10 Real Flying Saucer Designs hat Were Made Here On Earth
23 June 2011 13:26:31
We've got a list of ten flying saucers for you, each of which made it far enough out of someone's imagination that at the very least a proof of concept was constructed. No blurry pictures that may or may-not-be-streetlights here: these are all real designs that actually existed.
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10. Avrocar Avro was by no means done with the flying saucer. By 1959, they’d come up with a prototype for a smaller hovering vehicle called the Avrocar, which relied on three jet engines to power a gigantic turbine that forced air outwards and downwards around the rim of the saucer. Despite the fact that the Avrocar tended to melt itself with its own exhaust, the U.S. military continued to hope that it would replace the Jeep with something a little more flying sacuery up until 1961, when the program was cancelled after the prototype failed to get more than three feet off the ground. [Avrocar]
9. Avro Project Silverbug The U.S. military was pretty optimistic about the UFO shape, and in 1954 they funded a derivative of the Project Y aircraft called Project Silverbug. Silverbug was designed to fly in excess of Mach 3.5 at up to 100,000 feet using six jet engines to drive the main impeller. (Image 1 of 2)
8. Avro Project Y Canada, as it turns out, is somewhat of an expert on building flying saucers. Or at least, they’ve had more realistic experience with them than anyone else (that we know about!). Avro Canada’s Project Y was an attempt at a VTOL fighter jet, which used jet engines to spin a giant turbine inside the body of the craft. Channels inside the airframe directed airflow from this turbine backwards to provide thrust. (Image 1 of 2)
7. Coandă Effect Aircraft The Coandă Effect is what smart people call it when moving air sticks to a curved surface. These same smart people have been able to use the Coandă Effect to design flying saucers that use air flowing over curved surfaces to generate lift. The nutty-looking thing in the picture (a 1963 prototype from Astro Kinetics) has an engine underneath the saucer that forces air down over the saucer and causes the craft to lift off. More recently, updated Coandă saucer designs have been used for UAVs, since while they can hover like helicopters, they don’t have any exposed rotor blades, making them more resilient to running into stuff. [Video]
6. Laser Lightcraft A laser lightcraft is a flying saucer that doesn’t use any on-board propulsion, instead relying on a ground-based laser to provide thrust. Energy from the laser gets reflected around the edge of the saucer, which concentrates it to heat the air to temperatures five times hotter than the surface of the sun. The air then explodes, pushing the lightcraft up and forward. Hypothetically, this system works well enough to get a passenger or cargo lightcraft anywhere in the world in under an hour, or up to orbit. Small scale prototype designs have been flying for years, and we’re really just waiting on a big enough laser to make something that you can ride in a little more practical. [Video]
5. Moller M200 Volantor The Moller M200 tried really hard to be that flying car you’ve always wanted, but couldn’t quite come through. Eight ducted fans could put the vehicle into a hover out of ground effect, but questions about safety, efficiency, and controllability along with a continually slipping certification and delivery schedule have kept the M200 in the prototype phase indefinitely. It’s now looking like the M200 will be turned into the Nuera, a hovering all-terrain vehicle with a maximum altitude of ten feet. [Video]
4. Locomo Sky Thermoplan A thermoplan is a saucer-shaped blimp of sorts, with one key difference: instead of being filled entirely with helium, a thermoplan also contains air that can be heated or cooled by its engines to provide dynamic lift, like a hot air balloon. The saucery profile allows it to stay stable even in high winds, and the design is scalable to carry up to 600 tons of cargo or 11,000 (!) passengers. A Russian company has had at least one prototype thermoplan in the air since 2009, and they’re reportedly building a fleet of them for heavy cargo lifting. [Video]
3. EKIP According to the
propagandainformation on the EKIP website, this flying saucer is poised to be the greatest thing since triple-distilled vodka. Internal jet engines have their thrust partially directed downward, creating an air “cushion” that both adds to lift and acts as landing gear. A 300 ton version carrying 100 tons of cargo or passengers will be able to take off in about 1,500 feet on either grass or water, and it’s supposed to be twice as efficient as a conventional aircraft. Scale models have been flown successfully and there’s a fully-scale prototype in a hangar somewhere just waiting for more funding. [Video](Couzinet, cont'd) A 3/5th scale model made of wood with what appeared to be working blades was built and tested, but the project lost funding before a prototype could be completed. (Image 2 of 2) [Source]