Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion (28 page)

Figure 7.7.
(a) Leading-edge profiles for waves whose voltage rises exponentially with varying degrees of nonlinearity, as: r
^1.5
(curve 1), r
²
(curve 2), r
^2.5
(curve 3), and r
³
(curve 4).
(b) Corresponding gravity potential distribution generated by the resulting virtual-charge distribution.
(P.
LaViolette, © 2007)

The above analysis assumes that the gravitic effect of these sawtooth microwaves arises primarily from the virtual charges that these waves produce, which themselves arise from the second derivative of the variation of voltage along the direction of wave travel.
If, on the other hand, the gravity field of the emitted microwaves is produced mainly by the real electric charges that generate the wave, then the electrogravitic thrust would be proportional to the first derivative of the wave’s voltage variation, and in this case linear sawtooth profiles and
r
²
exponential profiles would produce gravitational thrusts.
Further research is needed to know which of the two electrogravitic relations better characterizes gravity wave production at microwave frequencies, or whether thrust effects arise from a mix of both virtual-and real-charge electrogravitic effects.

One characteristic of the virtual-charge electrogravitic relation is that voltage profiles having a more nonlinear variation should produce greater gravitic thrusts.
For example, a wave whose voltage rises as
r
³
is predicted to produce a gravitational force 2.8 times greater than a wave whose voltage rises as
r
^2.5
.
Also, a wave whose voltage rises as
r
⁴
is predicted to produce a gravitational force six times greater than a wave whose voltage rises as
r
³
.
Those with exponents less than 2 would produce very weak forces.
For example, a wave such as that in profile 1 in figure 7.7a whose voltage rises as
r
^1.5
is predicted to produce a gravitational force fifteen times weaker than that produced by a wave whose voltage rises as r
^2.5
.
Corroborating this, Brown observed that the electrogravitic force developed by an electric field in fact increases as the nonlinearity of the field’s voltage profile increases.

Dimitriou claims to have generated gravitational forces by energizing capacitors with sawtooth waves having an amplitude of around 15 volts (see
chapter 11
).
Our attempts to duplicate his work in this low-voltage range, however, did not meet with success.
Most likely the wave amplitude must exceed tens of kilovolts before this sawtooth wave thrust effect becomes large enough to be significant.
This is consistent with the findings of Brown and Podkletnov, both of whom used waves in the range of 50 to 2,000 kilovolts to get their thrust effects.
As we shall see, the Project Skyvault team was also using waves in the kilovolt range to get its propulsion effects.

In summary, the kind of propulsion results that Murray’s Skyvault team would have been getting would have depended critically on the shape of the microwave waveform it was using.
One question that should be examined is whether metamaterials develop a greater propulsive force (exhibit a larger interaction cross-section) when exposed to a microwave beam having an asymmetrical sawtooth wave shape as opposed to a symmetrical sine wave shape.
If so, it is likely that the frequency-sensitive materials they were using in their research were in fact metamaterials.

7.4 • THE BEAM GENERATOR

According to Murray, during the early stages of their research, the Project Skyvault group used magnetron vacuum tubes to generate their microwave source beam.
They worked with frequencies ranging from 7 gigahertz (7,000 megacycles) to upward of 1,000 gigahertz.
By comparison, the magnetron tubes used in microwave ovens typically have frequencies of 2.54 gigahertz.
The cavity magnetron has a central electron-emitting cathode surrounded by a positively charged copper plate, the anode (see figure 7.8).
An axial magnetic field causes electrons emitted by the cathode to cycle in a circular orbit.
They revolve at a frequency that depends on the applied voltage potential and the strength of the magnetic field.
As they cycle, they induce microwave frequency oscillations in a series of cylindrical cavities spaced around the anode’s inner circumference.
Just as the length of an organ pipe tunes the pipe to a certain pitch, the diameter of these cavities can efficiently tune microwaves to a particular wavelength.
These oscillations transfer to the cycling electron cloud and are then channeled out of the magnetron to form a microwave beam.

The microwave signal from the magnetron tubes used by the Skyvault group was sent into a wave amplifier cavity.
This was essentially a metallic duct of rectangular cross-section whose long dimension was such as to fit a whole number of wavelengths of the microwave signal along its length.
For example, if the magnetron emitted waves at a frequency of 100 gigahertz, the emitted wavelength would have been 3 millimeters.
So if the cavity was made to have a length that was some multiple of 3 millimeters, then, as these waves reflected back and forth inside this cavity, they would develop a condition of resonance allowing them to build up a high-voltage amplitude.

Figure 7.8.
Cross-sectional view of a
cavity magnetron.

By adding various types of microwave radar-absorbing materials to the resonator cavity, the inputted microwave signal could be changed from a sine wave into a sawtooth-shaped wave.
For this, the Skyvault group may have used ceramic dielectrics such as barium titanate polarized with a high-voltage DC potential on the order of 10 kilovolts per centimeter.
Once polarized, the high-K dielectric would have presented a highly nonlinear environment for the microwaves.
The same wave transformation into a sawtooth shape would have occurred in Brown’s AC-energized vertical-thrust apparatus described in chapter 3.
The dielectric would have changed the shape of the input wave, causing it to have a more rapid rise of potential in the direction of the dielectric’s polarization and a more gradual fall of potential during the other half of the cycle.
The polarity of the sawtooth wave, whether it would rise sharply to a positive or to a negative potential, would depend on the polarity applied to the high-K dielectric.
Microwave power from this amplifier would then have been conducted down a waveguide tube to a microwave horn, the horn’s dimensions having been chosen so that its impedance would match that of the surrounding air to allow a microwave beam to efficiently radiate from the horn.
Once polarized, the dielectric would have been able to retain its polarization without any outside input of DC power.
In fact, the sawtooth waves would have acted to bias the dielectric’s voltage potential.

The Skyvault team did not power their tubes continuously, but pulsed them about a thousand times per second using a mechanical pulser.
This was a wheel in an evacuated chamber that spun at 60,000 to 100,000 revolutions per minute (1,000 to 2,000 hertz) and on each revolution actuated a set of platinum electrical contacts that briefly turned on high-voltage DC to power the magnetrons.
The proper pulsing rate would depend on how much voltage and power one wished to extract from the tube.
If the pulser was cycled at a faster rate or was in its on state for a longer fraction of the cycle period, more power would be radiated from the magnetron.

Murray said that they needed to make fine adjustments to the pulser’s “square wave” signal envelope to get its pulse cycle amplitude and timing just right.
In particular, the magnetron would have had to be turned on at just the right moment so that its waves would match the phase of the waves already reflecting back and forth in the microwave amplifier waveguide, thereby allowing its energy to properly add to the amplified signal.
Magnetrons are very sensitive.
If the pulse timing is wrong, the tube’s energy potential can build up so high that the tube will burn out.
Failure occurs when an arc jumps from the tube’s cathode to its anode, burning off the cathode’s electron-emitting thorium coating and rendering the tube useless.

Radar researchers later replaced this older mechanical pulser technology with thyrotron tubes, which were able to produce shock discharge pulses having a much sharper rise time.
Thyrotrons had a fixed spark gap enclosed in sealed glass tube filled with hydrogen and used a third ignitor electrode to trigger the gap to discharge.
These discharges would be much like Tesla’s shock discharges, except that the magnetrons would convert these pulses into microwave frequency shocks.
In
Secrets of Cold War Technology
, Vassilatos commented about the explosive forces that these radar bursts can produce, noting, “As these pulse methods were reaching their state of refinement, engineers found it possible to produce single DC impulses of extraordinary power.
Components often ruptured when these explosive electrical applications were employed.
Wires exploded.
Gaskets and sealed electrodes ruptured.
Magnetron tubes, high vacuum vessels, literally exploded.
Here was that phenomenon of which Tesla spoke so highly.”
¹⁸
The microwave bursts that the Skyvault engineers were experimenting with were most likely of this sort.

Murray said they were using the very best magnetron tubes they could find, which at that time were being used on military radar systems.
To maximize the gravity wave propulsion effect, they had to operate these tubes well beyond their voltage specifications, powering them with up to 250 kilovolts.
Murray did not say what the normal voltage range was for these special radar magnetrons, but for comparison, one unclassified research paper published in 1956 described the development of a 1.3-gigahertz magnetron that operated in the range of 50 to 75 kilovolts and delivered power outputs on the order of 10 megawatts during its ten-microsecond pulse period.
¹⁹
Magnetrons available in military black projects likely had achieved higher power outputs than this at a much earlier date.

In this “out-of-spec,” high-voltage operating region, the tube’s characteristics would have become highly nonlinear and prone to develop what is called the longitudinal sawtooth instability, which causes electrons circulating in the magnetron to begin to bunch up into clusters, transforming the tube’s normal sine wave output into a series of sawtooth spikes.
A similar effect has been reported to have been seen in the operation of the Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF III).
²⁰
When the sawtooth instability was present in SURF III, researchers observed bursts of coherent microwave radiation that were 10,000 times more intense than the normal synchrotron beam radiation and which consisted of sawtooth-shaped waves in the 10-gigahertz frequency range.

By operating the tubes beyond their specifications, the Skyvault team was apparently attempting to produce microwaves having a maximally abrupt rise time—hence, a very nonlinear negative potential onset curve.
This in turn would have maximized the electrogravitic thrust that these waves were producing.
As seen in our analysis of the gravity shocks produced by Podkletnov’s gravity impulse beam, the sub-quantum kinetics electrogravitic relation indicates that such waveforms would have been repulsive.

Murray said that as a result of running the tubes beyond their specifications, the research team was blowing out magnetrons by the thousands.
Members were willing to take this risk because they knew that this propulsion effect existed.
Apparently, someone in the past fortuitously got the frequency and wave shape right and discovered the effect.

Initially, the equipment generating the Skyvault propulsion beam was quite bulky.
The entire set up, which included high-voltage power generators, microwave generators, waveguide ducts, and wave-shaping resonators, required a building the size of a barn.
Murray disclosed that in this early version, the conical test beam was projected upward and made to buoy a test vehicle that had a concave bottom wide enough to receive the beam.
He disclosed that this concave portion was made from a ceramic similar to CorningWare.

Although CorningWare is optically opaque, it is partially transparent to microwaves.
Thus, given the proper shape, it could be made to act as a microwave lens, which would look similar to an optical lens but would not necessarily be optically transparent.
Such a lens could be made out of paraffin, ceramic, or glass.
The important thing is that it be made of a material having the proper permittivity and permeability.
So the Skyvault team could have used the craft’s ceramic bottom as a lens to refract the microwaves that were being beamed up to it.

However, for a diverging microwave beam, one would expect that they would have used a converging lens to bring the waves to a focus inside the craft.
One wonders whether this concave ceramic was actually a metamaterial that was engineered to have a negative index of refraction.
One characteristic of left-handed (negative index) materials is that they have a concave shape in order to bring a microwave beam to a focus on the other side of the lens.

Although the beam generator for the Skyvault prototype craft was initially very bulky, with time the Skyvault team was able to make its equipment more compact.
Murray said that eventually they got the apparatus small enough to put inside the craft.
However, he didn’t specify what kind of power supply was used.
The craft were circular in shape and emitted a greenish blue microwave propulsion beam toward the earth.
The beam was made to pass through an “iris type of convex lens” toward the ground, where it would reflect back up to buoy the craft upward.
It is unclear what Murray meant by an “iris type of convex lens.”
An iris is a small opening at the end of a waveguide that allows microwaves to pass out.

Perhaps the microwaves were emitted through an iris at the end of the wave amplifier conduit and were then focused by a ceramic convex lens.
The microwaves leaving the iris would have diverged and would have needed a convergent lens to refract them into a microwave beam.
The diameter of the beam at the ground target region could have been adjusted by controlling the position of the lens relative to the iris.

This experimental version of the Skyvault craft, which was being developed in the 1960s, was apparently much more advanced than its forerunner, the version that Tom’s engineering firm was asked to bid on in 1975.
That is, by carrying its own onboard beam, it was far more mobile.
Murray said that the craft was remotely controlled by signals relayed from a radio transmitter, probably situated on top of a mountain.
The transmitter sent out encoded signals 6,400 times per second that controlled the craft’s pitch, yaw, bank, and velocity.
The vehicle had a range of nearly three hundred miles over the desert and could attain altitudes of 50,000 feet or more.
Murray said that it could attain “extreme speeds.”
Initially, they did test flights of an unmanned craft.
Later, they built and flew around a craft having a crew on board.
Murray told Tom the vehicles he worked on had an estimated propulsion efficiency of 60 percent, and he imagined that by 1974 much higher propulsion efficiencies had been obtained.
By comparison, a jet aircraft has a propulsion efficiency of only about 20 percent.

In the mid-1960s, after Murray had left the project, the Skyvault team began replacing their magnetrons with solid-state oscillators, called Gunn diodes, that were much more reliable.
Murray had learned about this from a friend who had continued to work on the Skyvault project.
Wanting to know more, Tom asked his boss if it would be possible for him to speak to Murray’s friend.
Murray contacted his friend, who told him that he would instead write Tom a letter, which he would send via Murray.
The letter, which is written in a somewhat whimsical style, is reproduced in appendix E.