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Boeing patent reveals radical 'laser fusion' fission engine design
dailymail.co.uk ^ | 16:20 EST, 10 July 2015 | By Ellie Zolfagharifard For Dailymail.com

Posted on 07/12/2015 5:15:54 PM PDT by ckilmer

Future aircraft could be powered by lasers and nuclear explosions if Boeing has its way.

The aerospace firm claims a new-type of engine could produce energy-efficient thrust by firing lasers at radioactive material, such as deuterium and tritium.

The technology could mean that planes and spaceships will require only a fraction of the power to operate, according to a recent patent filed by the company.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: 201507; aerospace; boeing; deuterium; fission; fusion; heavywater; invention; patent; plutonium; tritium
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To: miliantnutcase

Tritium has a half life of 12.7 years, deuterium is stable. Tritium is much more difficult to produce in bulk because of its short half life and the fact that we quit making that stuff a while back.


21 posted on 07/12/2015 6:30:40 PM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: 17th Miss Regt

“Tritium is much more difficult to produce in bulk because of its short half life and the fact that we quit making that stuff a while back. “

We have always produced tritium to supply our bomb arsenal. With the dismantling of bombs, tritium can be recycled but we have actually been increasing our production the last decade.


22 posted on 07/12/2015 6:40:20 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: ckilmer

I have problems with an article that calls both Deuterium and Tritium Radioactive. . . only Tritium is radioactive and it is pretty innocuous.


23 posted on 07/12/2015 6:42:55 PM PDT by Swordmaker ( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
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To: ckilmer

God, their technical writing sucks ass. Sure, the article on it had crappy writing, but sheesh, the patent abstract? It’s like a 1970’s Datsun manual translator wrote it...


24 posted on 07/12/2015 6:43:46 PM PDT by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
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To: ckilmer; big'ol_freeper; shove_it; TrueKnightGalahad; Larry Lucido; Diplomat; RockinRight; ...
Re: Future aircraft could be powered by lasers and nuclear explosions if Boeing has its way.

Gadzooks, I get the same results... from drinking Lone Star Draft--

Yet I do have to see the Doc... after a 3-day weekend.

25 posted on 07/12/2015 7:20:26 PM PDT by Bender2 ("I've got a twisted sense of humor, and everything amuses me." RAH Beyond this Horizon)
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To: ckilmer

Going to pass on getting into a plane propelled by lasers being fired at nuclear fuel cells.


26 posted on 07/12/2015 7:32:29 PM PDT by TruthWillWin (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money.)
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To: Paulie
Boeing has a patent. I wonder what GE, Pratt & Whitney, or Rolls Royce will do in response. They must have known this was coming down the pike.

Lockheed-Martin announced a breakthrough fusion power program earlier this year. Google "Lockheed Martin fusion" to read about it.

This announcement by Boeing may be a reaction to that.

27 posted on 07/12/2015 7:38:47 PM PDT by Steely Tom (Vote GOP: A Slower Handbasket)
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To: TruthWillWin

wouldn’t be a good idea for stuff in the atmosphere. sounds more plausible for getting around the solar system.


28 posted on 07/12/2015 7:40:41 PM PDT by ckilmer (q)
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To: ckilmer

If my casual reading of the fusion T + D = 4He + n + 17.6 MeV reaction is correct, a neutron is also released. Hope they have good shielding for the passengers sitting next to an ongoing neutron bomb.


29 posted on 07/12/2015 7:41:45 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: Steely Tom; Paulie

Boeing has a patent. I wonder what GE, Pratt & Whitney, or Rolls Royce will do in response. They must have known this was coming down the pike.

Lockheed-Martin announced a breakthrough fusion power program earlier this year. Google “Lockheed Martin fusion” to read about it.

This announcement by Boeing may be a reaction to that.
..................
Now that you mention it—there is a tremendous amount of smoke coming from these outfits.


30 posted on 07/12/2015 7:43:18 PM PDT by ckilmer (q)
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To: doorgunner69

If my casual reading of the fusion T + D = 4He + n + 17.6 MeV reaction is correct, a neutron is also released.
................
Isn’t that neutron what’s supposed to heat the shield that heats the coolant that drives the turbine to produce more electricity for the laser.

Presumably the shield absorbs all the neutrons. who would want to fly in a machine that bombarded them with radioactive neutrons.


31 posted on 07/12/2015 7:49:33 PM PDT by ckilmer (q)
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To: ckilmer
Yes, you would hope the shield absorbs them all, and that any fission that goes on in the U-238 is very low level.

Ya know the biggest hydrogen nukes used a blanket of U-238 on the fusion secondary to add a huge kick of fission to the last stage. What they called a "dirty" bomb. Got to make some of the old bomb designers chuckle at this scheme.

Still, think I may pass on flying the fusion airways. Doubt I will live that long anyways.

32 posted on 07/12/2015 8:01:39 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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BFL


33 posted on 07/12/2015 8:03:41 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: miliantnutcase

And the ‘wall’ that contains that much heat? What’s it made of...


34 posted on 07/12/2015 8:15:42 PM PDT by GOPJ (If it wasn't for massive immigration the Democrat party would have already gone extinct -FeeperReese)
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To: TexasGator

They still are filtered out of ordinary water.

That is where the NIF gets their deuterium and Tritium.


35 posted on 07/12/2015 8:29:13 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor

“They still are filtered out of ordinary water.”

I apologize if my post was too technical for you to understand. I tried to make it as simple as I could.


36 posted on 07/12/2015 8:32:27 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: ckilmer

It’s powered by a “Laser”.


37 posted on 07/12/2015 8:35:19 PM PDT by BRK
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To: doorgunner69

” What they called a “dirty” bomb.”

A dirty bomb is a non-nuclear explosive wrapped with dirty fission fragments obtained from a nuclear reactor.


38 posted on 07/12/2015 8:38:52 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: ckilmer

“radioactive neutrons”

Technically, neutrons can be a form of radiation but are not themselves radioactive.


39 posted on 07/12/2015 8:40:53 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: TexasGator

You made a buffoon of yourself.

I laid out the extraction unit at LRL.


40 posted on 07/12/2015 8:43:24 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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