If a professor at the University of Florida U. The saucer will hover and propel itself using electrodes that cover its surface to ionize the surrounding air into plasma. Gases such as air, which has an equal number of positive and negative charges become plasma when energy such as heat or electricity causes some of the gas's atoms to lose their negatively charged electrons, creating atoms with a positive charge, or positive ions, surrounded by the newly detached electrons. Using an onboard source of energy such as a battery, ultracapacitor , solar panel or any combination thereof , the electrodes will send an electrical current into the plasma, causing the plasma to push against the neutral noncharged air surrounding the craft, theoretically generating enough force for liftoff and movement in different directions depending on where on the craft's surface you direct the electrical current. The concept sounds far-fetched, but U. At six inches

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The plan was to launch a flying saucer. NASA's supersonic braking device —technically known as the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator , less technically an enormous inflatable disk —was designed to deliver heavy payloads to the surface of Mars. Payloads, the thinking went, that could include humans. The experimental craft was meant to launch last week; this weekend, that launch was postponed because of a very earthly impediment : uncooperative winds. Why, if saucers are relatively rare in science, have they been such a long-standing element of science fiction? If you wanted to put a precise date on the origins of our obsession with saucers, the most-cited contender is June 24, The skies were clear; there was a light breeze. Suddenly, as Arnold would later recall, he saw a bright light—just a flash, like a glint of sun as it hits a mirror when the glass is angled just so. It had a blue-ish tinge.
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A Chinese drone enthusiast who built his own flying saucer has been brought back to Earth with a bump because the authorities warned him he did not have the proper permission to fly it. He told the newspaper the 80kg lb aircraft could carry a human pilot but he decided it would be safer to use remote controls for its test flight on December 2 when it hovered eight metres above the ground for well over a minute. It was not the first time the appliance repair shop owner from Wuhan, Hubei province, has built and flown his own aircraft, but this particular design was inspired by his love of sci-fi and UFO movies.
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