Future Energy eNews August 5, 2002

Antigravity has the Stakes Raised by the Supporters and by its Only Detractor

1) Janes Defence Weekly (UK) article by Nick Cook last week exposes the Boeing Phantom Works research into antigravity, using the words "free energy" in the body.

2) WorldNetDaily.com actually uses the words "free energy" in its headlines regarding the latest antigravity news from BAE Systems, last week.

3) This past week New Scientist reports that antigravity has received an investment from NASA who supported Superconductive Components for the research grant, with Boeing also interested.

4) The BBC News in March, 2000 announced the launch of the gravity research program at BAE Systems, Project Greenglow, curiously with Bob Park, American Physical Society (APS), quoted as a detractor. (Excellent link provided to www.electrogravity.com which is a resource website.)

5) Bob Park, What's New-August 2, 2002, smears their research and Nick Cook's Hunt for Zero Point with physics terms like "goofy" and "horse manure" ?! Furthermore, he blames IRI President--Tom Valone, Inst for Adv. Study--Hal Puthoff, and free lance writer/author--Charles Platt, for "the enormous pile of horse manure" now with APS & University of Maryland endorsement. (Nick's book is due to be released in the US by Random House on August 13th...any coincidence?)

6) Reply from Charles Platt - August 2, 2002. (If you are fed up, as we are, with the increasingly malicious, senile ramblings of a semi-retired invalid Bob Park who has repeatedly embarrassed the American Physical Society with fallacious and unfounded insults, while he promotes his own website www.bobpark.com, there are a handful of APS management contact phone numbers and APS email addresses at the end of this eNews so each of you can PLEASE call for the permanent removal of Bob Park as the APS-sponsored "What's New" writer. Physicists deserve better than this misrepresented APS Public Affairs Office that posts weekly vendettas.) -TV

1) Anti-gravity propulsion comes ‘out of the closet’

By Nick Cook, JDW Aerospace Consultant, London

Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, has admitted it is working on experimental anti-gravity projects that could overturn a century of conventional aerospace propulsion technology if the science underpinning them can be engineered into hardware.

As part of the effort, which is being run out of Boeing’s Phantom Works advanced research and development facility in Seattle, the company is trying to solicit the services of a Russian scientist who claims he has developed anti-gravity devices in Russia and Finland. The approach, however, has been thwarted by Russian officialdom.

The Boeing drive to develop a collaborative relationship with the scientist in question, Dr Evgeny Podkletnov, has its own internal project name: ‘GRASP’ — Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion.

A GRASP briefing document obtained by JDW sets out what Boeing believes to be at stake. "If gravity modification is real," it says, "it will alter the entire aerospace business."

GRASP’s objective is to explore propellentless propulsion (the aerospace world’s more formal term for anti-gravity), determine the validity of Podkletnov’s work and "examine possible uses for such a technology". Applications, the company says, could include space launch systems, artificial gravity on spacecraft, aircraft propulsion and ‘fuelless’ electricity generation — so-called ‘free energy’.

But it is also apparent that Podkletnov’s work could be engineered into a radical new weapon. The GRASP paper focuses on Podkletnov’s claims that his high-power experiments, using a device called an ‘impulse gravity generator’, are capable of producing a beam of ‘gravity-like’ energy that can exert an instantaneous force of 1,000g on any object — enough, in principle, to vaporise it, especially if the object is moving at high speed.

Podkletnov maintains that a laboratory installation in Russia has already demonstrated the 4in (10cm) wide beam’s ability to repel objects a kilometre away and that it exhibits negligible power loss at distances of up to 200km. Such a device, observers say, could be adapted for use as an anti-satellite weapon or a ballistic missile shield. Podkletnov declared that any object placed above his rapidly spinning superconducting apparatus lost up to 2% of its weight.

Although he was vilified by traditionalists who claimed that gravity-shielding was impossible under the known laws of physics, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) attempted to replicate his work in the mid-1990s. Because NASA lacked Podkletnov’s unique formula for the work, the attempt failed. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama will shortly conduct a second set of experiments using apparatus built to Podkletnov’s specifications.

Boeing recently approached Podkletnov directly, but promptly fell foul of Russian technology transfer controls (Moscow wants to stem the exodus of Russian high technology to the West).

The GRASP briefing document reveals that BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin have also contacted Podkletnov "and have some activity in this area".

It is also possible, Boeing admits, that "classified activities in gravity modification may exist". The paper points out that Podkletnov is strongly anti-military and will only provide assistance if the research is carried out in the ‘white world’ of open development.

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2) Anti-Gravity Project to Mean Free Energy?
Secret experiments at Boeing could revolutionize flight, electricity, defense

TECHNETDAILY Posted: July 31, 2002, www.WorldNetDaily.com

Secret anti-gravity experiments that could revolutionize the conventional aerospace industry and lead to "free energy" are underway in Seattle, according to Jane's Defense Weekly.

Boeing, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, is said to acknowledge work on projects that could overturn a century of propulsion technology if the science underpinning them can be engineered into hardware.

A briefing document obtained by Jane's sets out what Boeing believes to be at stake.

"If gravity modification is real," the brief says, "it will alter the entire aerospace business."

The project at Boeing's Phantom Works advanced research and development facility is now trying to solicit the services of a Russian scientist who claims to have developed anti-gravity devices in Russia and Finland.

The effort to work with that scientist, Dr. Evgeny Podkletnov, has its own code name of "GRASP," for Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion, the report says.

GRASP's objective is to explore propellentless propulsion, determine the validity of Podkletnov's work and "examine possible uses for such a technology."

Boeing says such uses could include space-launch systems, artificial gravity on spacecraft, aircraft propulsion and electricity generation without fuel – so-called "free energy."

Additionally, there's a military potential as Podkletnov's work could be engineered into a stunning new weapon, capable of vaporizing objects moving at high speed.

The GRASP paper focuses on Podkletnov's claims that his experiments using a device called an "impulse gravity generator" are capable of producing a beam of gravity-like energy that can exert an instantaneous force of 1,000-G on any object.

Podkletnov maintains a Russian lab has already demonstrated the 4-inch-wide beam's ability to repel objects a kilometer away, with negligible power loss at distances of up to 200 kilometers.

Observers say such a device could be adapted for use as an anti-satellite weapon or ballistic-missile shield. Podkletnov says any object placed above his rapidly spinning superconducting apparatus lost up to two percent of its weight.

Although Podkletnov was vilified by traditionalists who claimed gravity-shielding was impossible under the known laws of physics, NASA attempted to replicate his work in the mid-1990s. The attempt failed, reports Jane's, as the space agency lacked Podkletnov's unique formula. However, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama is slated to conduct a second round of experiments using an apparatus built to Podkletnov's specifications.

Boeing recently approached Podkletnov directly, but promptly fell victim to Russian technology transfer controls, as Moscow tries to stem the exodus of Russian high-tech to the West.

Boeing reportedly is not the only company interested in Podkletnov, since Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems have also contacted the scientist "and have some activity in this area."

Securing his cooperation may prove tricky, as Jane's reports Podkletnov is very anti-military, and will only provide assistance if the research is carried out in the "white world" of open development.

3) Anti-Gravity Research on the Rise

12:31 30 July 02 NewScientist.com news service

Researchers around the world are opening their minds to the possibility that the phenomenon of anti-gravity is not just science fiction.

Most respected physicists still scoff at the idea that experimental equipment can reduce gravity, but several groups have been working on it independently and are coming to the same conclusion: it might just be true.

On Monday, reports re-emerged that Boeing, the American aircraft manufacturer, is interested in exploring the possibility of building an anti-gravity device. The news, first revealed in New Scientist magazine in January 2002, centres around Russian scientist, Evgeny Podkletnov. In 1992 he claimed to be the first person to witness the reduction of gravity above a spinning superconducting disc.

Podkletnov, a specialist in superconductors, says he stumbled on the effect whilst performing a routine test on a large superconductor in his laboratory at the Tampere University of Technology, Finland.

High speed spin

Podkletnov met New Scientist in late 2001 to outline the experiment, in which a large yttrium-barium-copper-oxide (YBCo) superconducting disc was suspended in nitrogen vapour and cooled to around -233 °C. The disk was levitated in a magnetic field and finally spun at speeds of up to 5000 revolutions per minute by means of an alternating electric current.

He claimed that objects placed above the disc lost around one per cent of their weight. But so far no one has managed to successfully repeat his experiment.

However, several high-profile organisations have taken an active interest in his work. NASA has paid Superconductive Components of Columbus, Ohio, $600,000 to reproduce the apparatus Podkeltnov used in his experiment. There have been delays, but NASA's Ron Koczor told New Scientist: "We expect to be ready to test the device in late September 2002."

British defence contractor, BAe Systems, is also interested in the work and set up Project Greenglow to explore the subject. Other groups in Japan, France and Canada are also rumoured to be working on the subject though they have so far kept their identities secret.

Predicted effect

The most intriguing aspect of the affair is that Ning Li, then at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, says she independently predicted Podkletnov's observation in 1989.

Li's theory predicts that if a time-varying magnetic field were applied to a superconductor, charged and deformed lattice ions within the superconductor could absorb enormous amounts of energy. This would cause the lattice ions to spin rapidly about their equilibrium positions and create a minuscule gravitational field.

Li claimed that if these charged, rotating, lattice ions were aligned with each other by a strong magnetic field, the resulting change in local gravity would be measurable.

Early in 2002, Raymond Chiao, a respected physicist at the University of California at Berkley, put forward his own theory relating gravity and superconductors. He predicted that bombarding a superconductor with electromagnetic waves would produce gravitational radiation and is now attempting to prove his theory by experimentation.

David Cohen

This story is from the www.NewScientist.com news service - for more exclusive news and expert analysis every week to New Scientist print edition.

4) Gravity Research Gets Off the Ground

Monday, 27 March, 2000, 23:34 GMT 00:34 UK BBC News

Such Devices Would Shield Planes from the Earth's Pull

A leading UK company is challenging what we understand to be the fundamental laws of physics.

The military wing of the hi-tech group BAe Systems, formerly British Aerospace, has confirmed it has launched an anti-gravity research programme.

It hopes that Project Greenglow will draw scientists from different backgrounds to work on future technologies that will have echoes of the propellantless propulsion systems being investigated by Nasa's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program.

Gravitation shielding

If any of the work is successful, it could lead to dramatic developments in the way we travel - anti-gravity devices could make it much easier for aeroplanes, spacecraft and even the next generation of cars to get off the ground.

In 1996, the experiments of a Russian scientist were jeered at by the physics world. Writing in the journal Physica C, Dr Yevgeny Podkletnov claimed that a spinning, superconducting disc lost some of its weight. And, in an unpublished paper on the weak gravitation shielding properties of a superconductor, he argued that such a disc lost as much as 2% of its weight.

However, most scientists believe that such anti-gravity research is fundamentally flawed. It goes against what we know about the physical Universe and is therefore impossible, they say.

Pascal's Wager

"I find it rather peculiar that they've done this," said Bob Park from the American Physical Society, in reaction to the BAe Systems admission. "One can only conclude that at the higher levels of these organisations there are people who don't have a very sound grounding in fundamental physics.

"You can invest a little money in far-out projects if they have some chance of success - it's called Pascal's Wager. In this case, most scientists would say there is zero chance of success."

Nonetheless, this view will not stop anti-gravity devices from continuing to be a popular feature of science fiction and the inspiration for countless websites.

(This article on the BBC News website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/692968.stm also has the distinction of a RealAudio track by Bob Park, American Physical Society, saying, "This has zero chance of success." -TV)

5) WHAT'S NEW - Robert L. Park

Friday, 2 Aug 02 Washington, DC www.aps.org/WN

1. ANTI-GRAVITY: A GRAVITY SHIELD WOULD BE VERY NICE, BUT...
Never has an idea with no prospect for success so captivated
corporate research managers who either never studied or never
understood the most basic laws of physics. Both Boeing in the US
and BAE Systems, the British aerospace giant, are trying to make
the Podkletnov gravity shield work. BAE has already been at it
for two years (WN 31 Mar 00), with no success. When NASA
couldn't make the Podkletnov shield work, they invested another
million dollars (WN 22 Jan 99). When it still didn't work, they
decided the tests were "inconclusive" and sank another mil into
it (WN 12 Oct 01). I have identified seven warning signs of bad
science http://www.bobpark.com. The Podkletnov gravity shield
fits all seven. So why would Boeing choose to spend millions to
test a ridiculous claim by an obscure Russian physicist that has
failed every test and is a physical impossibility to begin with?
OK, so the Pentagon is paying for it. But there's also this
goofy book by Nick Cook, who writes for Jane's Defense Weekly.

2. BOOK REVIEW: "THE HUNT FOR ZERO POINT," by NICK COOK. If this
book is about controlling gravity, what's with the "zero point"?
The confusion is natural; both lie within the province of fringe
scientists who haven't a clue of where the real world stops and
the fantasy world of Atlantis and UFO's begins. Cook is not a
scientist of any sort; in his world, these guys are the insiders.
Don't look for them in the pages of Phys Rev; they're not a bunch
of pointy-headed academics. They are part of the black world of
really important top secret stuff like -- well, electrogravitics.
So who exactly fed Nick Cook this enormous pile of horse manure?
If you're a regular reader of WN, you've already met them all.

3. FRINGE: WHERE EVERYTHING IS SECRET, AND NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.
When Cook set out on his search for "the biggest secret since the
atom bomb," he went straight to the Integrity Research Institute,
in Washington, DC, where you can buy books and videos with titles
like "Holistic Physics and Consciousness" (WN 5 Mar 99). IRI is
really Tom Valone, a former patent examiner who lost his job in
the fallout from the Conference on Free Energy (WN 21 May 99).
He had recruited Paul LaViolette, who claims the B-2 uses anti-
gravity, reverse engineered from a crashed flying saucer. He was
also fired (WN 18 Aug 00). They sent Cook to the Institute for
Advanced Study. Not the one in Princeton; the one in Austin, TX.
It consists of Harold Puthoff, who wants to extract energy from
the zero point of the vacuum. He used to run the CIA's "remote
viewing" program, which was inspired by "Mind Reach," a book he
wrote with Russell Targ (WN 11 Mar 94). Finally, Cook sought
advice from Charles Platt, founder of CryoCare, a company that
keeps human heads bobbing in liquid nitrogen until scientists can
figure out how to restart them (WN 21 Jul 00).

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND and THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the
University or the American Physical Society, but they should be.

6) Reply from: Charles Platt

Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 6:19 PM

Subject: Re: Park's attack


If Park would be less LAZY, I wouldn't get so annoyed with him. But
recycling his old grudges does not constitute journalism.

My email below was sent to various APS addresses:

---------------------------
To Bob Park:

I have mailed the following letter to your keepers, who really should keep
you on a shorter leash. By this I mean that they should teach you to use a
telephone and/or access web sites to verify your sneers for accuracy. You
do know what inaccurate sneers constitute, don't you, Bob? I can't be
bothered to sue you, but one day, someone will get tired of your bile and
respond in a way which you may not find so easy to ridicule in your
inimitable fashion.

Is it an oversimplification to suggest that since you never made any
discovery of any originality yourself when you were a scientist, you now
find pleasure in denigrating those who seek to do so?

---

While I have respect for APS I am constantly dismayed by its sponsorship
of Bob Park, whose weekly column is constantly riddled with inaccuracies.
Park is a lazy writer; he does not bother to check his facts, presumably
because he feels his targets deserve no such courtesy.

In his most recent column, he writes:

"Charles Platt, founder of CryoCare, a company that keeps human heads
bobbing in liquid nitrogen until scientists can figure out how to restart
them (WN 21 Jul 00)."

No journalist would be allowed to get away with this kind of sloppiness.
Why does APS tolerate it? The activities of CryoCare Foundation may or may
not constitute valid science, but this is not the point. The point is that
the organization suspended operations about two years ago, and even when
it was doing business, it was merely an organization for dealing with
legalities and paperwork, and never had any direct association with
severed heads or liquid nitrogen.

Scientists often complain (with good reason) that journalists make dumb
errors. Alas, in Park's case, he is a scientist who makes dumb errors,
repeatedly. Again, I am not making any claims for or against the validity
of the work done by the people he maligns. I am merely pointing out that
he is an opportunist who writes without care or interest in accuracy.
Moreover, he is a petty man; his most recent mention of me has no purpose
other than as another expression of his anger over a review* that I wrote
of his book VOODOO SCIENCE, in which (again) I pointed out that he had
made numerous errors, in most cases because he simply can't be bothered to
pick up the phone or check a web site, to verify his facts.

APS deserves better.

--Charles Platt


*The review, also attached to this eNews, appeared in the June 25, 2000 issue of the Washington Post and was probably the most incisive, accurate summary of the opinionated, first person narrative called Voodoo Science by Robert Park.

7) American Physical Society Management Information

President-William F. Brinkman Bell Labs-Lucent (ret.) 908-582-4880 908-582-2945 wfb@lucent.com

President-Elect-Myriam P. Sarachik CCNY-CUNY 212-650-5618 212-650-6940 sarachik@sci.ccny.cuny.edu

Vice President-Helen R. Quinn SLAC 650-926-2713 650-926-2525 quinn@slac.stanford.edu

Past President-George H. Trilling LBNL 510-486-6801 510-486-5101 ght@lbl.gov

Executive Officer-Judy R. Franz College Park 301-209-3270 301-209-0865 franz@aps.org

Treasurer and Publisher-Thomas J. McIlrath College Park 301-209-3220 301-209-0844 mcilrath@aps.org

Editor-In-Chief-Martin Blume Ridge 631-591-4000 631-591-4275 blume@aps.org

Associate Exective Officer-Alan Chodos College Park 301-209-3233 301-209-0865 chodos@aps.org

Director of Public Information-Robert Park Washington, DC 202-662-8700 202-662-8711 park@aps.org

Director of Public Affairs (and also Bob Park's immediate boss)-Michael S. Lubell Washington, DC 202-662-8700 202-662-8711 lubell@aps.org

Director — International Affairs-Irving Lerch College Park 301-209-3236 301-209-0865 lerch@aps.org

Director — Education and Outreach-Fred Stein College Park 301-209-3263 301-209-0865 stein@aps.org

Assistant Treasurer/Controller-Michael D. Stephens College Park 301-209-3210 301-209-0844 stephens@aps.org

Director — Journal Operations-Charles Muller Ridge 631-591-4019 631-591-4141 chaz@aps.org

Editorial Director-Stanley G. Brown Ridge 631-591-4000 631-591-4275 ridge@aps.org

Director — Journal Information Systems-Robert A. Kelly Ridge 631-591-4064 631-591-4147 rakelly@aps.org

Associate Publisher-Barbara Hicks College Park 301-209-3202 301-209-0844 hicks@aps.org

Director — Conventions & Meetings-Donna Baudrau College Park 301-209-3286 301-209-0866 baudrau@aps.org

Director — Development-Darlene Logan College Park 301-209-3224 301-209-0867 development@aps.org

Director — Human Resources-Joseph Ignacio College Park 301-209-3229 301-209-0844 ignacio@aps.org

Director — Information Technology -Tracy Alinger College Park 301-209-3260 301-209-3265 alinger@aps.org

Sr. Media Relations Coordinator -David Harris College Park 301-209-3238 301-209-3264 media@aps.org

forwarded as a courtesy from:

http://www.integrityresearchinstitute.org