Boeing and Podkletnov (BBC report, 2002)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
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| Date | 29 July 2002 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Propulsion & physics (topic) |
| People | Eugene Podkletnov, Nick Cook |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 148 |
| Year | 2002 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2002 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
In July 2002 BBC News reported that Boeing's advanced research division, Phantom Works, was investigating Russian scientist Eugene Podkletnov's claim that a spinning superconducting disc could shield objects from gravity. The report was based on documents obtained by Nick Cook of Jane's Defence Weekly.[1][2]
The report
According to the reports, Boeing had a project called GRASP — Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion — and an internal briefing described in Cook's Jane's Defence Weekly article said that if gravity modification were real, it would alter the entire aerospace business. The BBC report suggested Boeing was trying to obtain support to fund work on Podkletnov's ideas.[1]
Boeing's response
Boeing later told Popular Mechanics that it was not funding the work with company money, though it said it could not comment on "black" projects, and the company said gravity shielding was still science fiction.[1]
Background
Podkletnov's original 1992 claim of weight reduction above a superconductor had never been independently reproduced, and NASA tests at its Marshall Space Flight Center had found no effect. A partial replication by a team in Sheffield, England, also failed to confirm it.[1][3]
Reception
The story drew wide attention because it involved one of the world's biggest aerospace companies. Physicists discussing it at the time were largely sceptical. Around the same time the British company BAE Systems was quietly funding its own gravity-control study, Project Greenglow. The testimony includes the report as part of the record of corporate interest in gravity research.[1][4]
People and topics
- Boeing — The aerospace company whose Phantom Works looked at gravity research in 2002.
- Anti-gravity — The idea of cancelling or controlling gravity for propulsion.
- Eugene Podkletnov — Russian engineer who claimed spinning superconductors reduce gravity.
- Nick Cook — Jane's Defence Weekly aviation editor and author of The Hunt for Zero Point.
On the Timeline
- Jean Kisling's airline stranger (29 June 2002) — A French officer tells Vallée a stranger on a 1950s flight claimed to work on recovered craft.
- Project GRASP (29 July 2002) — Jane's reports Boeing's Project GRASP says gravity control would transform aerospace.
See every 2002 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Eugene Podkletnov — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Boeing tries to defy gravity", BBC News (29 Jul 2002) · news.bbc.co.uk · archived copy
- "NASA's anti-gravity machine", Images Scientific Instruments · imagesco.com · archived copy
- "Project Greenglow and the battle with harnessing gravity", Innovation Toronto · innovationtoronto.com · archived copy
- BBC Q&A: Boeing and anti-gravity (2002) — via UFO Scans · ufoscans.com · archived copy
- Project GRASP documents (archive) · thelivingmoon.com · archived copy
- Physics discussion of the Boeing antigravity story (2002) · phys-l.org · archived copy
- archive.ph · archive.ph · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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