Novel Propulsion Theory: Ion Drives and the Black Triangle UFO TR-3B Black Manta

Disclaimer: I’m not an aircraft engineer, so I would LOVE someone who is, to comment on this theory and explore its viability. Until then, allow me some creative license here to explore this thought 🙂

I’ve been intrigued by the idea that the military are actually nearly 80 years ahead of civilian ion propulsion prototypes, and have been scaling this up enormously for use in “exotic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)”.

I currently believe the black triangle UFO design is specifically an ion propulsion craft, and I will tell you why I think the unique geometry of its design lends itself to that type of propulsion.

Firstly, if you’re not too familiar with ion drive propulsion, it’s best to watch this short video explaining the silence and no propulsion heat signature of ion propulsion flight.

Ion propulsion design: https://youtu.be/IorDYGI1uqc

It’s also impressive to see how far we humble civilians have come with prototyping this tech at super low cost, using shitty conventional materials.

Secondly, according to this article*, back in the 1950s, the military did in fact successfully prototype nuclear aircraft. They used only one pound (half a kilo) of nuclear material to remain aloft for a theoretical 15000 miles.

Fast forward 70 years from the first nuclear aircraft. I think it’s quite plausible that the US have refined a relatively light, relatively low drag aircraft, in the shape of a triangle, with a small nuclear power source on board, placed in the centre of the craft.

The triangle shape is crucial, not only for the usual low drag reasons.

The three red “lights” found on the bottom of the craft, are ion drives, used for z-axis control, pitching and yawing. The most important placement of these are at the vertices of the triangle, but some models have secondary drives between these main three for additional stability and control.

All three sides of the triangle, are covered with a row of horizontally pointed ion drives. These are the tertiary smaller “lights” people see when the craft is angled sufficiently. These provide the main y-axis and x-axis propulsion and control.

The symmetrical, triangular shape of the craft avoids unwanted pitching and yawing.

The propellant used for the generation of ions is probably some sort of noble gas, like xenon, heated to an ionic plasma. The whole aircraft could be incredibly lightweight relatively speaking.

Due to this technology, the craft would be quiet, near silent, not leave a heat trail, AND be able to travel in a vacuum, as well as in an atmosphere if powerful enough to account for drag.

The only thing I haven’t got a decent theory for, is how they’ve advanced the ion propulsion to accelerate to enormous speeds without a sonic boom. There is a theory that would make this possible within the laws of physics, but moreso it applies to the tic-tac UAP design, and so far seems implausible that we can generate enough voltage to do it. But that’s a whole other post!

*Article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nuclear -powered-aircraft/: