Coming from just about anyone else I would write this off as fantasy but the skunkworks has a long history of doing the impossible.
I’ll be watching this. Lockheed is a little more reputable than most making such claims.
Aha! So THAT's how they did it.
“Investigators at a major US research university recently discovered the heaviest element known to science. The element, tentatively named Congress, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have 1 neutron (president), 435 assistant neutrons (house), 100 vice neutrons (senate) and 17000 assistant vice neutrons (staffers), which gives it an atomic mass of 17536. These 17536 particles are held together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson- like particles called morons. It is also surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons (lobbyists).”
Looks interesting. Let’s see how they stop 2.4 MeV and 14 MeV neutrons in something that fits on a truck! Exciting times.
The financial analyst that drove down the Oil and Gas sector today said that the end of the oil era is coming, in part because of this Lockheed fusion announcement.
Another reason sign to stop reading, and start buying the RYE ETF.
Why don’t they build a functioning fusion reactor of ANY size?
Then we can talk about the possibility of shrinking it.
Fusion power has been “20 years away” for at least 40 years, and probably more.
Reminds me that Physicist Robert Bussard (of Bussard Ramjet fame) was working on a small fusion reactor project over 30 years ago. DOE got pressured to deny funding. Here’s the OMNI interview from 1981!
http://www.askmar.com/Robert%20Bussard/Omni%20Interview.pdf
If Lockheed can do it, a cheap energy economy could be a civilization changer.
I’ll take the bright red Mr Fusion, please.
is this for real?
Lockheed seems more respectable than E-cat.
but not much.
The Univ of Washington has a better plan IMO.
Be funny if they both worked- after all these years of setbacks in fusion.
Interesting, sure, but isn’t this vaporware, at this early point..?
They’re talking about radically miniturizing a device that HAS NOT **YET** BEEN BUILT, EVEN IN LARGE FORMAT.
To me the story is:
1. We have new exciting idea
2. It will involve a smaller version of something we have not built.
What’s the big deal...??