From: "Terry W. Colvin" 
Subject: IUFO: Field of Dreams
Date: 4 Apr 2001 11:01:18 -0400
To: "iufo@topica.com" ,
        "skeptic@listproc.hcf.jhu.edu" ,
        UASR 

->  IUFO  Mailing List

Fortean Times 145, May 2001, pp. 24 & 25
< http://www.forteantimes.com >

Strange Days

FBI (Fortean Bureau of Investigation)

Field of Dreams

The weekend of 20(th) January saw a remarkable gathering of scientists,
engineers, inventors and UFO researchers, all pursuing a dream that could launch
mankind into the next dimension of space travel.  Back on terra firma, Mark
Pilkington reports.

Somewhere out there, in laboratories all around the world, some of which do not
officially exist, a race is on, a race to potentially change forever the shape
of things to come.  It is hoped that these future discoveries will send mankind,
or our emissaries, hurtling into Deep Space and beyond using limitless supplies
of clean energy drawn from the surrounding vacuum.

A dream perhaps, but one that lies firmly within our grasp, if we are to believe
the 40 or so minds, seething with an electric enthusiasm, assembled at the
University of Sussex.  Here to discuss such unfashionable ideas as field
propulsion, electrogravitics --- the use of electrical and magnetic fields to
counter the effects of gravity --- Zero Point and other 'free' and speculative
energy sources, were delegates from at least nine countries.  Present were
theoretical, practical and quantum physicists, astrophysicists and cosmologists,
aerospace engineers, telecommunications experts, representatives of NASA, BaE
Systems (formerly British Aerospace) and several well-funded private companies;
this may be fringe science now, but it certainly doesn't intend to stay that
way.

Many delegates are considered leaders in their fields.  Most notable to FT
readers will be Hal Puthoff, who currently holds a position at the Institute for
Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas, and runs Earthtech, a company researching
Zero Point Energy (ZPE) extraction.  The 'Zero Point' refers to the
electromagnetic energy fields that would still exist at a temperature of
absolute zero, when all thermal agitation would cease.  "Sort of the
electromagnetic froth at the base of a waterfall," explains Puthoff, who hopes
one day to mine this currently untapped energy.  His name may be familiar as one
of the founders of the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), home in the 1970s to
much seminal parapsychology experimentation, some of it sponsored by the US
government, including the 1972 tests on Uri Geller.  SRI's research also formed
the basis for the US Military's 20-year Remote Viewing programme.  Clearly,
Puthoff is quite happy in the deep end of scientific exploration.  Another
prominent delegate, Ron Evans, is director of BaE Systems' Project Greenglow. 
Based at Warton Airfield in Lancashire ---targeted by some UFO researchers as a
home of the mysterious Flying Triangles --- Greenglow is conducting research
into electrogravitics on a startlingly low budget.  "It's still too futuristic
for BaE," says a clearly frustrated Evans.  "We won't spend a lot of money on
it.  There's so much rumour in this game, it's very difficult to know what to
fund."  Conspiracists take note:  "We haven't discovered anything!"  insists
Evans, adamant that BaE has nothing to hide.  But he would say that…

Also present were a handful of UFO researchers, from BUFORA (British UFO
Research Association), UFO Magazine editor Graham Birdsall (listed coyly as "G
Bird"), and authors Nick Pope and Georgina Bruni.  Aside from the spooks and
industrial spies that one would hope attend these sorts of meetings, there were
journalists from *New Scientist*, *Jane's Defence Weekly* and a handful of
newspapers to round out the crowd.

One of the most remarkable things about the Workshop was the man behind it,
Graham Ennis.  Perhaps best described as an enthusiast, self-taught Ennis has no
science degree or background, other than time spent working as an engineer: "I
want to build things and go places, like Columbus.  Someone had to design his
*Mina*, had to sit down and figure it out."  Ennis's introduction to the world
of field propulsion and free energy was through the sort of material that most
scientists, even those on the 'fringe', wouldn't touch with an electrified
bargepole.  A dig into the massive Suppressed Technologies paper mountain will
take you back to the early part of the last century and rumours of Nikola
Tesla's gravity-defying aerial platforms or the 'gravitators' of Tom Townsend
Brown, whose work has been connected to man-made flying saucers and the
Philadelphia Experiment (see FT128:28).  A proponent of Brown's work at the
Workshop told us that in the 1950s Brown was achieving electrogravitic thrusts
greater than NASA's $10 million Ion Engine used on the Mars Probe.  Remember, in
Space a little thrust goes a long way.

Talk of UFOs and Black Budgets is rife during the opening part of the meeting. 
Word had circulated on email groups that Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico had just
completed a ground-based electromagnetic anti-gravity chamber.  Thoughts of The
World's Greatest Theme Park Ride were soon dispelled as the story was revealed
as a hoax.  Tellingly, discredited ufologist Bob Oeschler described visiting a
similar facility in Timothy Good's *Alien Liaison* (1991).  When you're working
on the edges of knowledge, every trail is as likely to lead into a dead end as
it is the future.

Countering such secrecy and disinformation was one of Ennis' aims in setting up
the Workshop: "We needed to establish the size and interest of the
electrogravitics community worldwide.  The NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics
Programme has been running four years, so it was time for an international, open
meeting.  There is too much black research in this area, and not enough open
science."  Yet while Ennis and other delegates feel sure that there are advanced
secret aircraft out there --- perhaps some here had worked on them themselves
--- they're equally certain that they are not using electrogravitics, or any
other form of antigravity propulsion.  Yet.

Amongst those who don't appreciate Ennis' work are CSICOP UK (Committee for
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal), particularly one Dr
Fisher who, according to an understandably irate Ennis, began an aggressive
telephone harassment campaign against the university, requesting that they
refuse to hold the workshop.  "I have documentary evidence of his activities,"
claims Ennis, "and he is going to get hammered.  He did a lot of damage and
wasted much of my time and energy."

So just what is going on out there?  Of the two areas under discussion, the
electrogravitics is showing the most promise.  Man of the moment must be Russian
Dr Yevgeny Podkletnov, whose accidental discovery of a gravity-shielding effect
--- smoke from a pipe inexplicably rose vertically over another experiment [See
FT135:66] --- must, if it does lead to greater things, rival the apple landing
on Newton's head in the annals of scientific serendipity.  Although a
controversial figure in mainstream scientific circles, Podkletnov has produced
the most consistently successful results.  In this case, however, "consistently
successful" still means only a 6 per cent repeat rate.  Podkletnov is currently
investigating superconducting rotating discs with Dr Ning Li, sponsored by
NASA's BPP programme.  He is also said to be working on gravity shielding to
protect fighter pilots during hi-speed manoeuvres.

Research continues in small clusters around the world.  In the USA, funding
comes primarily from NASA and the military, though some private organisations
are also looking to make the breakthrough.  Silicon Valley entrepreneur and
modern-day contactee Joe Firmage was rumoured to be investing in field
propulsion research, but as US technology stocks take a battering, he may be
keeping his financial guard up.  At the more "unconventional" end of the
research spectrum is Canadian John Hutchinson.  His claims and films of
allegedly startling anti-gravity and "poltergeist" effects, apparently obtained
over the past 20 years by cramming as much high-powered electrical equipment
into one room as possible, don't seem to have impressed even this most
open-minded of gatherings.

ZPE research is moving at a slower, though steady, pace.  Puthoff and his team
are working hard on experimental and theoretical approaches while seeking out
examples of ZPE in nature.  "If nature isn't making use of ZPE, then I'm not
sure if it's worth pursuing," says Puthoff.  Supernovae are the most currently
promising source, with some scientists speculating they may utilise ZPE in some
way.

While functioning free energy might be a long way off, the attraction is clear. 
"We know we're going to run out of fossil fuels in 50 years," stated one
delegate, "yet only a fraction of the world's energy spending goes into
researching new energy sources."  ZPE could itself become a trillion-dollar
industry, which might well put an end to the oil industry and so prevent the
Earth's continued environmental pummelling at human hands.  Once established, it
might then help to fund space exploration at the same time as powering it.  But
before we run out of fossil fuels, we may face a more serious problem.  Puthoff
was recently called in to tell the US Navy about ZPE.  Navy analysts fear that
water is et to become more precious than oil in the coming century and are
looking into desalinisation technologies and energy sources that could help to
prevent future warfare and environmental disasters.

Our long term future on Earth doesn't look so good… which is perhaps why the
race into Deep Space has become so pressing.  The applications of propellantless
or field propulsion, combined with a limitless energy source, would
revolutionise our lives on Earth and in Outer Space, and it's on the stars that
most of the delegates seem to have their sights set.  The problem is not so much
getting into Space, but what to do once you're there.  Solar power can only get
you so far, so currently the only option is to carry bulky, heavy batteries and
power plants.  NASA's Alan Holt summed it up best: "We can send humans to Mars,
but we can't just leave them there.  They have to be certain of getting back." 
But the further we send objects into Space, the less we know about what will
happen to them.  Anomalies are still being detected in comparatively neighbourly
excursions, such as the inexplicable thrust effects noticed on some NASA Shuttle
missions.  As one delegate mentioned, we still assume that Newton's laws of
physics will apply throughout the cosmos.  Suddenly, set within a potentially
infinite Universe, our theories do seem rather parochial.

One of the stated aims of the workshop was to decide on next steps.  There was
conflict over whether researchers should concentrate on results or theory.  Some
are sure that the results (such as Podkletnov's) are out there, but that there
are no credible theories to explain them; others believe that we have viable
theories but no results.  Alan Holt felt that the best way to demonstrate an
electromagnetic propulsion device was to get something small and simple into
Space, the only genuine friction-free environment available to us.  This can
almost certainly be achieved.  One delegate represented Surrey Satellite
Systems, a small company who have so far made 19 low budget launches using spare
Russian ICBMs!  Meanwhile, veteran aircraft designer John Allen optimistically
suggested that $5m and a team of five or six scientists could take a project
from theoretical breakthrough to practical design in a year, but BaE's Ron Evans
was not so sure: "even if it happened tomorrow, it would be 20 years before we
had a working aircraft."

As the other attendees return to their labs and research grants, Ennis will
continue to monitor proceedings from his armchair window on the world.  For him
the conference has been an unqualified success and, who knows, may yet prove to
be a turning point in the history of space science.  The Advanced Field
Propulsion Working Group has issued a manifesto, calling on governments, UNESCO,
and other institutions, to support further work in these areas.  In the meantime
Ennis is confident that we'll have demonstrable proof of electrogravitics in
action by the end of May.  But don't hold your breath waiting for the first
antigravity playgrounds to appear.  "There's always a significant proportion of
scientists who will never believe you, whatever you show them," says Ennis. 
"The problem is cultural, not technological."  Still, he's happy:  "It was a bit
of a risk, but I knew it was a risk worth taking.  It's been a dream come true."

RESOURCES
Recommended Surfing

< http://www.workshop.cwc.net/index.htm >
Workshop homepage

< http://www.earthtech.org >
Hal Puthoff and Earthtech

at < http://www.forteantimes.com >
An interview with Hal Puthoff will be online

-- 
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@frontiernet.net >
     Alternate: < terry_colvin@hotmail.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: Fortean Times * Northwest Mysteries * Mystic's Cyberpage *
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   TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans,
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