Lifeboat Foundation

The old joke about fusion is that it is 30 years from becoming a reality — and that’s been the case for the last 50 years or more. It’s a joke that may quickly be reaching its sell-by date.

And a good thing too. The promise of fusion is near-unlimited energy that produces almost no waste.

Continue reading “Meet the Reactors Accelerating Us Toward Fusion Energy” »

Researchers have developed a new way to explore some of the most extreme environments in the universe by combining three separate branches of physics.

A Russian rocket engine company, with the assistance of a major research and development institute, will work on a project to create a powerful electrodeless plasma rocket engine, Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation said Wednesday.

The project will be developed by the Kurchatov Institute, Russia’s leading research and development institution in the field of nuclear energy, and the Chemical Automatics Design Bureau (CADB).

“The project involves the development of a new-generation electrodeless plasma engine. It is a high-power engine using fuel in a plasma state. It has a high energy efficiency, an ability to use almost any kind of rocket fuel… and its maximum engine power is limited only by the power supply of a high-frequency generator,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

Continue reading “Russia to Create New Powerful Plasma Rocket Engine” »

Interesting…

The SETI concepts now called ‘Dysonian’ are to my mind some of the most exhilarating ideas in the field. Dysonian SETI gets its name from the ‘Dyson spheres’ and ‘Dyson swarms’ analyzed by Freeman Dyson in a 1960 paper. This is a technology that an advanced civilization might use to harvest the energy of its star. You can see how this plays off Nikolai Kardashev’s classification of civilizations; Kardashev suggested that energy use is a way to describe civilizations at the broadest level. A Type II society is one that can use all the energy of its star.

In the film 2010, director Peter Hyams’ 1984 adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2010: Odyssey Two (Del Rey, 1982), we see an instance of this kind of technology at work, though it has nothing to do with a Dyson sphere. In the film, a dark patch appearing on Jupiter signals the onset of what Martyn Fogg has called ‘stellification,’ the conversion of a gas giant into a small star. Rapidly replicating von Neumann machines — the famous monoliths — increase Jupiter’s density enroute to triggering nuclear fusion.

Continue reading “Making Jupiter into a Star” »

Russia has agreed to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier jointly with India.

According to sources close to the Indian Navy, Kremlin recently sent a letter to the Indian Defence Ministry in which the offer was made. A senior Navy officer told the press: “A Russian military delegation offered India the Project 23000E ‘Storm’ (E stands for export-oriented, Eksportny) heavy aircraft carrier several weeks ago.” The officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the Narendra Modi government was considering the offer and would make a final decision soon.

Speaking at a press conference in the Indian capital a couple of days ago, the officer said: “The surface combatant is known to have a full displacement of about 100,000 tonnes and a price of about USD 5.7 billion. The proposed carrier has been jointly developed by the Krylov State Research Centre (KGNC) and the Nevskoye Design Bureau (NPKB), a subsidiary of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. The building of the Project 23300 ‘Storm’ aircraft carrier is supposed to take about 10–11 years.”

Continue reading “Russia Ready To Build Nuke-Powered Aircraft Carrier For India” »

The concept of nuclear fusion is definitely a reliable and sustainable option to meet the energy needs of the world without fossil fuels. There are several scientists who will suggest this as a beneficial option. Nuclear Fusion is a method of fusing together the atomic nuclei. It can produce vast amount energy with only a small amount of fuel. It can prove to be really beneficial if control of the method is perfected. It will take only a small number of small fusion power stations to provide sufficient energy for the whole world. It will also ensure no harmful emissions at all. The Audi Mesarthim F Tron Quattro concept is a nuclear powered car imagined by Grigory Gorin, a Russian car designer.

The Russian car designer imagined this amazing concept of providing power to a car by harnessing nuclear fusion. The fusion reactor along with the attached plasma injectors can be seen in the middle of this Audi concept car. The equipments required to generate the steam are packaged around them. The heat of the reactor is used which spins a turbine that connected to a generator. The generator charges the batteries that are located at the front and alongside of the Audi Mesarthim F Tron Quattro concept. The batteries power the electric motors (wheel mounted).

Continue reading “Audi Mesarthim F Tron Quattro concept supercar that is powered with nuclear fusion” »

China aims to launch a series of offshore nuclear power platforms to promote development in the South China Sea, state media said again on Friday, days after an international court ruled Beijing had no historic claims to most of the waters.

Sovereignty over the South China Sea is contested by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, and any move to build nuclear reactors is bound to stoke further tension in the region.

The China Securities Journal said 20 offshore nuclear platforms could eventually be built in the region as the country seeks to “speed up the commercial development” of the South China Sea.

Continue reading “China Might Float Nuclear Reactors in Disputed Waters” »

North american leaders set goals to mitigate climate change.

President Obama, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada and President Peña Nieto of Mexico met in Ottawa on Wednesday, agreeing on goals and targets to lower emissions, raise efficiency and bring better protections to the environment.

Renewables, nuclear and carbon capture and storage technology will be on the table to help North Americans meet their goal of 50 percent clean, emissions-free energy by 2025.

Continue reading “Half Of North America’s Electricity Will Be Emissions-Free By 2025” »

To start a fusion reaction, you have to create extreme conditions. A combination of stellar temperatures, incredible pressures and lightning-quick energy dumps have all been tried to create these conditions, with varying degrees of success.

In this post, we’ll look at a low-cost, low-energy method of achieving nuclear fusion. It’s not Cold Fusion, it’s Gun Fusion.

Understanding what’s difficult

Continue reading “Gun Fusion: Two barrels to the stars” »