British Rail flying saucer
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
The British Rail flying saucer was a proposed space vehicle, designed and patented by British Rail during the 1970s.[1][2] The flying saucer originally started as a proposal for a raiseable station platform. However, the project was revised and edited, and by the time the patent was filed had become a large passenger craft for interplanetary travel.[3]
The craft was to be nuclear fusion powered, utilising laser beams to produce pulses of nuclear energy in a generator in the centre of the craft, at a rate of over 1000 Hz to prevent resonance, which could damage the vehicle. The pulses of energy would then have been transferred out of a nozzle into a series of radial electrodes running along the underside of the craft, which would have converted the energy into electricity that would then pass into a ring of powerful electromagnets (the patent describes using superconductors if possible). These magnets would accelerate subatomic particles emitted by the fusion reaction, providing lift and thrust.[4]
A layer of thick metal running above the fusion reactor would have acted as a shield to protect the passengers above from the radiation emitted from the core of the reactor. The entire vehicle would be piloted in such a way that the acceleration and deceleration of the craft would have simulated gravity in zero gravity conditions.[4]
However, when the patent was rediscovered in 2006, a group of nuclear scientists examined the designs and declared them to be unworkable, expensive and very inefficient, with Michel van Baal of the European Space Agency claiming “I have had a look at the plans, and they don’t look very serious to me at all”, adding that many of the technologies used in the craft, such as nuclear fusion and high‐temperature superconductors, had not yet been discovered,[2] while Colin Pillinger, the scientist in charge of the Beagle 2 probe, was quoted as saying “If I hadn't seen the documents I wouldn't have believed it”.[3]
Another appearance was made in 1996 when The Railway Magazine got hold of it for their May 1996 issue and had a short section, saying that the passengers would have got "fried" anyway.
The patent, however, lapsed in 1976 due to non-payment of renewal fees.[3]
References
The Railway Magazine, May 1996
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on April 23, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen Here."
