When an apple fell on Newton’s head he asked himself “Why did it fell down?” When an apple dropped on Podkletnov's head he asked “How can I make it stay up?”
A few days ago, leading scientists representing major universities, national weapon laboratories, defense contractors and the corporate research and development community had all gathered to attend a private conference at NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. What was so secret about the meeting that it was kept undisclosed to the media? What were they going to talk about?
Later it turned out that they were discussing the progress of NASA’s “Antigravity Machine.” Most physicists will instantly discard it as a mere science-fiction. Antigravity is a bad word in physics community. The very concept of antigravity is against conventional physics. It might make a dent in Einstein’s theory of Relativity and not many people would like to try that. NASA too is not very open while talking about it. "Don't call it antigravity research," pleads Ron Koczor a physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., while talking about the project he's been working on for almost a decade. "Call it 'gravity modification' 'Gravity anomalies' anything but antigravity. That's a red flag."
Indeed it gets red flags waving but the fact is that apart from NASA many other government and non government research organizations are working on it.
So when it all did began? And how far have they reached? It all started in 1992, when Dr. Eugene Podkletnov of Tampere University, Finland, conducted an experiment in which a disc of superconducting material was magnetically elevated and rotated at high speeds, up to several thousand rpm in the presence of an external magnetic field. In the course of the tests, Podkletnov noted that objects above the rotating semiconductor lost a small but measurable amount of weight. He had no explanation to this strange phenomenon. Podkletnov collected data from his experiments for nearly four years and compiled it in a paper that was even accepted for publication in the prestigious Journal of Physics.
Later Ning Li a theorist who worked with NASA's Marshall Center joined the quest. She confirmed that superconductor rotated in a strong magnetic field does disrupts the gravitational force in its immediate surrounding.
Researchers at NASA's Marshall Manned Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, have almost completed building of a device that could eventually reduce gravitational attraction. NASA’s antigravity. . . oops sorry. . .“Gravity Modification” device is made up of two discs. One is constructed of a metal which can be raised in a magnetic field. The other disc, layered on top of it, is a composite made of superconducting materials. This assembly is placed in a 20 inch wide column that stands about 4 ft. tall. The column is filled with liquid helium or nitrogen for cooling down the apparatus to minus-400 F. Only then is the disc set into motion. NASA hopes to obtain a small decrease (2%-5%) in the weight of mass placed above the rotating semiconductor.
NASA is almost there with 90% of its work complete. Many physicists feel that it will simply not work but sci-fi buffs like me are waiting with their fingers crossed just to see if NASA can stop the apple from falling.
