Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered aircraft that virtually never require refueling—ideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.
McGuire says. “The latest is a magnetized ion confinement experiment, and preliminary measurements show the behavior looks like it is working correctly. We are starting with the plasma confinement"
QuoteMcGuire says. “The latest is a magnetized ion confinement experiment, and preliminary measurements show the behavior looks like it is working correctly. We are starting with the plasma confinement"Plasma confinement: hic sunt leones.(Bold mine)
The picture of the reactor implies you could put a "hole" at one end and leak out high velocity plasma. This could make a nice rocket engine.VASIMR originally had fusion in mind until they figured out it was very hard, so they just stuck to microwave heating of the plasma.
I'd assume a fusion reactor with a small amount of fuel, plus a separate tank of purely passive propellant. Prop flow rate will be just high enough to cool the engine just enough to stop it melting.
the neutron flux would provide bulk heating of the jacket
Is this LM upper management learning from Elon Musk that grand visions and inspiring hopeful technology projects have real present benefits?Is this the sort of announcement that would have been more conditional and modest sounding before Musk showed that talking about putting a million colonists on Mars didn't do any harm and rather helped him in attracting the best young talent and dealing with Congress?
I wonder if there's any chance of operating this as a nuclear light bulb - perhaps a film of 1H providing film cooling.Cheers, Martin
Sadly, like the VentureStar, this fusion reactor program may be an overly-optimistic attempt to jump too far ahead of the technology curve.
Quote from: Ludus on 10/17/2014 07:23 amIs this LM upper management learning from Elon Musk that grand visions and inspiring hopeful technology projects have real present benefits?Is this the sort of announcement that would have been more conditional and modest sounding before Musk showed that talking about putting a million colonists on Mars didn't do any harm and rather helped him in attracting the best young talent and dealing with Congress?I think you misunderstand what separates Elon Musk from traditional aerospace companies and government programs. It's not that Musk has grand visions. It's the approach he takes to achieve those grand visions. In particular, Musk focuses on cost and using proven technologies over pushing the technological edge.>
Quote from: MP99 on 10/18/2014 09:33 amI wonder if there's any chance of operating this as a nuclear light bulb - perhaps a film of 1H providing film cooling.Cheers, Martin The jacket would need to be transparent to thermal energy. Could we make one of pure quartz? I don't know.If we could then an isp of 10,000 would be achievable and we wouldn't need to sacrifice thrust for it.But that would be a hard engineering project because it couldn't have any imperfections at all.If it did the whole jacket would vaporize and destroy the engine.Perhaps one day we will be able to 3d-print a proof-of-concept jacket, laying down a single molecule per layer.Any of you young engineers out there willing to tackle this for your thesis?
Quote from: ChrisWilson68 on 10/18/2014 10:43 amQuote from: Ludus on 10/17/2014 07:23 amIs this LM upper management learning from Elon Musk that grand visions and inspiring hopeful technology projects have real present benefits?Is this the sort of announcement that would have been more conditional and modest sounding before Musk showed that talking about putting a million colonists on Mars didn't do any harm and rather helped him in attracting the best young talent and dealing with Congress?I think you misunderstand what separates Elon Musk from traditional aerospace companies and government programs. It's not that Musk has grand visions. It's the approach he takes to achieve those grand visions. In particular, Musk focuses on cost and using proven technologies over pushing the technological edge.>Where do supersonic retropropulsion, printing very powerful thrusters, flying printed LOX valves, and a full-flow staged combustion engone fit into the not-bleeding edge theory? Yes - several have been talked about previously, or had rudimentary work, but SpaceX is flying two (soon three) and committed to the FFSC and cutting (or is that printing?) metal.