Florida professor to build flying saucer

[Martina]

University of Florida mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Subrata Roy has submitted a patent application for a circular, spinning aircraft design reminiscent of the spaceships seen in countless Hollywood films. Roy, however, calls his design a “wingless electromagnetic air vehicle,” or WEAV.

WEAV - Patent Application For A Plasma-Propelled Flying Saucer

I tried to find recent information on this, but it seems to have gone away. He was just about to test it last I read, and then nothing...

 

[paraschtick]

University of Florida mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Subrata Roy has submitted a patent application for a circular, spinning aircraft design reminiscent of the spaceships seen in countless Hollywood films. Roy, however, calls his design a “wingless electromagnetic air vehicle,” or WEAV.

WEAV - Patent Application For A Plasma-Propelled Flying Saucer

I tried to find recent information on this, but it seems to have gone away. He was just about to test it last I read, and then nothing...

Reading this I tried scouring the net for more news. I can't seem to find any more than old articles from about 2008 and earlier on it. Though I did find his web page at the University of Florida so maybe contacting him via that might bring some light on the matter. I have always been fascinated by different propulsion methods and things like electromagnetic drives and things so I'll love to see this take off.

Anyhow here is the url for his web page at the University of Florida:

http://cpdlt.mae.ufl.edu/roy/

Cross your fingers ... this might fly yet ... possibly ... maybe ... hopefully

 

[Martina]

I did find his email address and wrote him asking what became of it, but so far no response. The last thing I read about it said he was about to power it up, and then it all just went dark. So maybe it just didn't work and he dropped it, I dunno.....

It would have been so very spiffy, and I was very interested in it. I think he might have run into problems with the power source. It would have to have been light enough to fly, and produce enough power to ionize the air layer around the saucer, and that's a challenge. No one else has ever flown such a vehicle, and that might be why.

 

[Ron Collins]

I did find his email address and wrote him asking what became of it, but so far no response. The last thing I read about it said he was about to power it up, and then it all just went dark. So maybe it just didn't work and he dropped it, I dunno.....

It would have been so very spiffy, and I was very interested in it. I think he might have run into problems with the power source. It would have to have been light enough to fly, and produce enough power to ionize the air layer around the saucer, and that's a challenge. No one else has ever flown such a vehicle, and that might be why.

It and other related research topics still grace his active projects list.

In the interests of complete disclosure, this is precisely what Ray Stanford spoke to me about in a conversation a few months ago. It was the first time I had heard of principles surrounding plasma flow actuation and it use in acting as an airfoil. I have no idea if Ray is aware of this research or not. Anyway, for better or worse it might be interesting to hear his take on it.