UFO Propulsion Systems By Stanton T. Friedman (Part Two)

     Unfortunately, chemical rockets such as we have been using are by their very nature extremely limited in their abilities to provide high velocities in their limited operating times because of their great inefficiency.

     Starship and Earth Excursion Module designers thus face two obvious questions:

     1). How much acceleration can people stand for how long?

     2). What method can provide more miles per hour then chemical rockets, either by operating for longer times or at higher accelerations?

     The amount of acceleration a person can stand depends on many factors; the three most important depends on the duration of acceleration (the greater the force, the shorter the time it can be tolerated), the direction of the force in relation to the body (back to front acceleration is much easier to handle then head to foot acceleration, and for this reason Apollo astronauts have their backs perpendicular to the direction of the thrust, rather then along it as in an elevator), and body environment is important (a person immersed in fluid can withstand greater acceleration then one not so immersed).

     Let’s consider some of the variables. A trained and highly motivated pilot can perform a tracking task while being accelerated at fourteen Gs (about three hundred mph every second) for two minutes. Starting from rest he would be moving at three hundred mph in one second, at three thousand mph in ten seconds, and at thirty-six thousand mph at the end of two minutes!

     Obviously conventional propulsion systems such as airplanes, trains, buses and cars cannot provide fourteen Gs. A trained person properly trained can stand thirty Gs for one second without damage. This data suggests that much higher acceleration could be withstood for shorter times. Reports of EEM (Earth Excursion Module) flight often indicate that the high acceleration—as when making a near right angle turn or changing altitude—takes place in an extremely short period of time. In modern physics and technology, the primary method for providing very high forces for relatively short periods of time is the use of electromagnetic forces such as with lasers, magneto forming of the complex shapes, and the acceleration of the nuclear particles to velocities close to that of light.

     In the mid 1960s an electromagnetic submarine designed by Dr. Stuart Way, [sic] 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 pushed 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 super-conducting 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 electromagneto aerodynamic 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 then mechanically or chemically. The resulting system would be symmetric, highly maneuverable, and 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.

     The reason much of the research on MAD propulsion systems is classified is that the nose cones of ballistic missiles create an ionized air region around them as they reenter. Modifications of the nose cones can be used to vary the radar profile, lift, drag and light direction and other important parameters with out carrying along fuel or propellant, which normally would be required. It should be stressed that such systems work by interacting with their surroundings and by carrying along something that is thrown out the back end. A real benefit is derived from producing very high magnetic fields since a field ten times as great produces one hundred times as much force.

     For the interstellar trip the obvious first choice, although undoubtedly not the ultimate choice, for replacing primitive chemical rockets is a nuclear rocket. Although most people are unaware of nuclear propulsion systems other then those the Navy built for submarines and surface ships, there have been several other programs for the development of airborne or space propulsion systems. Jet engines were successfully operated on nuclear power the “Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program”. A nuclear ramjet was successfully ground tested during the NERVA (Nuclear Engines For Rocket Vehicle Applications) program. Most of the work involved in these multi-dollar-a-year programs was classified and conducted by industrial contractors in conjunction with national laboratories under the direction of NASA, the Air Force, and or the old Atomic Energy Commission. All of the above systems utilize nuclear fission of the Uranium-235 nucleus to produce huge amounts of heat by conversion of a small amount of mass into a large amount of energy. Millions of times more energy can be produced in this way then by burning rocket fuel.

Part (One)

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