Anders Sandberg wrote:
> > > There's a meme running through the UFO counterculture that describes this as
> > > the effect of gravitational warping. Theoretically, UFOs distort spacetime
> > > in order to fly, using gravitational lenses to focus on a particular point,
> > > which they _draw toward them_. This way, there is no contradiction with
> > > physical laws; the UFOs aren't even really "flying," per se.
> >
> > Show me some crash debris or other usable proof. I have not seen to date anything
> > which would support such hypotheses. Don't get me wrong. I would truly love it if
> > we are being visited, but the proof is not there.
>
> Wouldn't this show up *very* clearly on all gravity wave detectors
> across the world? After all, the curvatures involved would be on the
> orders of kilometers, which equates to stellar masses.
Not if the vehicle were a few dozen meters across. However I have thought of a vehicle which could behave as UFO's are described, and entirely within current physics. The entire vehicle would be a mass of nanites that are formed into the saucer shape for aerodynamic and stealth purposes. The core of the vehicle might be a usable crew cabin, but the rest is a dense type of utility fog, where the nanites can form a honeycomb of capillaries in the desired direction of travel/propulsion. The nanites will impell individual air molecules through the capillaries to high velocities. Using this sort of jet propulsion through most of the cross section of the vehicle will reduce or eliminate shock waves. Once into space, they can form into either light sails or magsails, with the ability to store and expend energy borrowed from the orbital momentum of stars themselves around the galaxy (which after billions of years of use would cause them to fall far enough inward to crunch into the central black hole) via use of their electromagnetic fields and a smart use of slingshot orbital mechanics. A simple fission thermal system could be used to maintain a magneto hydrodynamic system to maintain the magsail into interstellar space.
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TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael S. Lorrey
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