I guess it would be like mining chalk.
Carbon-free fusion power could be ‘on the grid in 15 years’
- Thread starter Snaploud
- Start date
I guess it would be like mining chalk.
Fusion is all good and well but at the moment I'd be more interested in Thorium fission, much cleaner than using Uranium/Plutonium and since it already is molten you can't have a meltdown... also Thorium would last a long time.. maybe even all those ten years before fusion is real predictions.. 
Fusion is all good and well but at the moment I'd be more interested in Thorium fission, much cleaner than using Uranium/Plutonium and since it already is molten you can't have a meltdown... also Thorium would last a long time.. maybe even all those ten years before fusion is real predictions..
Thorium has a high melting point, higher than Iron!!
Where do you get that it's "already molten"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor#Safety
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power#Possible_benefits
"Liquid fluoride thorium reactors are designed to be meltdown proof. A plug at the bottom of the reactor melts in the event of a power failure or if temperatures exceed a set limit, draining the fuel into an underground tank for safe storage."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power#Possible_benefits
"Liquid fluoride thorium reactors are designed to be meltdown proof. A plug at the bottom of the reactor melts in the event of a power failure or if temperatures exceed a set limit, draining the fuel into an underground tank for safe storage."
Well, that's good to know.
Clearly this was designed by a person that never needed to unclog a bathtub.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-nuclear-fusion-device-smaller
U. of Washington researchers have achieved fusion with a very small Z Pinch device (five microsecond burst, not a sustained breakeven, but remarkable: this machine can fit on a table top. It also looks like that light tube thingy prop seen in some Trek movies and later. Got to have the light tube prop thingy.
On the more serious side this means it suddenly becomes much easier for universities to make fusion laboratories, study plasma containment and improve the technology.
U. of Washington researchers have achieved fusion with a very small Z Pinch device (five microsecond burst, not a sustained breakeven, but remarkable: this machine can fit on a table top. It also looks like that light tube thingy prop seen in some Trek movies and later. Got to have the light tube prop thingy.
On the more serious side this means it suddenly becomes much easier for universities to make fusion laboratories, study plasma containment and improve the technology.
Too bad the earth is going to end in 10 years; why bother with this?
My my aren't we a tad pessimistic there eh?
If you were Louis the Sixteen walking up the stairs to the guillotine would you make plans for dinner?
My my aren't we a tad pessimistic there eh?
I think we have more than 10 years--that's the Green New Deal hype. Earth survived 65-66 Myr ago, it will survive us.
My pessimism comes from--how times have we heard "fusion power is only 20 years away," again?
That curse works.
Sort of how (before Elon) all we ever saw about space privatization was Gary Hudson's curse of death on any project--and a bunch of sub-orbital bootstrappers thinking--make a toy--get some press--get more investors. Make a bigger toy--make even nicer glossy hand outs--and so on up to orbit.
Even seeing the absolute miracle of Falcon Heavy--I still don't really believe it.
But I digress.
Last edited:
Much more than that actually.
Not sure about that. Ten seconds before it turned into a field of radioactive debris, Hiroshima had a nice quiet sunny summer day ahead of it.
The trouble is if we humans keep warring like we seem to be fond of doing there comes a point where we will have a war that quite literally will render this planet unfit for any life. We are excellent at inventing ways to destroy ourselves and every other living thing around us.
I am become death, destroyer of worlds...
Yep - we need to make some serious changes.
Yep - we need to make some serious changes.
As someone who has talked to Gary Hudson, really,, you chose to name drop him in a negative way? Seems really unfair to me. That man has done more getting us off this rock than a millionth of what most people will try. Yes, there were a lot of people trying hard to do what Musk did and a lot of them weren't successful at it. Some of them, like Hudson, are still trying. Im not taking away anything from what Musk did, but the idea for it came from everyone who spend money and bent metal before him. Hudson, Burnside Clapp, John Carmack, Beale (if Beale had stayed in the ring a year or two longer we might not even know who Musk is), the OTRAG team, and too many other people to count: they all were maybe too early or tried ideas they were too far out. It's funny though, some of those ideas ARE in play now. And the ideas behind Hudson's TSpace certainly seem to be finding uses in companies like Virgin and AirLaunch. I would go so far to say that Rotary Rocket was such a novel and imaginative idea it started a lot of future engineers and others to get involved in aerospace.
The entire industry is revitalized and a lot of it comes from those daring attempts in the 90's that did no pay out, but set things in motion. I've seen it first hand. You have to be willing to try new ideas now or you will ultimately be worth the sum of your worthwhile patents when the bigger fish come to buy you up.
I'm not taking anything away from what Elon Musk has accomplished. He's partly succeeded because he hasn't went for revolutionary designs that hampered everyone else. He went instead for controlling costs and supply line and developing a good reliable design. The initial work for the Merlins came from NASA's Fastrac program, a good deal of work on VTVL came from Delta Clipper X, the engine test equipment from Beale, etc. The more revolutionary designs from SpaceX has always been hinted at, and until the BFR was first shown, it wasn't apparent just how serious they were at changing the game entirely.
But I suspect we'll know tomorrow that the tortoise has some plans for that hare. 5-9-19
It is about unlucky streaks. I'm talking out of sympathy here:
Blasted DC-X has a landing leg issue and blows up. Now everyone thinks Elon invented powered landings of vehicles of size.
It wasn't Gary's fault. I'm sure he is a great guy. It is just for years, everything the poor man did, came of naught.
Same with me.
Many many years ago, I had problems with this Ford Fairmont. I worked at night and slept through the day. I begged my Dad to get it fixed, and he never would. He then used that car to visit his late brother's family, driving all the way from Alabama to Indiana. He was going to show me there was nothing wrong with that car. He had no issues with it of course.
But the day after he gets back with it--I decided to go to McDonald's to get a hamburger. The french fries are either the best, or the worst--but on this day they were piping hot. Let me try to drive back--and the damn thing just quits. And it doesn't crank back up.
Food cold...car towed.
"What did you do to it?"
"What do you mean what did I do to it? I drove it"
"Boy, you're a jinx."
I just think Gary and I share the same guardian angel...the one with the drinking problem. Nothing seems to work for either one of us.
Elon is the golden boy--the wunderkind. Some people have a shine--and some don't.
No, I hear you.
Now Beale...I was disappointed in more than anytone else. That BA-2 was going to rival the SRB in terms of thrust--true heir to Truax.
That's Atropos and her "abhorred shears" again.
Last edited:
Yep.
I think there could be some differences drawn between Musk and Beale in interesting way.
Beale is a mathematician and a poker player. Musk may be more of an idealist. He started SpaceX to colonize mars. Beale started Beale Aerospace to.. I'm not sure beyond building a successful space start-up, which is a big enough goal in itself. But dreams are powerful stuff and it kept Musk going at it until he finally had that first successful Kwaj launch. It was a gutsy move, and if it had not succeeded, he'd only be remembered by us weirdos that keep track of this stuff. Beale saw the odds and pulled his chips away early. He might have failed spectacularly. Or he might be lighting the sky with Beale rockets now.
Would Beale Aerospace become innovative and industry changing like SpaceX or would it have become a niche player living off the occasional juicy contract like OSC? side note Would OSC even have survived if Kistler Rocketplane had not lost their COTS contract and allowed OSC a new business? As it's owned by a former employer of mine now, it's moot, and I don't want to jinx myself if i ever come back. Yes. I am paranoid.
