Lockheed Breakthrough on Fusion Engine

[Paranormalcy]

"Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project"

(Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.

http://www.reuters.c...N0I41EM20141015

That is so awesome! Man, we could really start moving up the Tech Level ladder into the real future!

(PS to Mods, I put "engine" in the thread title accidentally instead of energy)

Edited October 15, 2014 by Paranormalcy

[Imaginarynumber1]

webpage not available....

[DieChecker]

http://news.yahoo.co...6--finance.html

Googled the text....

deuterium-tritium fuel

Problem is both of those are exceedingly hard to come by. So much so that they are not a practical source of energy for anything other then limited government or corporate projects.

A kilogram of heavy water is $1000. And Tritium is an order of magnitude harder to get a hold of.

Edited October 15, 2014 by DieChecker

[Imaginarynumber1]

http://news.yahoo.co...6--finance.html

Googled the text....

Didn't feel like interneting

[Capt.]

I cannot get the page to open either.

[pallidin]

Yeah, Googling the text got me right there...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-lockheed-fusion-idUSKCN0I41EM20141015

[Capt.]

Try: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/15/lockheed-breakthrough-nuclear-fusion-energy?CMP=fb_gu

[bison]

Washington Post article, including video, on this reported breakthrough in fusion energy, linked below. Given that fusion energy can produce 10 million times as much power with a given fuel mass, as compared to fossil fuels, it will probably prove to be economically practical.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-business/wp/2014/10/15/nuclear-fusion-energy-in-a-decade-lockheed-martin-is-betting-on-it/

Edited October 16, 2014 by bison

[Merc14]

I wish them luck but it sounds like all they have invented is a theoretical working model and a prototype is at least 5 years away with hopes for a working unit in a decade. Haven't we heard this all before with fusion power? The proverbial decade away forever syndrome rears its ugly head again.

Some more info for those interested http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/192126-lockheed-says-itll-make-a-truck-sized-fusion-reactor-within-10-years

Edited October 16, 2014 by Merc14

[danielost]

its too big., we still need an engine that fits inside a car.

[DONTEATUS]

Calling Badeskov`s , Calling Badeskov`s ! Your a Lockeed guy right? What says you mate ? Is this just a sales pitch to raise stk`s ? Or is it on the Up& Up ? justDONTEATUS

[Leonardo]

Calling Badeskov`s , Calling Badeskov`s ! Your a Lockeed guy right? What says you mate ? Is this just a sales pitch to raise stk`s ? Or is it on the Up& Up ? justDONTEATUS

I'm in agreement with you in being a bit skeptical as to the 'reality' of this project. LM is potentially facing heavy losses with it's very delayed and cost-overrunning F-35 project and this announcement might only be a bit of 'advertising' to boost it's image.

[Mikenator]

Wow I thought this was already done before its just messed how far behind we are. In the cartoon the jetsons the year they live in is 2010 because the guy who made the show said that he believed by 2010 everyone would have all that future technology in the cartoon but we don't have any of it and in back to the future they go to the future year 2015 that's less than a year away and we don't have none of the stuff they do in the movie it's almost like we're going backwards as slow as we're advancing.

[RedOctober]

We will never see this technology because of "big oil".

[Uncle Sam]

I wonder if an nuclear reactor and fusion reactor can be combined to create an continuous flow of energy. Fusion and breaking down... can hydrogen be used in nuclear reactions?

[bubblykiss]

The seawater engine coming online in around 10yeas and now this....this though is a holy grail technology and until I see a working model I am reluctant to experience the excitement and unending of joy virtually free power....

However a major company announcing it moves me to a thrilling place of euphoric delight. But, again, I need more information.

[paperdyer]

http://news.yahoo.co...6--finance.html

Googled the text....

Problem is both of those are exceedingly hard to come by. So much so that they are not a practical source of energy for anything other then limited government or corporate projects.

A kilogram of heavy water is $1000. And Tritium is an order of magnitude harder to get a hold of.

Yeah, but wouldn't it be cool. Tritium from lithum could be "trilithium"? .

[Whatsinausername]

So if they have it on paper, why are they mucking around? Just build the thing.

[u2canbfmj]

Pfft...we had mr fusion since the 80s

[switchopens]

The Lockheed Martin Press release hasn't said it was a "breakthrough". This word was used in the Reuters press release and those using it from it's source. Since the word "breakthrough" seems to be thrown around loosely, we still have this hazy understanding of their progress. The big thing that they want you to know is that they have made progress and that they are banking on the outcome within 5 years. An actual scientist might be furious at making these statements since this probably more of a marketing/PR move and may be quite deceptive. The real breakthrough I would think, comes in the form of a packaged, ready-to-go prototype. Who knows though. Maybe it's red tape holding them up.

[Merc14]

The Lockheed Martin Press release hasn't said it was a "breakthrough". This word was used in the Reuters press release and those using it from it's source. Since the word "breakthrough" seems to be thrown around loosely, we still have this hazy understanding of their progress. The big thing that they want you to know is that they have made progress and that they are banking on the outcome within 5 years. An actual scientist might be furious at making these statements since this probably more of a marketing/PR move and may be quite deceptive. The real breakthrough I would think, comes in the form of a packaged, ready-to-go prototype. Who knows though. Maybe it's red tape holding them up.

Good points. Sooner or later we will have fusion power. Here is to it being sooner!

[DieChecker]

The cheaper deuterium, which can be collected from water, is basically left over from the Big Bang. Once used it is gone. We can make it sure, but the cost outweighs the profit.

Basically, this isn't free energy. It is exceedingly expensive energy. Which may be cheaper for a short while till we drain it out of the oceans.

[Erikl]

There's one big, giant question that hasn't been answered in this article or others related to this story. Does this new method achieve "break-even"? To understand it a little bit, fusion isn't that complicated to achieve. Humans can produce artificial fusion since 1950s, by an uncontrolled thermonuclear bomb (also known as hydrogen/H-Bomb).

Since then, science is working hard on creating a controllable fusion reaction so that safe, clean (depending on which type of fusion used) cheap energy.

Many methods exist today, some as cheap as 20,000$ devices that can be built by an high school student (google up "fusor fusion"), some are as huge as a whole factory and cost billions of dollars and require hundreds of people to maintain (ie Tokamak devices).

The problem with all of those methods is that in order to achieve fusion, more energy is put in to sustain the fusion reaction than we can get out of. The holy grail of technology would be a controllable fusion reaction that achieves at least as much as energy as is put in - that is called break-even. That, to my knowledge, hasn't been achieved yet. That would be the breakthrough we look for.

[Merc14]

There's one big, giant question that hasn't been answered in this article or others related to this story. Does this new method achieve "break-even"? To understand it a little bit, fusion isn't that complicated to achieve. Humans can produce artificial fusion since 1950s, by an uncontrolled thermonuclear bomb (also known as hydrogen/H-Bomb).

Since then, science is working hard on creating a controllable fusion reaction so that safe, clean (depending on which type of fusion used) cheap energy.

Many methods exist today, some as cheap as 20,000$ devices that can be built by an high school student (google up "fusor fusion"), some are as huge as a whole factory and cost billions of dollars and require hundreds of people to maintain (ie Tokamak devices).

The problem with all of those methods is that in order to achieve fusion, more energy is put in to sustain the fusion reaction than we can get out of. The holy grail of technology would be a controllable fusion reaction that achieves at least as much as energy as is put in - that is called break-even. That, to my knowledge, hasn't been achieved yet. That would be the breakthrough we look for.

From the video it seems they have tweaked the magnetic fields of several devices to get near perfect efficiency so containment can be done is a smaller space and at lower energy costs so I am assuming they are expecting to get much more than break-even. We'll know in 5years I guess

[Karasu]

Fusion powered kitchens. Hooray, TACOS FOR ALL!