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It may come as a surprise to learn that most matter in the universe seems to be missing. More than 90 percent of the matter in our universe is known as "dark matter." Its gravita- tional effects are discernable, but it has yet to be directly observed by conventional methods employing photons of electromagnetic radiation—hence its name. Dark matter has been the subject of many conjectures and associated searches, but no one has resolved this elusive mystery. Dark matter has yet to be observed, and so its properties a . Sanne Some mathematical conjectures about exotic forms of dark matter suggest that it could have properties that might be exploited in some form of highly advanced propulsion system. If dark matter could be exploited, it would be very fortuitous since it is so toaa 1 at None of these speculative possibilities have any experimental confirmations and thus constitute major controversies among theoretical physicists, astrophysicists, and cosmolo- gists. There is little credibility among serious researchers that these exotic conjectures hold the key to the UFO phenomena. It has been suggested by some of the most knowledgeable observers that the apparent ability of the UFOs to materialize and dematerialize seems to suggest that they are "hyperdimensional" or from some other domain, able to enter and leave our space-time at will. While this sounds like a contrivance of some science fiction novel, this could be surprisingly consistent with current discoveries from the field of quantum physics. You and I have come to understand that we live in three spatial dimensions—length, width, and height—along with a strange fourth temporal dimension we call time. Particle physicists have 1 now discovered that w we apparently live i in a universe of ten dimensions. It waa 1 , a ua wea may well be that an under-standing of spaces beyond the three dimensions with which we are familiar may hold the key to understanding the strange phenomena being observed Wot. TIAN with UFOs. Spaces with more than three spatial dimensions are called "hyperspaces." (For purposes of the following discussion, we are going to set aside time as our "fourth" dimension and con-fine our discussion to only spatial dimensions.) It is extremely difficult for the average person to visualize a space of more than three dimensions, since that is the only spatial geometry with which we have had any personal experience. There are only two kinds of people that seem to be able to deal with hyperspaces: mathematicians with special training and small children. We are quite likely to miss entirely the implications and significance of higher dimensions when trying to translate them into our own three-dimensional terms. One approach to better understand some of the implications of our own dimensionality is to direct our attention "down- ward" rather than "upward." Let's explore the plight of a two-dimensional being living in a two-dimensional world. 52 DARK MATTER AS A FUEL SOURCE remain unknown. prevalent throughout the universe. INTERDIMENSIONAL? HYPERSPACE