

French Scientist Proposes UFO Propulsion System using Magnetohydrodynamics

Scientific Paper - Various possibilities offered by magnetohydrodynamics in the field of propulsion applied to flying machines : Jean-Pierre Petit and Julien Geffray

After exceeding silently the sound barrier, MHD also allows control over the heat barrier, enabling atmospheric hypersonic cruise. Although the power source required to ionize the air, accelerate the plasma and sustain the whole craft was not defined in such futuristic systems, we should imply it is just a matter of time until some energy source with the adequate power-to-weight ratio is developed, perhaps with future compact controlled fusion reactors.



Down below paper presents possibilities offered by magnetohydrodynamics in the field of propulsion applied to flying machines, named since our first publication MHD aerodynes. It also demonstrates that MHD, by locally accelerating or decelerating the flow, can prevent the birth of shockwaves at supersonic speed.We then proposed a more classical aircraft using MHD bypass, where the primary source of energy to insure lift, and overcome drag, is easier to handle with today's technology: a chemical fuel, using the air available right up to the limit of high atmosphere. This craft uses wall converters, which contrary to heavy and cumbersome Faraday converters, can spread over large areas. The first set is located on the front part and works as a power generator.In doing so, it slows down the fluid with a minimum temperature rise, since an important part of the kinetic energy is converted into electricity. This system can feed either a ramjet, or a conventional turbojet, with compressed air at a temperature compatible with thermal limitations of today’s engines. On the exit side, a second wall converter located behind the nozzle, on the lower side of the aircraft, accelerates the gases resulting from the combustion, giving back the energy collected in the front end. The lift is provided by the recovery of the high pressure resulting from the shockwave formed on a protective plasma cushion located on the vicinity of the leading edge, this type of flight being called the waverider technique. At high altitudes where it flies, the atmospheric pressure is low, therefore the craft does not require any particular system to ionize the air.This non-thermal ionization happens naturally thanks to the V × B field. The low air density and the intensity of the magnetic field used in this design come along with an operation at high Hall effect. By using the Hall field, it is possible to generate an electric discharge on the sharp leading edge, that creates a protective cushion of plasma. Similar systems to those described by the author solve the Velikhov electrothermal instability.26,27,28 As presented, this aircraft makes the ideal spy plane: able to cruise at Mach 12, bouncing on the high atmosphere. Given the fact that the USA have stopped operating the surveillance aircraft SR-71 in the beginning of the 90’s, one question arises: does its successor exist as a project, or is it already operational under the nickname Aurora?In any case, this configuration could be the space launcher of the future, and will make all conventional cryogenic rockets obsolete. Small additional cryogenic stages will allow orbital work, whereas during the reentry phase, short-circuited wall generators will insure air braking on the whole fuselage allowing for optimum energy dissipation. There again, one part of the energy is used to maintain a protective cushion of plasma on the leading edges.