Benjamin Rhodes has had quite a few Blue Hair Moments that have had a positive impact in general. When he stumbled across an old MIT project to produce silicone chips with microscopic gas-turbine engines to produce power he locked himself into his lab for two weeks straight, leaving the operations to a fuming Gina Langley, a puzzled Jess Ayanami, and an indifferent R. Ruri Hoshino.
Those two weeks, however, bore fruit in the Gas-Turbine Power Supply Chip: a mass-produced silicon chip with capabilities envisioned by MIT, only vastly improved. Running off of nothing more complex than kerosene, one chip could produce 150 watts of power for 120 hours using a mere 250ml of kerosene (or about 8.5 ounces).
The design is pure hard-tech, although refined to a very fine point to deliver such a huge level of efficiency. Generally, nanofacs are the preferred manufacturing method, but a 'waved CNC machine that is properly suited and motivated can do just as well. Benjamin, seeing that this was something that could add a massive boost to safety margins of any space-faring operation, made the designs public for anyone to manufacture. Of course, this made certain that would-be mass producers of such chips would remain healthily competitive for as long as there was demand to support the market.
So... whatcha guys think?
Those two weeks, however, bore fruit in the Gas-Turbine Power Supply Chip: a mass-produced silicon chip with capabilities envisioned by MIT, only vastly improved. Running off of nothing more complex than kerosene, one chip could produce 150 watts of power for 120 hours using a mere 250ml of kerosene (or about 8.5 ounces).
The design is pure hard-tech, although refined to a very fine point to deliver such a huge level of efficiency. Generally, nanofacs are the preferred manufacturing method, but a 'waved CNC machine that is properly suited and motivated can do just as well. Benjamin, seeing that this was something that could add a massive boost to safety margins of any space-faring operation, made the designs public for anyone to manufacture. Of course, this made certain that would-be mass producers of such chips would remain healthily competitive for as long as there was demand to support the market.
So... whatcha guys think?