The US Government's Secret Plan To Build A Flying Saucer Explained
It's no longer a secret that the United States government has plenty of stake in space exploration. The search for extraterrestrial life rages on at quite the hefty price tag (via The Washington Post). Did you know that we are not only embarking on the active search for space creatures of celestial proportions, but have also sought to join them in their journeys through the stars?
According to leaked reports, in the 1950s, the U.S. government conspired to create a real-life flying saucer (via BestLife). Had it been built with their vision in mind, the spacecraft would have been a circular spectacle complete with armed weapons and capable of zipping through the universe at unfathomable speeds.
Such as art imitates life, the recently declassified blueprint (via The NDC Blog) depicts a creation quite similar to what one might find between the pages of a '50s era sci-fi novel. These records come to us courtesy of the United States Airforce and are the result of a previously secret USAF Project.
This attempt at building a flying saucer was part of super secret Project 1794
Wired reports that these now declassified blueprints were once being taken so seriously that the U.S. collaborated with a since-defunct Canadian corporation to bring their imaginative plan to light. Together, they sketched out quite the ambitious design. The total structure, from cockpit to ceiling, would have loomed 100,000 feet in the air.
The goal was to create a spacecraft that could speed through the solar system going approximately 2,600 miles per hour. Some of the most notable features included integral fuel tanks, flight control shutters, sliding doors, upper and lower compressors, internal airflow ducts, propulsive jets, a sleek, frisbee-like shape, and, of course, supersonic flight capabilities. Allegedly, the project ended in 1960 due to the exorbitant cost of construction. Even the prototypes were too expensive to proceed. All in all, the cost of almost creating a flying saucer was approximately $3,168,000 in 1960. When converted to 2021 currency, that puts the price just over $26.6 million.