Thread: Game changer

David, there's a very long way to go to get to anywhere near the kind of things you've mentioned. Once an economical method of creating fusion has been developed, all that will do will be to provide a source of heat to be used to create power, just the same as in a nuclear reactor and power station or a coal or gas fired power station. The end result will be electricity produced in a power station. Until the day scientists can minimise nuclear fusion into the size of a car battery or an iPad, car batteries will still need to be bought and charged. The only thing that will change will be the economics of power production and perhaps some reduction in pollution. It will be limited in scope. Only a a few countries in the world will be able to develop nuclear fusion. The rest will carry on using the same methods as now.

I think we're only about 10-15 years away from plug in electric being mainstream transportation.

I'm planning on buying a Zero motorcycle in the foreseeable future.

But also e-bicycle technology is very interesting.

home page - e-bike, electric bicycle systems | ridebionx.come-bike, electric bicycle systems | ridebionx.com

Originally Posted by Neverna

David, there's a very long way to go to get to anywhere near the kind of things you've mentioned. Once an economical method of creating fusion has been developed, all that will do will be to provide a source of heat to be used to create power, just the same as in a nuclear reactor and power station or a coal or gas fired power station. The end result will be electricity produced in a power station. Until the day scientists can minimise nuclear fusion into the size of a car battery or an iPad, car batteries will still need to be bought and charged. The only thing that will change will be the economics of power production and perhaps some reduction in pollution. It will be limited in scope. Only a a few countries in the world will be able to develop nuclear fusion. The rest will carry on using the same methods as now.

True, fusion will only produce heat. But they have talked about using fusion blocks the size of a trailer producing 100MW and that can be used as a plug in replacement in existing powerplants. Not like present nuclear plants that need to be built from scratch.

They also talked about it being safe enough that it can be given to anyone. It could drive ships and maybe even large airplanes. With electric cars and batteries getting better it could be a solution for most transportation needs.

A game changer if not world future changer.

Provided they can get it to work at all.

Copied this post from the fossile fuel thread.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

I have looked around some more. Plenty of sceptic responses.

However Lockheed Martin is not quiet about it. They sound really confident.

Here a link to their own website.

Compact Fusion · Lockheed Martin



This is how small they think their fusion reactor can be. To be sure this is just their reactor. Turbine and generator are extra, but still, very compact power.

It’s no secret that our Skunk Works® team often finds itself on the cutting edge of technology. As they work to develop a source of infinite energy, our engineers are looking to the biggest natural fusion reactor for inspiration – the sun. By containing the power of the sun in a small magnetic bottle, we are on the fast track to developing nuclear fusion reactors to serve the world’s ever-growing energy needs.

Rapid design cycles allow for less conservative design choices, faster consideration of alternatives, less capital, and the ability to maintain momentum moving forward with constant progress.

To mimic the energy created by the sun and control it here on earth, we’re creating a concept that can be contained using a magnetic bottle. The bottle is able to handle extremely hot temperatures, reaching hundreds of millions of degrees. By containing this reaction, we can release it in a controlled fashion to create energy we can use.

The heat energy created using this compact fusion reactor will drive turbine generators by replacing the combustion chambers with simple heat exchangers. In turn, the turbines will then generate electricity or the propulsive power for a number of applications.

I want to add that this is not totally out of the blue. The basic concept is Polywell Fusion. Other teams are working on it, too. The way LockMart is publishing it now could make one think they believe others may be close to a breakthrough.

Possible Hype or hoax?

Remember the Fleishman and Pons Cold Fusion debacle?

New Energy Times - The Mistakes of Pons and Fleischmann

Originally Posted by bowie

Possible Hype or hoax?

Remember the Fleishman and Pons Cold Fusion debacle?

New Energy Times - The Mistakes of Pons and Fleischmann

I remember it well. I was even lucky enough to talk about it with some people at the Hahn/Meitner Institut in Berlin. That institute is one of the top outfits worldwide on Neutron research. They were very sceptical and with good reason, not even necessarily a hoax but it was a thing that scientists can get easily wrong.

But this is different. Cold Fusion was and is out of present day science. It has no theoretical base. Fusion is not. Hype, yes. But why would Lockheed Martin involve itself that strongly in a hoax? The group of young scientists at skunkworks can only ruin their careers with a hoax, nothing to gain.

^ True, but I'm surprised they are talking about it.
Skunkworks do the impossible and you generally only find out about it 10 years after the fact.

Originally Posted by Necron99

^ True, but I'm surprised they are talking about it.
Skunkworks do the impossible and you generally only find out about it 10 years after the fact.

They are not the only ones working on that basic principle. Google "Polywell Fusion". They may have the impresssion, others are shortly before a breakthrough too.

Sometimes it is just that the time is up for such a breakthrough and any number of groups can be the first.