Defense Intelligence Reference Document Antigravity For Aerospace Applications

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frequency on the order of tens of mHz ford = 5 nm and 11 = 1.46 (for SiO2 dielectric).
This result is more than two orders of magnitude larger than the force which the VIRGO
gravitational wave antenna is expected to detect at several tens of Hz. If one could
fabricate a device consisting of 109 layers, then Fn;nr ~ 10-11 N. This suggests that
cavities made from thin-film deposited surfaces or photonic band-gap materials would
be the best approach for fabricating a multilayer Casimir device.
Bimonte et al. (Reference 63-65) also derived Equation (24) for this very same problem
by using Green-function techniques in the Schwinger-DeWitt quantum ether
prescription for (I;:::-),_,, in a curved spacetime. They also computed the weak
gravitational field-induced correction terms for the Casimir pressure on the plates,
(r,:::}.", and the total energy (Eca,li,,,) stored in the Casimir device which is given by
(Reference 63,64):
rr
0
Ahc( Sxd)
G:,a,(Jr:n =- 720d 3 l+'z c 2 (27)
in Joules (J). The correction terms for the different (measurable) physical quantities of
interest are generally~ ;;;/c 2.
Finally, Calloni et al. point out that the overriding concern with performing an
experiment to test Frncxp is whether cavities can be made sufficiently rigid, if the effect
of surface roughness and defects can be quantified to improve the force estimate, and if
the necessary signal modulation can be achieved in the lab. However, micro- and nano-
manufacturing is maturing to the point where rigidity, surface roughness, and close
plate separations are becoming routinely controllable. While the numerical estimate for
F( (ic,r is quite feeble, it is still significant since it is at the very low end of the
macroscopic scale, and it might be possible to devise advanced methods to magnify the
force to a magnitude that benefits a propulsion application. However, the upward force
will have to be larger than the weight of the propulsion system in order to achieve
levitation. This could be very difficult to do, but this is a concept that is ripe for further
exploration.
ANTIGRAVITY VIA NONRETARDED QUANTUM INTERATOMIC
DISPERSION FORCE
Pinto (Reference 66) evaluated the net lifting force produced by nonretarded
electrostatic dipole-dipole interactions (that is, non retarded van der Waals dispersion
forces) acting on a quantum system of polarizable particles in a curved spacetime. The
foundation of Pinto's study was the original discovery made by Fermi (Reference 67)
that classical electrostatic theory must be reformulated in a curved spacetime in order
to properly evaluate the effects of gravitation upon the Coulomb electric field of a single
charged particle. In this case, the Laplace equation of electrostatics for a single charged
particle can be generalized in the presence of a gravitational field and then extended to
show that a system of classical charged particles undergoes a gravity-induced self-
lifting force. Fermi and other investigators arrived at this counterintuitive result by
computing the gravity-induced self-force acting on an isolated electric dipole in a weak
gravitational field and showing that the self-force (times dipole size) is exactly equal to
the gravitational equivalent of the electrostatic internal energy of the dipole.
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