SAN DIEGO — How’s this for futuristic? A maglev system powerful enough to reach 15,000 mph in less than a minute catapults a one-ton supply ship up the side of a mountain and into orbit without using rockets.

Such a system, to deliver food and supplies to a space station, is the subject of a government research project being conducted by General Atomics, the same high-technology company enlisted to provide expertise for a proposed low-speed maglev transit system in Pittsburgh.

If you have ever undergone magnetic resonance imaging, you may have experienced some of General Atomics’ work. It builds superconducting magnets for MRIs manufactured in conjunction with Toshiba Corp.

Add more electricity and a very high-powered cooling system (to achieve about 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit), and superconducting magnets on an MRI aren’t much different from those General Atomics proposes to use on low-speed maglev cars.

"All of us came away believing General Atomics has the technological capability of building superconducting magnets," Port Authority General Manager Paul Skoutelas said after he and three other authority officials visited the company’s San Diego headquarters last month.

The Western Pennsylvania Maglev Development Corp. wants the Port Authority to become its public partner on the second stage of maglev, proposed for Oakland and the North Shore. Securing a public partner is a necessary step for obtaining partial federal construction funding.

"But a lot of technical know-how doesn’t necessarily translate into the fact that they can guarantee a successful low-speed maglev system," Skoutelas continued. "There’s a long gestation period between building a prototype and building a dependable, workable system … and a lot of risk."

The main General Atomics facilities in suburban San Diego contain over 1 million square feet of engineering and test facilities, precision manufacturing installations and advanced technology labs. About 1,500 are employed here, including professors, scientists and technicians.

The headquarters complex is laid out geometrically, with buildings fanning out from a central building. It resembles a college campus but without a scrap of litter and with high security because of the government work it does. There are tennis courts, an outdoor pool, an employee cafeteria and a basketball court, but a soccer field recently gave way to building expansion.

Founded in 1955, the firm deals worldwide in design, research and manufacturing ranging from nuclear fusion to pilot-less surveillance and reconnaissance planes that fly over Bosnia.

It wasn’t until six months ago, however, that General Atomics added low-speed maglev technology to a corporate portfolio that already included high-speed maglev systems for military purposes, including a "rocket" sled test track at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. One use for such technology would be the space station resupply idea.

Before landing at General Atomics, low-speed maglev transit bounced from one high-tech firm to another as a result of acquisitions and mergers. General Dynamics, Martin Marietta and Lockheed Martin, which has retained a financial interest in the technology, have all had a piece of it over the years.

One key person also has bounced from company to company with the research: Eddie Leung, 45, senior program manager-superconducting systems of General Atomics.

Leung, a pioneer in maglev technology in the United States, was a member of the U.S. Senate task force for a national maglev initiative in the late 1980s.

He is one of two U.S. representatives to the International Maglev Conference. And more than anyone else, he’s the person who gives the Pittsburgh project credibility — and a chance.

"Eddie (Leung) is extremely knowledgeable, talented and dedicated," Skoutelas said, indicating if maglev technology is to work in Pittsburgh, it will be largely because of Leung.

"I’ve put a whole lot of my life and energy into that project," Leung said. "This is a dream, and it’s important for scientists and engineers to make dreams come true. It isn’t just about making money."

Leung said the four companies where he has worked on low-speed maglev have invested $1.2 million on research and development, engineering and testing. Only once has any received government money: $50,000 out of a state grant given to Western Pennsylvania Maglev Development Corp.

General Atomics allowed Leung to bring a dozen of his key people when the firm bought Lockheed Martin’s technology in superconductivity in September 1998.

For the proposed Pittsburgh project, Leung and several of his colleagues built a model to verify their concept of maglev technology designed to levitate or "float" 17-ton cars two inches above an elevated guideway. The 400-pound test vehicle was about the size of a wheelbarrow, without the wheels. It had already been disassembled by the time of the Port Authority and PG visits, but Leung said results were positive.

For the most part, low-speed maglev is a project that exists in computer models, a videotape of the small test vehicle and files of research results.

Leung believes the company is now ready to move to the next step — building a full-scale prototype that would raise, propel and stop a vehicle that would approach the size and weight of an actual passenger car. Magnets underneath the cars would be electrified through and arm descending to a power line on the guideway.

If WPMD lines up $147 million to build a 5,000 space parking garage next to the Civic Arena and the maglev guideway and cars, General Atomics plans to build a $2 million prototype on vacant industrial property in Ellwood City, Lawrence County, where it would run tests.

"I want a place where we can work in private," not a site (that has been proposed) in Panther Hollow in Oakland, "where everybody would be looking over our shoulder all the time," Leung said. "If everything isn’t correct, people will never see it," and the shuttle cars would be equipped with rubber tires and resemble the people mover at Pittsburgh International Airport.

General Atomics would be paid about $19 million to supply the superconducting magnets for vehicle levitation, linear induction motors for propulsion and the electrodynamic systems needed for the guidance and vehicle stability.

"The company is not going to make any money on this," Leung said. "General Atomics is betting it will work, and that profits will come in the future. We feel there is a big market out there. If this succeeds, we’ll benefit, and Pittsburgh will benefit."

Leung said he met WPMD President David O’Loughlin almost five years ago, when O’Loughlin contacted General Dynamics about the maglev shuttle. "We hooked up, both believing there’s a niche in the market for low-speed maglev. It requires a lower investment than light rail, and it has the potential to solve urban problems better."

Meanwhile, General Atomics is part of the American Magline Group with Hirschfeld Steel Co., Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc. and Transrapid International. The consortium is proposing to build a 300-mph maglev system connecting Las Vegas and Southern California. West Mifflin-based Adtranz is part of the Transrapid’s joint venture.