Eugene, thank you for joining us. You’ve got a new experimental video out that’s raising a lot of big questions, so I want to touch on that — but let’s start with what you’re currently up to. Are you still working at the university in Tampere?

Yes. My current job is at Tampere University of Technology in Finland, teaching chemistry and material science. My work in the field of gravity research is a side project, something I’ve been doing for over 30 years now.

Dr. Eugene Podkletnov, research scientist at Tampere University of Technology

Some of that work I do here in Finland, some in Moscow, and I and recently completed some research in Czech Republic in Prague. I also have colleagues that I collaborate with in Italy, Canada, and the United Kingdom — such as Dr. Giovanni Modanese.

He is an outstanding scientist, and an excellent theoretical physicist, which has led to a great working relationship. I do experimental work for him and he does theoretical analysis for me, which is a good thing.

I want to touch on the new experimental video, which appears to be an experiment involving high speed disk? Is this similar to your original experiments rotating YBCO superconductors at high speeds, which purportedly created what was described as a gravitational shielding effect?

Yes. I’m continuing my work in this direction — but I’m not calling this effect gravitational shielding, but instead a modification of the local gravitational field. This comes from the work I began this work 30 years ago — learning how to use high-speed rotating objects with superconducting components to modify gravity.

What I’ve found, however, is that the superconductors are needed only to create a certain density of electrons, so in the experiments you seen in this video we’re working with very thin gold layers which generate the same effect at room temperature.

My latest research shows that working with composite materials that do not include superconductors at all, we’re able to create gravity fields, in vacuum, in the air, and so far in every object placed within the vicinity of this experimental gravity generator. It’s a much more efficient method.

An ion-implanation machine similar to the kind used by Podkletnov (Wikipedia)

Okay, originally you were working with superconductors, but you now believe that the electron density is what made the effect happen, and you’ve replaced the superconductor with a thin gold film on normal conductors? Using this design, how much force are you generating?

Yes, that’s right, and without using superconductors, we are now creating these effects at normal room temperature. There is no need for cooling.

Well, I can only share some estimates. Currently, I think we can generate a lifting force of about 300 to 500 kilograms per square meter. I’ve tested these devices in vacuum conditions and they appear to generate the same force, which rules out atmospheric effects.

It also appears that this experiment can generate either a repulsive force or an attractive one, depending on the geometrical configuration of the experiment. That’s why we’re not using the term “gravity shield” anymore, it just isn’t appropriate.

We’re simply trying to explain the experimental results that we got, and based on what we’ve been able to achieve, we’re describing it as a modification of the local gravitational field.

Do you think this would this work in space, for instance, where there’s no reaction mass to push against?

Well if it works in a vacuum, then perhaps it will work for space propulsion — but still you should understand that these are mechanical models, which use pretty heavy discs that are rotating at high speed.

For space travel, it would be better to try and find a way to create the effect using rotating magnetic fields rather than mechanical components, which is something I am considering.

A solid state device that isn’t limited by mechanical rotation can be scaled much more easily — maybe even to thousands of kilos per square meter, which would be a remarkable result. If that can be developed, it would definitely be suitable for space propulsion.

A still-frame from the video showing the disk, sample & retaining string in the vacuum chamber.

Now in the experimental video, it appears that there’s an object suspended over the rotating disc on an armature that allows it to move up & down, and in one video you appear to have a restraining string to prevent it the object from scraping the rotating disk surface. Can you describe the actual experimental setup a little bit for me?

So we have a vacuum chamber. We have a disc which has special nano-coatings made with ion-implantation. The disc is rotating at this speed from 8,000 rotations per minute up to 12,000 rotations per minute, and at these speeds we have a lifting force that affects all of the samples we’ve tested, regardless of composition. We’ve tried using glass, plastic, metal, even vapor — they’re all repelled from the surface of the disc.

The force we’re seeing produces the lifting effect, and seems to encompass the space around the sample with what you might call an envelope of the effect. These forces are vector fields, so they can be applied in any direction in space. I’ve hypothesized that what may be happening is that the disc is creating a gravity well, which the sample is then falling into regardless of orientation.

Podkletnov speculates that the vector force occurs through the production of a gravity well (Wikipedia)

From what you’re saying, it sounds like the thin film ion-impregnated gold coating is what may be producing this effect then? Can you elaborate a bit more on that for me?

Yes. The nano-coating of the disk consists a thin layer of gold, from 5 to 30 atoms thick, which is applied to the surface of an aluminum disk using a high-power ion-implantation device. I have experimented with various shapes for the coating as well as doping the coating with other elements, and settled on one consisting of concentric circles. I have experimented with doping the coating with other elements as well.

This is an embarrassing question because I’m sure you’ve taken it into account, but have you been able to firmly rule out experimental errors such as perhaps vibrations in the disk, the armature holding the sample, or maybe even an inductive effect that could be moving the armature?

Yes, it’s a typical question that people ask. The samples that we use typically weigh from 30 to 50 grams, and using only vibration in the vacuum chamber, it’s impossible to move these objects up to five to seven centimeters from the surface of the disc. So no, it’s definitely not the vibration.

When we begin rotating the disk, at any speed lower than 8,000 rotations per minute, we see no effect or movement. Then, as we reach 8,000 rpm, we see the effect begin to appear. So this effect only appears at certain speed of rotation.

This experiment can be easily reproduced at any laboratory, so researchers who have a serious interest they can ask me for help and I will explain for them how to recreate it.

Speaking of replications, in terms of the failed NASA replication for the rotating-superconductor experiment, I’d heard from a NASA insider that they only spun it up to about 200rpm. Does that mean that they didn’t fully complete your experiment?

I cringe every time I hear that NASA failed to replicate my experiment, because no, they didn’t fail. They made their own disks, and they were big enough: about 12 inches in diameter. They published some initial test information indicating that they had definitely noticed some unusual effects.

Then I got involved in participating to helping them to replicate my experiments, and they practically had everything ready when they ran out of money. So at the last stage they were not able to rotate the superconductor in the magnetic field, and shortly after that the department of defense came in and grabbed all the experiments. All of this research was transferred to Dr. Ning Li — so now NASA has nothing, and we have nothing either.

YBCO levitation is easily explained, but Podkletnov claims superconductors can also modify gravity

From what I’ve read, the YBCO superconductors were hard to construct & often self-destructed at high speeds. Given the simpler design & construction of this new device, does this mean the end for your superconductor research?

It’s important to understand that superconductors were extremely useful as model materials because they allowed us to create any configuration of the magnetic field that we wanted to — but being able to work without them using composite materials seems to give us practically the same effect or an even better effect than superconductors.

For the time being, we have come back to rotating disks, but we’re using a composite structure now, and under certain conditions we’re creating this gravitational modification. I also plan to begin working with rotating magnet fields, which are practically the same thing as a rotating body. But so, but in a, in a bit different way. So the mechanism is a bit different.

Let me close by asking whether you’ve noticed any other anomalous phenomenon other than the repulsive force you’re demonstrating in the video clips?

Well, of course there are different phenomena that we can observe during our experiments. But frankly speaking, my focus at the moment is not in the scientific realm of categorizing anomalous effects — I am interested in the engineering work of maximizing the main propulsive effect to a usable level.

The reason for this is simple: the opportunities that this technology presents may greatly benefit humanity, and I would love to see this work develop towards a practical implementation for propulsion, perhaps to the point where we could use it to begin our travel to space and “boldly go” …you know the rest.