Posted on 06/08/2023 5:30:49 AM PDT by Red Badger
Taking a plot point from the 1990 Sean Connery movie thriller The Hunt for Red October, DARPA is working on a super-silent submarine drive that has no moving parts and provides propulsion through the water using magnets and electricity.
In Red October, the titular Soviet super-submarine was equipped with a fictional stealth drive that was based on a very real technology. Since the late 1950s, engineers have been interested in an exotic concept called magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). It's a very simple principle that produces a very simple propulsion mechanism.
In an MHD drive, a fluid, like air or water, is given an electric charge and is then accelerated by an electromagnetic field, generating thrust. Basically, an MHD drive consists of a hollow tube with electrodes at one end and magnetic coils around it. Since the device doesn't have any shafts, gears, propellers, turbines, or jets, it produces very little noise and even the small amount it does generate can be attributed to natural sources.
Such a stealth drive would be invaluable for submarine warfare. Not only would it allow submarines to remain hidden from hunters, it would also be a big help on reconnaissance and intelligence missions by removing the boat's interfering audio signal as its sonar gathers data.
The question is, if this technology is so valuable, why hasn't it been used for over 60 years except in a couple of experimental surface boats? The answer is twofold. First, the electromagnetic coils need to be extremely powerful and making ones that are light enough and efficient enough to install in a submarine isn't easy. The second is that the electrodes must stand up to a lot of wear due to corrosion, hydrolysis, and erosion caused by the interaction of the magnetic fields, electrical current, and saltwater.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
The DARPA website used to have progress statements
and appropriations for various years, generally
in millions of dollars but I don’t seen anything
like that now at all. This was in the 2005s or so.
Seems odd that they would have envisioned a piloted
craft but then AI was not that advanced at that time.
Certainly visual navigation would not be practical
at any high speeds.
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