gauge devices. Placed closely underneath are rapidly rotating superconducting ceramic discs, which in turn are in a state of levitation due to the superconducting Meissner effect. It has been found in a number of different experiments that a significant fraction of weight is lost from the suspended materials. The effect was first discovered by Tampere University of Technology physicists E. Podkletnov and R. Nieminen, and published in paper entitled "A Possibility of Gravitational Force Shielding by Bulk YBa2Cu307-x Superconductor"(Physica C 203, 1992, pp 441- 444).

Podkletnov later published a second paper with colleague A.D. Levit, "Gravitational Shielding Properties of Composite Bulk YBa2Cu307-x Below 70C Under Electro-magnetic Field"(Tampere University of Technology Report MSU-95 chem, January 1995). This paper provides even stronger evidence for the weight loss effect. In this 2nd experiment, samples of different composition and weight (10-50grams) were placed at distances of 25mm to 1.5 meters from the rotating disk. The resultant mass losses went as high as around 2% -- undeniably a statistically significant amount.

I think a reason NASA is interested in this is that if such an effect is real, then potentially operating it out of a gravity well (e.g. where we send our space probes) means that it might be useful as a propulsion system. That is, something that can appear to reduce weight (it says mass but in reality the samples were weighed) in a zero gravity field might produce "negative" weight - that is, a propulsion effect. As Einstein pointed out, there is no measurable difference between the exposure to a gravitational field and acceleration (the elevator thought experiment.)

[JohnnyZ]

This is easier:

Find it and dig it up!

[Brett66]

Oh boy, this article is old, many things have happened since this has been written. Almost all of them bad. The BPP program at NASA has been terminated for several months, Ning Li pretty much was pulling a scam on NASA scientists and left the program a year or two ago. The studies that were completed of the gravitational shielding discs showed no new phenomenon. The one ray of hope is from Dr.James F. Woodward's devices that he's successfully tested that involve propellantless propulsion. NASA was funding him through the BPP program but that program is no more. I think some companies have taken intertest in his inertial propulsion ideas and are continuing studies on it. That may be for the best anyway, a private company is probably the best way to go about developing this stuff, if there's anything to it. The BPP sure was fun though. :(

Link to more info on Woodward's propulsion testing:

James F. Woodward: Mach's Principle Weight Reduction = Propellantless Propulsion

[boris]

"This new NASA working group adds an exciting dimension to the space program as we head into 21st century. One can only feel encouraged that the agency has chosen to go in this promising direction. It will take the kinds of breakthroughs discussed in this article, and soon to be studied in depth by the NASA working group, to get us to the stars. And one can feel confident that because of this, more startling theoretical and technological breakthroughs lurk right around the corner."

This new NASA working group has been dissolved and Mr. Millis reassigned.

===========================

My comment on "Starship Builders": If any of these schemes were feasible, intelligent aliens would have reduced them to practise thousands of years ago. We should observe their traffic (e.g., massive waves of Cherenkov radiation). We do not. Nor have they landed on the White House lawn and requested a private audience with the interns.

Hence either none of these schemes is feasible or there are no intelligent E.T.'s.

This is a version of the 'Fermi Paradox' (FP) and is easy to construct once you've understood the FP.

If UFOs are cruising our skys from, say, dozens of Starship Building alien cultures, it is curious that all of them are so shy and seem to be fixated on anal probes.

On the other hand, were I a shy alien in a UFO, the best way to appear unobtrusive would be to build my ship in the shape of a 747 and go flying around at 550 mph...

--Boris

[Physicist]

UFO's have various methods of propulsion. Some are propelled by ignorance, some by imagination, some by fear, and some by wishful thinking.

[techcor]

Probes and people will travel across the stars as femtobyte electro-magnetic waves (cosmic rays) ala Rudy Rucker. It's the only way to travel.

[Kerberos]

Bump for later read

[InterceptPoint]

Wonderful stuff. I just hope I live long enough for this to become real science with a solid theory that is well understood and the experimental data to confirm the theory.

[skinkinthegrass]

yes, it all was

[Jim Noble]

I always knew Zephraim Cochran was an old drunk. This is where he stole (will steal?) the idea from!

exotic matter will be needed in order to generate a distortion of spacetime like the one discussed here

Haven't they ever heard of dilithium?

[timestax]

In the 1950's there was a well known cartoon strip that featured SpaceCraft that used magnetism to get around. So, there you go, use powerful magnets to leave Earths' gravity!ha ha hha hahhah, I know it's not that simple.

[Quix]

Thanks.

I didn't bother with every paragraph but it seems like an impressive enough essay to me.

I do suspect, however, that things are much more progressed beyond this paper than is hinted at.

[Captain Beyond]

bump for later read

[PatrickHenry]

I think this is NASA's site on the topic. Lots of links, lots of info: Warp Drive When?.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Ha! Stupid humans! You're piddling attempts at hyper light speed travel amuse us.
You are destined to be ruled and enslaved by our superior technology!

[Wolfie]

Screw the Starship, bring on the hot green space babes!

[Billy_bob_bob]

" If the photos of the Roswell crash fragments are not bogus, then the panels with hand prints provide a major clue that the craft is controlled by consciousness. The late Brendan O Regan, who worked with Astronaut Edgar Mitchell and the Noetics Institute told me in 1973 that he had classified information that such was the case."

That statement sure got my attention. First time I've ever seen anything about "panels with hand prints" at the Roswell site.

[strela]

BUMP for later perusal and to get my head back in the stars where it belongs for a while.

[SunkenCiv]

Blast from the past.