- Take a controversial Russian scientist,
NASA and a high- tech Columbus company and the world just might -- might
-- have a good shot at beating gravity.
-
- But before anyone fires an apple at Sir
Issac Newton, many things have to happen, including determining whether
Eugene Podkletnov and his quest for shielding Earth's pull are real.
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- Yesterday, a representative from the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration brought Podkletnov to Superconductive
Components on the Northwest Side, to talk anti-gravity.
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- "Ten years ago, physicists would
have said this stuff is Star Trek -- impossible to do," said Ron
Koczor, associate director of the Space Science Laboratory at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
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- "But if Eugene's work can be duplicated
independently, this will change totally how the world does business."
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- In 1992, while working in Finland, Podkletnov
said he achieved a 2 percent reduction in the force of gravity by using
superconducting materials. He said, in essence, that he had built an anti-gravity
machine.
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- In the world of physics, 2 percent is
a giant leap. This is the stuff, scientists said yesterday, that Albert
Einstein described but couldn't prove -- that objects can be shielded against
the waves of gravity that make what goes up come down.
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- But there is a problem. No other scientist
has been able to replicate the Russian's results, and Podkletnov has yet
to publish his work in a science journal.
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- Although Podkletnov said his idea is
valid, he isn't exactly sure why it works.
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- "This is an entirely new field of
knowledge," he said. "We can't understand everything. This is
physics, chemistry, ceramic technology, electrical engineering and more."
-
- Still, NASA was interested enough to
bring him to its Marshall Space Flight Center four days ago, and to Columbus
to see whether his work can be duplicated.
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- Podkletnov reported that he reduced gravity
while a 12-inch superconductive ceramic disk was spinning rapidly inside
a container of super-cold liquid nitrogen. He said all objects placed above
the spinning disk showed a small drop in weight.
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- Despite many attempts, NASA's Marshall
Center had no success in replicating the experiment.
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- So NASA came to Superconductive Components.
In February the company was awarded a $70,000 NASA grant to duplicate and
someday enlarge the superconducting disks.
-
- One day the space agency would like to
stack ceramic disks atop one another, freeze and spin them, and watch gravity
lose its edge, Koczor said.
-
- James Gaines, vice president and general
manager, said if Superconductive can duplicate Podkletnov's disk, it could
lead to a second NASA award of about $750,000.
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- "We've sold materials to NASA and
a number of credible people," Gaines said. "But we've also sold
it to every kook in the world. We've had the president of every UFO society
in the country buying small versions of this stuff."
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- The biggest ceramic disks that Superconductive
has made are 6 inches in diameter.
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- "The degree of difficulty goes up
when you make the disks bigger," Gaines said.
-
- Still, he said Superconductive is willing
to give it a whirl.
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- "When his idea first hit the Internet,
hundreds of people were trying to duplicate it," Gaines said. "Now,
it's winnowed down to the strong-hearted people with a lot of money."
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- NASA has the money.
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- "I don't know if it's going to work,"
Gaines said. "But if it does, it's going to be a hoot."
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