Posted on 09/28/2017 6:42:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
A supersonic airliner that flies at three times the speed of sound – and runs on nuclear fusion. Stephen Dowling investigates the challenges of making airliners run on atomic power.
It could whisk you from London Heathrow and have you stepping onto the air bridge at New York’s John F Kennedy airport just three hours later. It would take you in no small comfort – luxuriously so, if you’re in first class – at speeds approaching 2,300mph (3,680km/h), the Atlantic Ocean racing below your feet.
The Flash Falcon, looking like a spacecraft from the video game franchise Halo, is a futuristic peg to fill the hole left by the retirement of the Supersonic Concorde in 2003. No prototypes have been built though – the design so far lives only in the imagination of Spanish designer Oscar Vinals, who also designed a ‘whale-shaped’ giant airliner BBC Future profiled back in 2014.
The Flash Falcon, Vinals’ concept imagines, would carry 250 passengers at Mach 3, in an airframe more than 130ft (39 metres) longer than a Concorde and with a wingspan twice as wide. Its engines would even be able to tilt up to 20 degrees to help the aircraft take-off and land like a helicopter.
At the heart of the Flash Falcon is something even more revolutionary; Vinals' aircraft is designed to fly on nuclear power, with a fusion reactor pumping energy to its six electric engines.
“I think nuclear fusion could be the best future source to obtain great amounts of electric energy,” Vinals tells BBC Future. “At the same time, it’s ‘green’ without creating dangerous waste.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
An atomic powered airplane sounds like the stupidest thing ever. What happens if it crashes?
But then I though storing radioactive waste in a dormant volcano was dumb.
But what do I know?
Aummm, don't we have to make a purchase at the off-the-shelf time travel machine store, before proceeding to the off-the-shelf fusion reactor store?
An if we bring off-the-shelf fusion reactor back to 2017, is the warranty void? What about maintenance/service?
I just need clarification!
There is a charged fission fragment reactor system in the works which sports a direct conversion kinetic to electric. This is not a Carnot limited process, therefore possibly could attain 85% efficiency. It is being developed with space application in mind, and probably is the best kW/kg design yet devised.
http://anstd.ans.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/5132_Tarditi-and-Scott.pdf
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20130001836.pdf
http://www.rbsp.info/rbs/PDF/nsstc10c.pdf
Perhaps using the word “flash” in the name of a nuclear-powered airliner isn’t the best idea in the world.
When you take off, they play the music from “Thunderbirds are GO”
“Anything can happen in the next 30 min”
What, you don't remember those fusion-turbo-electric cycle diagrams back in Thermo?!
Hummmm....and the next A.F. ONE won’t have refueling capabilities....
Maybe it doesn’t need any.........................
“Roger, prepare to move out.”
I knew there was a good reason to not skip class after some brewskis. I missed all the important stuff!
Cold fusion? Last I heard that was still a figment of science fiction imagination...but then r0 years ago so were cell phones and personal computers.
Shielding was too heavy, unshielded was too hazardous. Maybe they've come up with lightweight shielding?
I used to read a lot of articles about Cold Fusion. I’m not into conspiracy theories, but I would also not be surprised to learn that it was “put down” by those in power that needed it to not work. There was some fishy stuff going on.
Kinda like with Flight 800.
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/05/lockheed-portable-fusion-proejct-still.html
Discount pricing!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.