Lorne Malvo
Biden 2020
Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin research team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the world’s insatiable demand for power. Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered aircraft that virtually never require refueling—ideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.
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The CFR will avoid these issues by tackling plasma confinement in a radically different way. Instead of constraining the plasma within tubular rings, a series of superconducting coils will generate a new magnetic-field geometry in which the plasma is held within the broader confines of the entire reaction chamber. Superconducting magnets within the coils will generate a magnetic field around the outer border of the chamber. “So for us, instead of a bike tire expanding into air, we have something more like a tube that expands into an ever-stronger wall,” McGuire says. The system is therefore regulated by a self-tuning feedback mechanism, whereby the farther out the plasma goes, the stronger the magnetic field pushes back to contain it. The CFR is expected to have a beta limit ratio of one. “We should be able to go to 100% or beyond,” he adds.
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The team acknowledges that the project is in its earliest stages, and many key challenges remain before a viable prototype can be built. However, McGuire expects swift progress. The Skunk Works mind-set and “the pace that people work at here is ridiculously fast,” he says. “We would like to get to a prototype in five generations. If we can meet our plan of doing a design-build-test generation every year, that will put us at about five years, and we’ve already shown we can do that in the lab.” The prototype would demonstrate ignition conditions and the ability to run for upward of 10 sec. in a steady state after the injectors, which will be used to ignite the plasma, are turned off. “So it wouldn’t be at full power, like a working concept reactor, but basically just showing that all the physics works,” McGuire says.
Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details | Technology content from Aviation Week
Es soll also nicht nur ein funktionierender Kernfusionsreaktor sein, sondern auch noch ein sehr kleiner. Sollte dieses Design tatsächlich funktionieren, würde das nicht nur die Energieprobleme lösen, sondern das Leben der Menschen so grundlegend verändern, wie es bisher keine einzelne Erfindung geschafft hat. Eine solche kompakte und kraftvolle Energiequelle würde ganz neue Dinge ermöglichen: Der Bau von Raumschiffen wäre möglich, die schnell alle Planeten des Sonnensstems erreichen können, oder der Bau von Flugzeugen, die quasi niemals landen müssen. Selbst fliegende Städte wären denkbar.
Und es ist immerhin Lockheed Martin, eines der führenden Rüstungsunternehmen der Welt und Entwickler des modernsten Kampfflugzeuges der Welt (F-22 Raptor). Also darf man diese Ankündigung schon ernst nehmen.
Vielleicht hat man ja tatsächlich dort ein revolutionäres Design entdeckt. Man darf gespannt sein.
[...]
The CFR will avoid these issues by tackling plasma confinement in a radically different way. Instead of constraining the plasma within tubular rings, a series of superconducting coils will generate a new magnetic-field geometry in which the plasma is held within the broader confines of the entire reaction chamber. Superconducting magnets within the coils will generate a magnetic field around the outer border of the chamber. “So for us, instead of a bike tire expanding into air, we have something more like a tube that expands into an ever-stronger wall,” McGuire says. The system is therefore regulated by a self-tuning feedback mechanism, whereby the farther out the plasma goes, the stronger the magnetic field pushes back to contain it. The CFR is expected to have a beta limit ratio of one. “We should be able to go to 100% or beyond,” he adds.
[...]
The team acknowledges that the project is in its earliest stages, and many key challenges remain before a viable prototype can be built. However, McGuire expects swift progress. The Skunk Works mind-set and “the pace that people work at here is ridiculously fast,” he says. “We would like to get to a prototype in five generations. If we can meet our plan of doing a design-build-test generation every year, that will put us at about five years, and we’ve already shown we can do that in the lab.” The prototype would demonstrate ignition conditions and the ability to run for upward of 10 sec. in a steady state after the injectors, which will be used to ignite the plasma, are turned off. “So it wouldn’t be at full power, like a working concept reactor, but basically just showing that all the physics works,” McGuire says.
Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details | Technology content from Aviation Week
Es soll also nicht nur ein funktionierender Kernfusionsreaktor sein, sondern auch noch ein sehr kleiner. Sollte dieses Design tatsächlich funktionieren, würde das nicht nur die Energieprobleme lösen, sondern das Leben der Menschen so grundlegend verändern, wie es bisher keine einzelne Erfindung geschafft hat. Eine solche kompakte und kraftvolle Energiequelle würde ganz neue Dinge ermöglichen: Der Bau von Raumschiffen wäre möglich, die schnell alle Planeten des Sonnensstems erreichen können, oder der Bau von Flugzeugen, die quasi niemals landen müssen. Selbst fliegende Städte wären denkbar.
Und es ist immerhin Lockheed Martin, eines der führenden Rüstungsunternehmen der Welt und Entwickler des modernsten Kampfflugzeuges der Welt (F-22 Raptor). Also darf man diese Ankündigung schon ernst nehmen.
Vielleicht hat man ja tatsächlich dort ein revolutionäres Design entdeckt. Man darf gespannt sein.
