In a news release issued by the Univeristy of Florida, a machanical and aerospace engineering associate professor has designed what he thinks may be a functional flying saucer, and not surprisingly, it’s proposed propulsion methods involve the use of magnetohydrodynamics, that is, passing electrical current or magnetism through a conductive fluid. What fluid do you suppose they might plan on using (and no, it’s not liquid mercury)?

Image courtesy of Danielle Zawoy and the University of Florida.

The liquid used in the craft’s propulsion is actually plasma, by use of a process called magnetohydrodynamics. In this way, the craft creates plasmas by ionizing the air around the saucer. Still, there is the lingering problem of gaining controllable lift in this manner in Earth’s atmosphere, which requires large amounts of power without weighting down the craft too much.

“The vehicle will be powered by a phenomenon called magnetohydrodynamics, or the force created when a current or a magnetic field is passed through a conducting fluid. In the case of Roy’s aircraft, the conducting fluid will be created by electrodes that cover each of the vehicle’s surfaces and ionize the surrounding air into plasma.“The force created by passing an electrical current through this plasma pushes around the surrounding air, and that swirling air creates lift and momentum and provides stability against wind gusts. In order to maximize the area of contact between air and vehicle, Roy’s design is partially hollow and continuously curved, like an electromagnetic flying bundt pan. ”

The press release can be read in its entirety by following this link:

http://news.ufl.edu/2008/06/11/flying-saucer/

…and interestingly, China recently proposed their own concept of a functional flying saucer, which was only 4.1 million dollars in the making:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080617111108.b1lbw8yy&show_article=1

Are these Flying Saucers the vehicles of tomorrow?