Posted on 10/15/2014 7:38:31 PM PDT by jyro
Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin research team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the worlds insatiable demand for power.
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 refuelingideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.
Wow. Lockheed-Martin is serious.
It would take us from the travoise stage of space flight to the wheel which is really quite a jump.
If LM was really able to do this they wouldn’t be making a press release looking for partners.
On an earlier thread, it was stated that Lockheed-Martin intends to have a working prototype online by 2017.
That it’s coming so soon, boggles my mind, but in a good way. Nuclear fusion is one of the true holy grails of science.
Because this comes from such a well known company, it’s hard to brush it off as nonsense, or wishful thinking. This will be a true paradigm shifting advancement if they actually pull it off.
Definitely good. One of the things that cracks me up is Cambridge MA is declared themselves a nuke free zone but MIT has both a fission and fusion reactor.
“Definitely good. One of the things that cracks me up is Cambridge MA is declared themselves a nuke free zone but MIT has both a fission and fusion reactor.”
Also, Davis, CA
Not necessarily.
I don’t think they’d be making this type of claim unless they had a working model somewhere. You are looking at only two years between whatever they might have in the lab and the potential for it to be marketed to every home in America.
It depends on the nature of the partnership they are looking for. Just because they are one of the best R&D companies in the world does not mean that they are good at everything, like mass marketing for example.
interesting
Wait.....MIT already has a working fusion reactor? Are you sure?
Yammering about doing it isn't doing it.
Fusion reactors aren’t hard to build. Now, making one with a positive power output - THAT’S hard.
If you knew anything about Lockheeds Skunk Works, you’d know better than to make such comments.
This is E-Cat all over again. “Breakthrough” after “breakthrough,” and never an actual product.
Here’s an article that is a bit more realistic.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/scientists-bashing-lockheed-martins-nuclear-232518813.html
I work in the power industry - we have a saying - fusion is 30 years away. We’ve been saying that consistently for 30 years.
The first generation of this elusively simple technology, as described by our host in this Lockheed Martin Skunkworks video, is needed today. We should be developing third generation fusion, using Helium-3 harvested from the Moon to fuel the next 1000 years of this planet's economic growth. Instead, we're engaged in a propaganda war with modern luddites over ridiculous phrenologies like, so-called, 'global warming,' and the power-mad schemes of vainglorious central planners.
Consider how the atomic development of Iran, for example, would be a dead issue if this kind of development had proceeded as it was anticipated fifty years ago. Instead, we're likely to see a "limited war" (war where the body count does not exceed the birth rate) with Iran, at an unimaginable cost, because this nation elected just such a egoist dreamer of central planning.
It's maddening to know these breakthroughs have exceeded our grasp for so very long, that fusion still reigns.
It's fairly common for companies to issue press releases to attract investors. Their other main option is to look for government funding.
The last I knew it couldn’t sustain a reaction for very long. An old friend of mine did PLC work on it.
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