News release: March 11, 2008

Explorit Science Center in Davis will host a Science Café on Tuesday, March 18 featuring Paul Moller, inventor of a flying car called a Skycar. The event is the third installment in Explorit's Science Café and Lecture Series, sponsored by Intel. The public is invited to attend the free event, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. with coffee, cookies and informal conversation. At 8 p.m., Moller will give a talk titled “Flying Cars and the Future of Travel.”

The event will take place at Explorit’s neighbor in east Davis, the Davis Musical Theatre Company, 607 Peña Drive. The first part of the evening will take place in the theater lobby. Guests will then proceed into the theater itself for the talk. One of Moller’s Skycars, a red two-passenger model called the M200M, will sit on the stage for viewing.

Moller is founder and chairman of the board of Moller International, which is developing and marketing the Skycar, now in flight-testing. According to its Web site, www.moller.com, the Skycar is formally known as a personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle.

“You’ve always known it was just a matter of time before the world demanded some kind of flying machine which would replace the automobile,” the Web site says. “Of course, this machine would have to be capable of VTOL, be easy to maintain, cost effective and reliable. Well, we at Moller International believe we have come up with the solution. That solution is the volantor named M400 Skycar.”

At the Science Cafe, Moller will give an update on the Skycar’s progress toward the marketplace. The company is taking refundable deposits for the vehicles, which are expected to have a list price of close to $1 million.

The Skycar has has been featured on a number of TV programs including CBS’ “60 Minutes,” “Highway In the Sky”, NBC’s “Today” show, Today’s “American Story" and the History Channel’s “Greatest Movie Gadgets: Then and Now.”

The event is the third installment in Explorit’s Science Café and Lecture Series. The fourth and final event will be a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. April 15 at the public library in Davis. Katherine S. Pollard, assistant professor at UC Davis, will speak about “What Made Us Human? Comparing the Human and Chimp Genome.”

More information in available by visiting www.explorit.org or calling (530) 756-0191.