America opens NIF experimental nuclear fusion reactor

[jordan179]

From Emma Woollacott, "Laser fusion plant delivers the power of the stars," in Tech Generation Weekly (http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-42639-178.html)

The device is expected to be the first to create more energy than it uses, releasing ten to

Comments

[spiffystuff]

OOOOO! Good stuff!! :D

Thanks for posting :)

:D

[reality_hammer]

I just wrote about the same article, pointing out that Paul Krugman was just yesterday trying to mock Heritage for citing lasers as an effective weapon.

[gothelittle]

So much for "evil capitalist oil companies are secretly preventing the wonderful benevolent government from providing us with fusion reactor energy". :D

[polaris93]

This is wonderful! The only downside I can see to this is the reaction of the Greens: "This is a Bad Thing because it will delude people into thinking we're not destroying the planet."

[pasquin]

Would this have an application in space travel? Or is this just another way to power a toaster?

[jordan179]

There's no obvious reason why, in time, the system couldn't be adapted to spacecraft. The reactor would require some radiation shielding because it is not aneutronic, which means it would be most practical on a large spacecraft. The obvious means of propulsion would be either to use the heat to melt a working fluid such as water (steam rocket) or to vent some of the reaction products directly into space through a magnetically-shielded system (plasma rocket). Either drive system would open the planets to Man, as it would allow direct constant-thrust flight rather than Hohmann-transfer orbits, and thus reduce the time needed for a trip by at least an order of magnitude.

[pasquin]

What do you think of the Vallkyrie Antimatter rocket?