The Alternative Propulsion Engineering Conference, or APEC, which explores mainstream and exotic propulsion concepts, is returning after a long hiatus on Saturday, June 10th.
Hailed by some as the “Woodstock of gravity-modification,” APEC features speakers and members from various fields related to electric propulsion, theoretical physics, space travel, and other related areas of academic inquiry.
Return of the World’s Most Exclusive Anti-Gravity Club
“The Alt Propulsion community is highly intersectional, and we’re sandwiched between the aerospace, defense, electrical engineering, physics, UFOs, and ‘frontier science’ cultures,” said the conference’s moderator and organizer Tim Ventura in an email to The Debrief. “We have folks from all of these cultures who visit the conference and present, and despite the fact that these various communities don’t always agree on some topics.”
The Debrief first covered the APEC conference back in 2021, recounting the origins and nature of what has sometimes been termed “the world’s most exclusive (and strange) anti-gravity club.”
The eclectic virtual forum brings together Harvard University-trained PhDs, former and current National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Scientists, veteran engineers from places like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and pairs them with “garage hobbyists” and tinkerers who try to take the exotic concepts presented by their speakers and actually test them in a laboratory setting.
Speakers and attendees that have participated in APEC over the years include former NASA engineers like Glen “Tony” Robertson, who worked on that organization’s only official Anti-Gravity research back in the 1990s, theoretical physicists like Jack Sarfatti, who was the inspiration for the Doc Brown character in the Back to the Future movies, and numerous others with similarly impressive and unique resumes.
Ventura said in a press release that their roster of speakers and attendees includes “theoretical physicists publishing peer-reviewed papers on quantum and relativity theory to gravity-hackers working tirelessly in their garages to reverse-engineer UFOs.”
Ventura also notes that although the conference “values and respects theoretical physics,” he says its primary focus lies in engineering, including “seeking new experimental methods to advance humanity’s understanding of propulsion systems and their potential applications.”
Let the Anti-Gravity Games Begin
In their first conference since temporarily halting presentations earlier this year, APEC is featuring an interesting and eclectic range of topics and features.
This year, the firs presentation of the event will be given by engineer Michael G. Anderson, who will discuss a WARP Reactor concept. According to the member’s only invite sent to The Debrief, Anderson’s unique WARP concept promises an “orders of magnitude increase of intense ion beam energies and respective radiation yields at a fraction of the size and cost over existing z‐ pinch class accelerators.”
That presentation is followed by David Pares from Quantum Electrodynamics, who will talk about efforts by his company to develop a seemingly physics-defying electromagnetic drive that can propel a spacecraft without propellants. Similar concepts have polarized much of the propulsion community, including the somewhat notorious EMDrive invented by engineer Robert Shawyer. In theory, that device similarly uses no propellants to move through space. Although some tests have been unable to reproduce the thrust Shawyer says his drive produces, former NASA engineer Harold G. “Sonny White” and his Eagleworks Lab team found what they termed “measurable thrust” when testing that concept.
As a head-tip to the increasing interest by the scientific community in the accounts of pilots and other witnesses who say they have seen Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAPs (the government’s new term for UFOs) perform seemingly physics-defying maneuvers, the third presentation at APEC will offer an update on that topic. Presented by long-time APEC member Gary Stephenson that talk will focus on “the work of controversial scientists Eric Davis, Hal Puthoff, Bob Baker, Paul Murad, and others.” Stephenson’s talk is also said to cover “key avenues in advanced propulsion research to replicate documented UAP flight performance.” The final presentation will be given by APEC Co-founder, anti-gravity hobbyist, and the founder of Falcon Space, Mark Sokol.
UAPs Increasingly Part of APEC
Although the conference will include a talk about UAPs and the theories behind their propulsion, Ventura says UAPs weren’t initially part of APEC. However, as more and more scientists are trying to explain reports of how UAPs may fly without wings, control surfaces, or visible means of propulsion, it has increasingly become part of the conference’s DNA.
“The biggest change that I’ve seen over the course of the conference is the growing importance of UFOs,” said Ventura. “In the past, everyone had an awareness of UFOs, but they weren’t highly relevant because they aren’t well understood. However, the emerging UAP story in mainstream news makes this a topic that can’t be ignored, and we are exploring them from a scientific perspective more frequently than in the past.”
Ventura told The Debrief that some of the talks may be a little overwhelming and technical for the everyday attendee. Still, for the most part, he says the group has fun and shares a common passion for unlocking the secrets of exotic and alternative propulsion that may one day propel humanity deep into the cosmos. The event’s moderator also notes that the group has fun, and although the attendees are varied in background and interests, they (almost) all have one thing in common.
“Not everybody at APEC plays with Star Trek dolls,” Ventura told The Debrief, “Just most of them.”
For those interested in attending the conference or learning more about its mission, the group is accepting new members and attendees via their website. To learn more about APEC and its origins, you can also read “Inside the World’s Most Exclusive (and Starnge) Anti-Gravity Club.”
Christopher Plain is the Head Science Writer at The Debrief as well as a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist. Follow and connect with him on Twitter, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.