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Impluse Engines to be a reality by 2030?

Vito Corleone

Vito Corleone

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Red Shirt
http://www.startrek.com/article/impluse-engines-to-be-a-reality-by-2030

Seems more realistic than the article I read on Fox News earlier today about NASA conducting a few table-top experiments with 'laser-induced micro spacewarps' or whatever they're going to be called. :wtf:

Still I like the idea of Impulse being available by 2030. That way, I'll live long enough to see people exploring the Solar System with relative ease, possibly even large-scale colonization of Mars, Luna, et al. :)

Also, from the article...

“The fusion fuel we’re focusing on is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure. That’s basically dilithium crystals we’re using.”
Click to expand...

So, Dilithium all this time was a man-made substance? Some kind of curious alloy that for some reason 23rd Century Humans had trouble making even though 21st Century Scientists seem quite confident in their abilities? Okay... :vulcan:
 
Li6 deuteride is the standard fuel for H-bombs. The first H-bomb used liquid fuel, and when the new solid-fuel weapon was succesfully tested the team sent the message "Why buy a cow when you've got powdered milk?"

In the article's picture of the test rig, you'll notice very large hex head nuts on the back of the engine. Real deep-space engines require big nuts, and that's why the Air Force seargent at Stargate Command is always walking around with the big crescent wrench.
 
Similar news
http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/09/the-fusion-driven-rocket-nuclear.html
http://www.gizmodo.com/5921673/nucl...-a-spacecraft-to-mars-in-just-weeks?tag=space
http://uah.edu/news/items/10-research/2501-slapshot-to-deep-space
http://www.universetoday.com/95991/new-flying-tea-kettle-could-get-us-to-mars-in-weeks-not-months/
http://www.bautforum.com/showthread...tle”-Could-Get-Us-To-Mars-in-Weeks-Not-Months
https://plus.google.com/u/0/105704136900260060076/posts
http://www.csnr.usra.edu/

More on the Z-pinch
http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/07/washington-plasma-startup-creates-euv.html#more

gturner said:
In the article's picture of the test rig, you'll notice very large hex head nuts on the back of the engine. Real deep-space engines require big nuts, and that's why the Air Force seargent at Stargate Command is always walking around with the big crescent wrench.
Click to expand...

Speaking about fasteners, who ever came up with pop rivets should have been hanged.
 
Not really surprising, ground-based fusion should be producing power around the same time.

RAMA
 
Interesting to see where studies like this are going. Saw ones recently of tractor beams, transporters and warp drive.

Someone even mentioned they are considering building a "Enterprise-like" ship in some form of space-dock a bit further out from the ISS.

Actually there are plans to start building space docks on the Moon too - easier to build there, and a hell of a lot less gravity to blast off from, in the long run very plausable, just the getting the stuff there first is the only issue.
 
^Oh god please, not that stupid "build the Enterprise" crap again. That guy's a loon.

Where did you read about building "space docks on the moon"? Not gonna happen in any near future time frame if at all. Why build them in a gravity field when you can put them in orbit?

Reynolds said:
Don't current satellites have impulse thrusters? Low power ones I think.
Click to expand...
Hall effect ion thrusters have been used on some satellites in recent years for station keeping. They're not the same as fictional "impulse engines".
 
Ion drive is what they used in Spock's Brain. Problem is, the impulse is actually better than ion power, so I am going to say that Scotty's mention was of I.O.N. power--with that being an abbreviation of something.

In real life, ion power is good for slowly building speed. Not useful for lifting off surfaces.
 
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