USAF: Paul Hill, Propulsion, and Practicality Following the failed Avro-Canada craft, “official” interest in saucers didn’t die, but it did diminish to a low simmer. Many experts grew skeptical. And then there was the American mechanical and aeronautical engineer Paul R. Hill (1909–90), who joined the National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics (NACA) in 1939. He … Read more
Traditional-Propulsion Prototypes Before we leave advanced and theoretical propulsion, a distinction should be made between those lines of research and speculation, and the real-life “flying saucers” and faux saucers created since circa 1939 to the present. The craft have been noodled with by national militaries, private companies, and individuals. The most notable, the Avrocar, came … Read more
Einstein, Plus Other Theoretical Systems of Propulsion Accepted wisdom is that the speed of light is the ultimate speed, and at the moment, we have no reasons to doubt that. But it is important not to get hung up on the speed of light, primarily because Albert Einstein’s laws of relatively suggest that time slows … Read more
Nuclear Pulse Propulsion In 1947, an agency of the Department of Defense, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), proposed a theoretical spacecraft propulsion system using the explosions of atomic bombs to thrust the craft into space. To prevent heat damage of engine components, the atomic explosions would be sited two hundred feet behind the craft, … Read more
UFO Propulsion: Are We There Yet? How do extraterrestrials deliver themselves to Earth? The superficial concept of a spacecraft—that is, a conveyance with a protected enclosed environment designed for space travel—is easy enough. If you have materials, design sense, and a way with tools, you can build one in your backyard. You can build a … Read more
Intelligence, SETI, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations Given the distances between stars, and thus between us and extra-solar planets, we can hardly be surprised not to have received indisputable knowledge of another intelligent civilization. Besides distance, other factors may militate against “us and them” getting together. Because animal species—and we are one —come … Read more
Beyond Our Sun The possibility of life of any sort appears more promising when we venture beyond our solar system. But consider: our galaxy is 100,000 light years across. A light year connotes distance: how far light travels in a year. As far as is known, nothing in the natural world is faster than light. … Read more
NASA Modern Thoughts About Intelligent Life in Our Solar System In order for life to establish itself and thrive, three things are necessary: free liquid (water is best); organic compounds; and energy, to build organic compounds from present molecules. Water (or water vapor) is a vehicle. Key organic compounds, and those that define all life … Read more
Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life All Shapes, Colors, and Sizes Among the most frequently reported alien types are grays (short, spindly, big- eyed creatures that have been the dominant ET form for some seventy years); insectoids (fictionalized most famously in the novel/film Starship Troopers); reptilians (an intimidating, shape-shifting form also called draconians, saurians, lizard people, and, less … Read more
Possible Shapes and Forms of Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life In 1951, the brilliant science fiction illustrator Edd Cartier created a remarkable gallery of extraterrestrials for presentation as color plates in a hardcover, multiauthor story collection called Travelers of Space. The anthology came from Gnome Press, one of the legendary postwar publishers of high-quality science fiction. The … Read more
