Ron@sri-unix (07/12/82)
n511 2257 11 Jul 82
BC-SAUCER-07-12
EDITORS: The following is from the London Telegraph and is for use
only in the United States and Canada.
By David Brown
Daily Telegraph, London (Field News Service)
LONDON - British Rail, beleaguered by more earthly problems, has
abandoned a bizarre project to build the world's first flying saucer.
A patent for the disc-shaped, nuclear-powered spacecraft was taken
out nine years ago but the idea has been quietly shelved in the
struggle to sustain Britain's nationalized rail transit system.
The saucer was designed by the British Rail research and development
staff, which visualized a saucer-shaped vehicle capable of carrying
22 passengers into space at speeds far in excess of existing
aircraft. But British Rail could not afford the development costs,
which would have run into billions of dollars.
Specifications and drawings for the patent, number 1310990, now lie
gathering dust in the Patent Office in London.
No prototype of the spacecraft as built and not even a scale model
exists.
Plans show a disc-shaped vehicle about 120 feet in diameter, powered
by a nuclear reactor and a series of laser beams. It would have been
propelled by highly charged particles of energy deflected around and
below the craft by an array of electro-magnets.
Its capacity for acceleration and sustained high speeds would have
been so great that it was hoped artificial gravity would be created
inside the spaceship to eliminate the problems of weightlessness for
passengers.
According to British Rail, the project was a spin off from existing
research work at Derby, where research is being done on lasers and on
high-speed trains in the 1960s.
END
nyt-07-12-82 0157edt
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