Lockheed does something cool again

[Dartz]

A new type of fusion power

This is the second time I remember hearing about this.

I guess modern material's science and computation has finally aught up enough to replicate what they found in the saucers.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Black Aeronaut]

Holy shit.

This means several BIG THINGS.

The biggest one of all - Energy Independence now looks like it can truly happen at long last.

Next: The Nuclear Navy is back! And this time better than ever with fusion powered Destroyers and Frigates!

Finally: this takes us one critical step closer to interstellar travel.

I am amazed at the claim that they're making - 100MW from a reactor that is small enough to fit on the back of a truck? If this scales well, then 1GW should be no problem, and in a package that would be smaller than today's 1GW fission reactors. Also, if you can scale it down then a viable commercial option for cargo ships could be viable, too! Really, all a container ship would need if they went for full-electrical power is just a few 10-kilowatts, right?

Also, you could easily fit two of these on a Destroyer. Replace the bulky gas turbine engines and reduction gears with a high-torque-low-rev-direct-drive motor... Get rid of all the fuel-oil service equipment... wow, that would cut out a lot of equipment!

And future space exploration... we would have power without worrying about damaging delicate solar cells with space debris. Cooling is still a bit of an issue, though, until we effectively figure out how to recycle waste heat (and that would probably be an even bigger holy shit discovery). Oh, and effective reactionless drives can be a thing, too. The words 'Kzinti Lesson' come to mind.

[K sai]

Now let us sit back and watch as all vested interests conspire to completely destroy LHM.

[ordnance11]

Black Aeronaut wrote:

---

Holy shit.

This means several BIG THINGS.

The biggest one of all - Energy Independence now looks like it can truly happen at long last.

Next: The Nuclear Navy is back! And this time better than ever with fusion powered Destroyers and Frigates!

Finally: this takes us one critical step closer to interstellar travel.

I am amazed at the claim that they're making - 100MW from a reactor that is small enough to fit on the back of a truck? If this scales well, then 1GW should be no problem, and in a package that would be smaller than today's 1GW fission reactors. Also, if you can scale it down then a viable commercial option for cargo ships could be viable, too! Really, all a container ship would need if they went for full-electrical power is just a few 10-kilowatts, right?

Also, you could easily fit two of these on a Destroyer. Replace the bulky gas turbine engines and reduction gears with a high-torque-low-rev-direct-drive motor... Get rid of all the fuel-oil service equipment... wow, that would cut out a lot of equipment!

And future space exploration... we would have power without worrying about damaging delicate solar cells with space debris. Cooling is still a bit of an issue, though, until we effectively figure out how to recycle waste heat (and that would probably be an even bigger holy shit discovery). Oh, and effective reactionless drives can be a thing, too. The words 'Kzinti Lesson' come to mind.

Also think about weaponry advances..rail guns on destroyers and frigates.Can you scale it up to battlewagon size? Lasers on the microwave scale? And if you put it on a truck..can you put it on a tank? Hammer's Slammers might be a reality!
And as for energy independence..if it becomes commercially available, we can kiss the Mideast hasta la bye bye!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[robkelk]

(goes and looks)

Too big to fit under a car's hood - that means Canada's (oil-based) economy won't crash. I can live with this.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[ordnance11]

Give it another 10 years and they might come up with "Mr. Fusion".
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Black Aeronaut]

robkelk wrote:

---

(goes and looks)

Too big to fit under a car's hood - that means Canada's (oil-based) economy won't crash. I can live with this.

But that's producing 100Mw...  Chances are they can scale it down.
Heck, here's an idea: decentralize power.  No more concerns about how to distribute power.  Instead, everyone's got a 20Kw reactor in their home.  At least, they can once they're using fuels that aren't dangerously radioactive going in and coming out.
Hell, if someone wants to make a gimmick out of it, make a replica of one of these bad boys...

...And stick one of those reactors in it.

[Bluemage]

...so what I'm hearing is that fusion is just a decade or two away.
Funny.  I remember hearing that ten or twenty years ago.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Bob Schroeck]

No, Bluemage, for years they've been saying the key breakthroughs have been just a decade or two away. This is apparently the key breakthrough, and it's now applications that are a decade away.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bluemage]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

No, Bluemage, for years they've been saying the key breakthroughs have been just a decade or two away. This is apparently the key breakthrough, and it's now applications that are a decade away.

You have a good point, there.
I've just always heard it said, more in pop culture than in science, that 'fusion power is always twenty years away', and was riffing off of that.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Dragonflight]

I've been reading replies from people, and at least one person with some apparent experience in plasma physics was pointing out that the design of containment shown in all the articles is based on a failed prototype build that doesn't work. What worries him is that this is just an attempt by Lockheed to put something out there with no real chance of success, in a way to get some defense research money flowing in their direction. In ten years, they can announce they've advanced the ball a few yards down the field, and abandon the research.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

[ordnance11]

Alas, I fear it might be all moonshine.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... ce_of.html

I'll be happy to proven wrong by 2020.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Black Aeronaut]

....
You know, I'm kinda getting fed up with all the negativity.

Let's think about it this way.

Would we have gotten to the moon if we didn't throw some money at the project and makes some mistakes? Hell no.
Would we have developed nuclear energy if we didn't throw money at it and makes some mistakes? Hell no.
Are we ever gonna get to Mars if someone doesn't throw any money at the project and we make some mistakes along the way? You better believe the answer is a resounding NOPE.

The same applies to fusion energy. The field is not as full of hucksters as people believe. If that were the case then we'd have a bunch of paper mache fusion units and a bunch of wackos screaming like the happiest lunatics alive while they make for parts unknown. This is not a field where we're gonna find some magical silver bullet that makes fusion suddenly easy.

Want more? Okay.
First, look up how much money the USSR and the USA collectively poured into their space programs until Niel Armstrong walked on the moon and came home to talk about it? How much money was that? Betcha if you convert it to 2014 money it was a hell of a lot. Possibly even more than has been devoted to fusion research by far.

Again, let's see how much money has been devoted to nuclear energy. I'll be fair in saying we can exclude weapons research, however you will need to include the spending of any country that has assisted with fusion research thus far. But just the money spent on the fissionable side of things. So, how much money is it? Account for inflation, if you would please. Pretty sure it's a lot more than the money spent on fusion.

Fusion will continue to be a pipe dream until we take it seriously, folks.

End of rant.

[Duane Peters]

And a contrasting opinion, from someone who is, himself, a nuclear engineer: http://www.nukees.com/comics/nukees20141017.gif