Tom Scott Describes the British Rail Flying Saucer, A Scientifically Improbable Spacecraft Design

In the latest episode of Things You Might Not Know, host Tom Scott (previously) takes a trip to the former headquarters of British Rail to discuss the British Rail flying saucer, a spacecraft design of extremely questionable scientific integrity that was filed for a patent application (which it was later granted) on behalf of the transportation department.

It goes on about how they’ll use lasers to ignite material for nuclear fusion, and then use magnetic fields to deflect those particles to use them for thrust. The physics is questionable at best and utterly unrealistic at worst.