Presented January 2014 at the 52nd Aerospace Sciences Meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics by Robert A. McDonald, California Polytechnic State University.
Background
Cold Fusion – A Disruptive Energy Source – UK Defence Report – pg 92
A novel, efficient form of energy generation could be developed that rapidly lowers demand for hydrocarbons.
For example, the development of commercially available cold fusion reactors could result in the rapid economic marginalization of oil-rich states.
This loss of status and income in undiversified economies could lead to state-failure and provide opportunities for extremist groups to rise in influence.
What is the thinking behind the UK report, which warns of threats that commercially available cold fusion reactors may bring?
Adopt a Noble Defence Strategy
The UK Ministry of Defence should question itself and its’ thinking. Meta-consciousness requires, “Why am I thinking what I’m thinking and are there faulty premises leading me astray?”
The UK Ministry of Defence would benefit by reading Jed Rothwell’s Cold Fusion May Have Revolutionary Potential [.pdf]. They will find how Winston Churchill’s thought processes differed from theirs, and then, after much deliberation, the Ministry will most likely consider adopting their esteemed countryman’s outlook on the potential (benefits not threats) of clean abundant hydrogen fusion for securing our global, national, and environmental future; a ‘Noble Defence Strategy’ out to 2040 and beyond.
“Nuclear energy is incomparably greater than the molecular energy which we use today.”
“If the hydrogen atoms in a pound of water could be prevailed upon to combine together and form helium, they would suffice to drive a thousand-horsepower engine for a whole year…”
“There is no question among scientists that this gigantic source of energy exists…”
“The discovery and control of such sources of power would cause changes in human affairs incomparably greater than those produced by the steam-engine four generations ago. Schemes of cosmic magnitude would become feasible. Geography and climate would obey our orders. Fifty thousand tons of water, the amount displaced by the Berengaria, would, if exploited as described, suffice to shift Ireland to the middle of the Atlantic…
“Communications and transport by land, water and air would take unimaginable forms, if, as is in principle possible, we could make an engine of 600 horse-power, weighing 20 lb and carrying fuel for a thousand hours in a tank the size of a fountain-pen. Wireless telephones and television, following naturally upon their present path of development, would enable their owner to connect up with any room similarly installed, and hear and take part in the conversation as well as if he put his head in through the window. The congregation of men in cities would become superfluous…”
“If the gigantic new sources of power become available, food will be produced without recourse to sunlight. Vast cellars in which artificial radiation is generated may replace the cornfields or potato-patches of the world. Parks and gardens will cover our pastures and ploughed fields…”
“The cities and the countryside would become indistinguishable. Every home would have its garden and its glade…”
Improved Insight
The UK Ministry of Defence would also improve its’ outlook by reading the NASA Future Strategic Issues (circa 2025) report and begin thinking how we can use this technology to every ones advantage, creating universal wealth and prosperity, thereby removing most of the reasons nations go to war. It is imperative for the Defence Ministry to have an improved insight into the causes of strife in the world, and solutions, in order to prevent the horrors of future forms of warfare.
“In this [Worldwide] economy our ability to create wealth is not bounded by physical limits/resources but by our ability to come up with new ideas.”
However, even “universal wealth” will not obviate the other causes of warfare which include Politics, ”Face” (which include) Religion, Megalomania, and Territorial Disputes.
Summary
LENR energy will prove to be a boon for both oil rich and not-so-oil rich states, for both the haves and the have-nots. The energetics of cold fusion should bring more solutions than problems, and when applied correctly, all the world will benefit.
It’s time for the U.K Ministry of Defence to think along different lines. Only by envisioning the true potential of cold fusion will they begin applying it beneficently, creating a world that has greater security for all, a world that does not feel the need to ever go to war again. A ‘Noble Defence Strategy’ is required out to 2040 and beyond. Winston Churchill would approve and lead them in this if he were alive today.
Resources
I would like to thank Jed Rothwell for his excellent essay, which is where I found the Winston Churchill quotes.
Also, thanks extended to my friend A for sending me the UK Ministry of Defence report.
Cold Fusion May Have Revolutionary Potential – Jed Rothwell
Future Strategic Issues/Future Warfare [Circa 2025] – NASA
Global Strategic Trends – Out to 2040 – UK Ministry of Defence
The Borealis family of companies could convert popular cold fusion (LENR thermal) energy to desired electrical current at 50% to 80% Carnot efficiency with their Power Chips. This matches, and may nearly double, known industrial electricity production efficiencies.
Then with their Chorus group of advanced polyphase induction motors they can provide every range of torque needed; more efficiently, with decreased size and weight, and with an increase in reliability in both low rpm and high temperature conditions.
Take into account LENR thermal energy at 1000X greater than chemical, plus the thermal/electrical conversion at an amazing 50% to 80%, and then figure in the “harmonic 12 phase” motors with up to 30% improvements in size, efficiency, and safety, and you will see that the Borealis affiliates are roaring and ready to join LENR energy engineers as they race to market a new energy era.
LENR open source projects may benefit from a Borealis relationship as well.
Here is a recent patent abstract from Borealis on LENR thermal electric conversion.
“A system and method are provided for generating electric power from relatively low temperature energy sources at efficiency levels not previously available. The present system and method employ recent advances in low energy nuclear reaction technology and thermionic/thermotunneling device technology first to generate heat and then to convert a substantial portion of the heat generated to usable electrical power. Heat may be generated by a LENR system employing nuclear reactions that occur in readily available materials at ambient temperatures without a high energy input requirement and do not produce radioactive byproducts. The heat generated by the LENR system may be transferred through one or more thermionic converter devices in heat transfer relationship with the LENR system to generate electric power.”
Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, could be rubbed with cat’s fur to create static electricity. In 1600, the English scientist William Gilbert coined the New Latin word electricus ‘of amber’ or ‘like amber’ from ήλεκτρον [elektron], the Greek word for amber. This association gave rise to the English words ‘electric’ and ‘electricity’ which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646.
“Industrial electricity production at present is done primarily with gas and steam turbine technology. Absolute conversion efficiencies with these technologies are in the range of 30%-40%…” see pg. 9 of ‘Thermal to Electric Energy Conversion‘, by Dr Peter Hagelstein of MIT.
In light of this, one could venture to say that the Borealis proposal to the LENR energy community, at an impressive 50% to 80% thermal electric conversion, is like a precious energetic gem of amber (elektron).
Electricity is one of the wonders of our times, enabling the second industrial revolution as well as the information and space age. How dense will the proposed Borealis LENR electricity be at 60% Carnot? Let’s look at the size of the 6 kilowatt LENR thermoionic electrical generator (75 cubic centimeters). It is quite small compared to the size of a typical 6 kilowatt natural gas home electrical generator, 48L x 25W x 29H (Inches).
The Borealis affiliates have worked hard to master these technologies. Recent breakthroughs have come to them through advanced techniques of nano engineering. Their discoveries within the world of nano particles has lead to atomic architecture designed for specific quantum effects. For a complete representation of their expertise in the field peruse their sites portfolio of patents granted and google Borealis Technical for recent patent activity.
“The new technology results from the discovery that quantum interference, which reduces quantum state density at a material’s surface, can be achieved on a macroscopic scale. Simply by modifying the surface texture of a material in precise ways, using methods commonly applied in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, engineers should be able to exploit this Avto Effect (TM) and transform existing materials into materials with precisely engineered properties for many new applications. When we fully understand the Avto Effect, we could possibly be able to custom design work functions for multiple different applications.” – Borealis CEO – press release
Manufacturing of electric cars, ships, and aircraft will surge with an electric power plant of this density available; one that requires no fuel tanks or refueling for 6 months!
These manufacturers may also gain an edge with the use of Borealis advanced harmonics control and the ensuing advantages within motors. The following is from the Borealis website.
“The Chorus Motor’s patented employment of electrical drive harmonics unlocks a power-to-weight ratio of almost 10:1 over conventional AC induction solutions. This incredible power density, and the use of patented control logic, allows the motor to function efficiently in both low-speed/high-torque and high-speed/low-torque configurations. In other words Chorus handles very fast starts and ‘power jumps’ as well as smooth, continuous high-speed operation with equal elegance.”
“As a high-phase order motor, the amount of current running through each phase is reduced, enabling a 20-30% reduction in the size and weight of the power electronics module.”
From the Borealis Chorus Motor Patent
Borealis LENR Patent - Published Nov. 14, 2013 Method and System for High Efficiency Electricity Generation Using Low Energy Thermal Heat Generation and Thermionic Devices
Borealis Power Chip Patent - Granted Sept. 24, 2013 Thermionic/Thermotunneling Thermo-Electrical Converter
Borealis Chorus Motor Patent - Granted April 25, 2000 Polyphase Induction Electrical Rotating Machine
All over the world, engineers hold the “Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer” in high regard. It was written and presented by Kipling in the early 1920 ‘s, at the request of a group of seven retired presidents of the Engineering Institute of Canada. They had decided that there needed to be a ceremony and standard of ethics for graduating engineers. The Corporation of the Seven Wardens administers the oath to this day.
“The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer has been instituted with the simple end of directing the young engineer towards a consciousness of his profession and its significance, and indicating to the older engineer his responsibilities in receiving, welcoming and supporting the young engineers in their beginnings.” — Rudyard Kipling
Advances in well engineered physical constructs have improved living conditions since the time of Kipling. Excellence in engineering has become the standard of our day. Recent social constructs have also improved life since the days of Kipling. His poems often reflect the harshness of life before the advent of the 40 hour work week, minimum wage standards, and workplace safety and child labor laws.
Perhaps with the era that cold fusion ushers in we will see our social engineers making the quantum leap that our physical engineers are making today. They did so in the Victorian era.
Honoring those who ensure that all things are in working order and engineered correctly; penned during the writing of the “Ritual of the Calling of the Engineer”.
This poem alludes to the the division of the labor and privileged classes of his day.
The Sons of Martha – by Rudyard Kipling
The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary’s Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest.
It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by land and main.
They say to mountains, ‘Be ye removed’. They say to the lesser floods, ‘Be dry’.
Under their rods are the rocks reproved – they are not afraid of that which is high.
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit – then is the bed of the deep laid bare,
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware.
They finger death at their gloves’ end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall,
And hale him forth like a haltered steer, and goad and turn him till evenfall.
To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matter hidden, under the earthline their altars are;
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a city drouth.
They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before the nuts work loose.
They do not teach that His Pity allows them to leave their work when they damn-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand.
Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren’s days may be long in the land.
Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat:
Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that:
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need.
And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed, they know the angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet – they hear the Word – they see how truly the Promise Runs:
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and – the Lord He lays it on Martha’s Sons.
Thales, the earliest known researcher into electricity
Long before any knowledge of electricity existed people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BC referred to these fish as the “Thunderer of the Nile”, and described them as the “protectors” of all other fish. Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic naturalists and physicians. Several ancient writers, such as Pliny the Elder and Scribonius Largus, attested to the numbing effect of electric shocks delivered by catfish and torpedo rays, and knew that such shocks could travel along conducting objects. Patients suffering from ailments such as gout or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them. Possibly the earliest and nearest approach to the discovery of the identity of lightning, and electricity from any other source, is to be attributed to the Arabs, who before the 15th century had the Arabic word for lightning (raad) applied to the electric ray.
Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, could be rubbed with cat’s fur to attract light objects like feathers. Thales of Miletos made a series of observations on static electricity around 600 BC, from which he believed that friction rendered amber magnetic, in contrast to minerals such as magnetite, which needed no rubbing. Thales was incorrect in believing the attraction was due to a magnetic effect, but later science would prove a link between magnetism and electricity. According to a controversial theory, the Parthians may have had knowledge of electroplating, based on the 1936 discovery of the Baghdad Battery, which resembles a galvanic cell, though it is uncertain whether the artifact was electrical in nature.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research on electricity in the 18th century, as documented by Joseph Priestley(1767) History and Present Status of Electricity, with whom Franklin carried on extended correspondence.
Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual curiosity for millennia until 1600, when the English scientist William Gilbert made a careful study of electricity and magnetism, distinguishing the lodestone effect from static electricity produced by rubbing amber. He coined the New Latin word electricus (“of amber” or “like amber”, from ήλεκτρον [elektron], the Greek word for “amber”) to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed. This association gave rise to the English words “electric” and “electricity”, which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646.
Further work was conducted by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray and C. F. du Fay. In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a metal key to the bottom of a dampened kite string and flown the kite in a storm-threatened sky. A succession of sparks jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that lightning was indeed electrical in nature. He also explained the apparently paradoxical behavior of theLeyden jar as a device for storing large amounts of electrical charge.
Michael Faraday formed the foundation of electric motor technology
In 1791, Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bioelectricity, demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which nerve cells passed signals to the muscles. Alessandro Volta’s battery, or voltaic pile, of 1800, made from alternating layers of zinc and copper, provided scientists with a more reliable source of electrical energy than the electrostatic machines previously used. The recognition of electromagnetism, the unity of electric and magnetic phenomena, is due to Hans Christian Ørsted and André-Marie Ampère in 1819-1820; Michael Faraday invented the electric motor in 1821, and Georg Ohm mathematically analysed the electrical circuit in 1827. Electricity and magnetism (and light) were definitively linked by James Clerk Maxwell, in particular in his “On Physical Lines of Force” in 1861 and 1862.
While the early 19th century had seen rapid progress in electrical science, the late 19th century would see the greatest progress in electrical engineering. Through such people as Alexander Graham Bell,Ottó Bláthy, Thomas Edison, Galileo Ferraris, Oliver Heaviside, Ányos Jedlik, Lord Kelvin, Sir Charles Parsons, Ernst Werner von Siemens, Joseph Swan, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, electricity turned from a scientific curiosity into an essential tool for modern life, becoming a driving force of the Second Industrial Revolution.In 1887, Heinrich Hertz discovered that electrodes illuminated with ultraviolet light create electric sparks more easily. In 1905 Albert Einstein published a paper that explained experimental data from the photoelectric effect as being the result of light energy being carried in discrete quantized packets, energizing electrons. This discovery led to the quantum revolution. Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921 for “his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”. The photoelectric effect is also employed in photocells such as can be found in solar panels and this is frequently used to make electricity commercially.
The first solid-state device was the “cat’s whisker” detector, first used in 1930s radio receivers. A whisker-like wire is placed lightly in contact with a solid crystal (such as a germanium crystal) in order to detect a radio signal by the contact junction effect. In a solid-state component, the current is confined to solid elements and compounds engineered specifically to switch and amplify it. Current flow can be understood in two forms: as negatively charged electrons, and as positively charged electron deficiencies called holes. These charges and holes are understood in terms of quantum physics. The building material is most often a crystalline semiconductor.The solid-state device came into its own with the invention of the transistor in 1947. Common solid-state devices include transistors, micro processor chips, and RAM. A specialized type of RAM called flash RAM is used in flash drives and more recently, solid state drives to replace mechanically rotating magnetic disc hard drives. Solid state devices became prevalent in the 1950s and the 1960s, during the transition from vacuum tube technology to semiconductor diodes, transistors, integrated circuit (IC) and the light-emitting diode (LED).
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” – Joni Mitchell
Ultimately we will want to do away with most pavement; considering that the fresh asphalt gassing off into our atmosphere is like millions of miles of tar sands being spread out yearly. Some even say asphalt is a rectal disorder and that roadways are a very primitive and destructive technology; it is thought to be an overly complicated and expensive travel infrastructure that is best done away with altogether. The first paving stones, so to speak, laid towards this end, were set in place in 2008 by the NASA contract envisioned within the Google CAFE Flight Foundation and the Cafe Flight Challenge. This may be as important as the NASA LENR Boeing 747 or the NASA SpaceWorks LENR Spaceplane contracts, which were initiated in 2007.
Imagine a world of personal transport and package delivery without roads, gridlock, or rush hour long traffic delays, no need for parking lots.
Tear up the pavement, create greenways which replace highways, paradise returned.
The folks bringing this dream to reality meet at the 8th Annual CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium, held April 25th and 26th, 2014, in Santa Rosa, California, an incredible gathering of experts and thought-leaders in the areas of electric- and sustainable-aviation. Highly educated impassioned volunteers and industry leaders power the Café Foundation. Google and NASA provide key technical and financial assistance.
Enabling concepts, which they are working with, have long included the energetics of low energy nuclear reactions, improved thermo/peizo electric conversion technology, advanced nano-tube “structural/airframe” energy storage, and supercomputer navigation capabilities. Dennis Bushnell helped forge the CAFE Flight Foundation NASA contract and has presented important technical information to them over the years.
Dr. Shin to Keynote Electric Aircraft Symposium by Dean Sigler
Dr. Jaiwon Shin, NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, will close the Friday, April 25th session of the eighth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium with his keynote address, “The NASA Aeronautics Vision and Strategy – How It Relates to Electric Aircraft.”
5th Annual CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium – 2011
Dennis Bushnell: Envisioning a Plausible, Positive Future by Dean Sigler
Consider that Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Benjamin Santer of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) kicked off the first day of the 2011 Electric Aircraft Symposium with a highly-detailed examination of the issues surrounding climate change. That required an equally adept presenter to expound on possible solutions for worldwide problems, and EAS 5 delivered with Dennis Bushnell, NASA’s Chief Scientist at Langley Research Center.
His presentation, “Frontier[s] of Electric Aircraft Propulsion [The Responsibly Imaginable],” was far-ranging and wonderfully challenging, encompassing energy, aeronautics, and technologies from information technology (IT), bio, nano, energetics, and quantum mechanics, to societal technological systems.
Quoting Arthur C. Clark, “The roads to support autos cost as much as a small war and the casualties are on the same scale”, Bushnell looked at the 80-year dream of flying automobiles, and posited adaptations and alternatives such as robotic package delivery, 300 mile commutes, and flying shuttles for “the aged, the infirm, the young, and the inebriated.” Such personal air vehicle use, along with rail traffic, could constitute “a complete [physical] domestic transportation system,” according to Bushnell.
This approach would have enormous infrastructure and sociological implications, reducing the need for roads and bridges, built-up core cities, and allowing self-sufficiency in electronic cottages on their own large plots of land. Obviously, from this writer’s perspective, this would require a big change from the current 99-percent/one-percent economic dichotomy, because such alterations would require a greater prosperity for everyone, or a more layered society much like those in utopian fiction (or dystopian, as some might fear).
This will come about because navigation and control breakthroughs currently are being developed by the Department of Defense and package delivery companies; and ultralight, motorcycle-like flying machines will enable most to have a safe means of traversing space while avoiding downtowns and malls. These small machines would expand in size to include “Cadillac” level transportation and service delivery.
Bushnell thinks this is possible because the hardware and software Infrastructure involved would be “vastly less expensive than the current ground alternative.” He also foresees a demand for this based on “the HUGE markets [and] economic benefits,” and “because the People want the associated freedom/convenience/time savings/cost reductions” that could come from this visionary breakthrough.
He listed a promising number of ways to harvest energy, including wind, solar, wave power, geothermal, and biomass, but took them to the next level with suggestions for the extraction of atmospheric CO2, and using engineered microbes to convert the gas to fuel; low energy nuclear reactions (LENR and sometimes erroneously referred to as “cold fusion”); exploitation of energy potential in chemical bonds; and the use of positrons – the “affordable anti-matter.”
7th Annual CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium – 2013
Beyond Chemical – Exotic Energetics/Propulsion
Presented by Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA
LENR [Low Energy Nuclear Reactions]
Frontier Energy Storage/ Release Options
LENR Utilization Approaches
Alternative Heat Storage Options
2011 Green Flight Challenge Sponsored by Google
The 2011 Green Flight Challenge sponsored by Google marks an historic achievement in aviation—the first demonstration of practical, cross-country emission-free flight. Final results.
Years from now, these first Green Flight Challenge team members will be recognized as the pioneers of the Age of Electric Flight. CAFE is already discussing plans for GFC II and will publish more on that at their website soon.
CAFE Foundation creates and advances the understanding of personal aircraft technologies through research, analysis, and education.
Aircraft are submarines that swim in a sea of air
—Lyle S. Powell Jr.
Besides overcoming the force of Earth’s gravity, aircraft must maneuver against the friction and pressures of a surprisingly viscous and powerfully turbulent medium—Earth’s atmosphere. By comparing how aircraft move through this ‘sea of air’, the enthusiast members of CAFE have pioneered valuable new ways to study aerodynamics and improve personal aircraft.
CAFE developed award-winning flight test equipment and software that records extremely accurate speeds, temperatures, weights, pressures, frequencies and sound levels. These suites of CAFE flight test tools have turned the skies above Santa Rosa into a kind of “Nature’s Wind Tunnel”. (See “Order From Chaos“). CAFE’s flight test expertise has become a national asset recognized by many of those prominent in the world of aviation, including NASA, AOPA and EAA. (See Sponsors)
The diverse members of the CAFE team each contribute a special talent and expertise to the organization. But it is the magic of enthusiasm that has turned these airplane hobbyists into respected aeronautical scientists. The CAFE team arose mainly from members of Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter (EAA) 124, where the passion for personal aviation is strong. Volunteers from EAA 124 have formed the backbone of CAFE’s success.
As we enter the Second Century of Flight, the non-profit, tax-exempt CAFE Foundation looks forward to enhancing its key role in advancing the science, education and growth of personal aviation for everyone. Learn how you can help.
Members of the media, enrolled students or other special cases, please email a ‘request for special registration’ to: eas2014reg@cafefoundation.org
Educates and advocates new energy technologies based on cold fusion science and lobby to make cold fusion research a part of our alternative energy portfolio.
Safe and ultra-clean, from a water-fuel, cold fusion is the viable alternative energy that has the energy density to power a green technological future for all of planet Earth.
Cold fusion makes it economically-viable to recycle all waste. We can remove hydro-electric dams and restore the wilderness, saving species from extinction. No CO2 emissions puts a halt to further degradation of the atmosphere.
And no more dirty and dangerous radioactive nuclear power plants!
Low-energy nuclear reactions, another name for cold fusion, also show the ability to transmute elements, offering a path to clean-up the thousands of tons of radioactive waste that imperils our environment and health.
“The present disclosure combines the unique properties of nanotubes and in one embodiment carbon nanotubes, in a novel manifestation designed to meet current and future energy needs in an environmentally friendly way. Devices powered with nanotube based nuclear power systems may substantially change the current state of power distribution.”
–Retired U.S. Rear Admiral Craig E. Steidle of Seldon Technologies on cold fusion nanotube-based nuclear power systems.
Rear Admiral Craig E. Steidle – USN, NASA, DoD
Admiral Craig E. Steidle served as the first Associate Administrator of the Office of Exploration Systems at NASA (now known as the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate), an organization formed to implement NASA’s human exploration of the solar system as announced in the Vision for Space Exploration.
Adm. Steidle served as the Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Advanced Strike Technology Office and was the Director of the Joint Strike Fighter Program, DoD’s largest program.
Admiral Steidle officially resigned from the position of associate administrator for exploration systems in June 2005. He served as a Visiting Professor in Aerospace Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy for five years and then briefly as the President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation before fully retiring in 2011.
Craig Steidle NASA’s Future Is Rising From ‘the Swamp’
by Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post, Dec.15, 2004
At NASA headquarters, they call it “the swamp,” a broad expanse of the fifth floor where experts gather to figure out how to accomplish the most ambitious space feat ever: a multi-decade plan to send humans from Earth to the moon and ultimately to Mars.
The master of this domain is Associate Administrator Craig E. Steidle, the retired Navy rear admiral who runs NASA’s not-so-new-anymore Office of Exploration Systems and who went to work for NASA after the top brass lured him in as a consultant….
Craig Seidle and Dennis Bushnell were each highlighted in 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Conference. I imagine each know of each others works, Admiral Steidle as board-member of cold fusion company Seldon Technologies and Dennis Bushnell as a leader in NASA cold fusion.
Distinguished Lectures Presentation Title: “The Future(s) of Energetics” by Dennis Bushnell was sponsored by the Mechanical Engineering Division. This talk summarizes the increasingly dire and ever nearer term implications of Global Warming and Peak Oil and then considers the spectrum of “Green” and the “Ways Forward” to replace Fossil Carbon Energy Sources. There are four approaches possible in the nearer term. These include approaches with the capacity to replace petroleum for transportation and coal/natural gas for base load. While they require research, they are both feasible and affordable.
The lecture also considers the “frontiers of the responsibly imaginable” in energetics going forward, and “Wild Card” approaches which proffer revolutionary possibilities. Energetics issues considered include Generation, Storage, Conservation and Transmission. Lecture concludes with a brief discussion of “Second Law Warming”, which will follow Atmospheric Warming and constrains the solution options for Atmospheric Warming.
Best Paper Award – NSEE 2008 “The Loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia: Portaging the Leadership” by Robert Nieweoehner, Craig Steidle, and Eric Johnson, sponsored by the Engineering Management Division.
December 2008 “The Energetics Futures Brief” with NASA Chief Scientist Dennis M. Bushnell” for the University of Alberta Energy Club.
This presentation will focus on the advanced and futuristic technologies already at the laboratory stages or on the horizon that have the potential to shape how we will live and conduct our activities. The urgency for humanity to change energy consumption, and the types of energy that is used will form part of this presentation leading to a discussion on the following topics:
Seldon Technologies
Now, Craig Steidle is on the board of directors of Seldon Technologies, Inc. The two following Seldon patents are noteworthy.
Methods of Generating Energy and/or he-4 Using Graphene Based Materials
Publication date: Oct 30, 2013
Inventors Christopher H. Cooper, William K. Cooper, James F. Loan
From the Patent:
Deuteron-Based Reactions
[0050] Fusion of two deuterons that are confined in a solid can theoretically result in three different outcomes as shown in the following equations (V. E. Kim, Purdue Univ., The 15th International Conf. on Condensed Matter Nuclear Sci. (ICCF-15) Oct 5 -9, 2009)
[0052] For each 4He produced by two deuterons 23.8 MeV energy is released because of the well-known relationship between change in mass during a fusion process and energy release (E=mc2). It is speculated that the energy released is in the form or electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from Gigahertz to extreme UV, sometimes referred to as “soft x-rays”
[0053] It has been discovered that graphene materials have an unusual electronic structure making it an ideal candidate for a variety of applications, primarily in the field of electronics. In particular, it has been discovered that the single atomic layer of carbon, characteristic of graphene materials, effectively screens Coulomb interactions, causing graphene to act like an independent electron semimetal. Furthermore, one particular graphene material, carbon nanotubes, can be grown with remarkable uniform diameters, number of walls, and atomic structure. See, “The Effective Fine-Structure Constant of Freestanding Graphene Measured in Graphite,” Science, Vol. 330 no. 6005 pp. 805-808 5 November 2010, which is herein incorporated by reference
[0058] The results presented herein are, in general, consistent with other reported low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) experimental results, most notably the work of McKubre at Stanford Research Inst, who reported a peak 4He concentration of 1 ppm after 20 days of aging palladium powder in D2 gas (APS meeting, Denver CO, March 5, 2007)
Methods of Generating Energetic Particles Using Nanotubes and Articles Thereof
US 20130266106 A1 – Publication date Oct 10, 2013
Inventors: Christopher H. Cooper, James F. Loan, William K. Cooper, Alan G. Cummings Original Assignee: Seldon Technologies, Llc
From the patent:
ABSTRACT
There is disclosed a method of generating energetic particles, which comprises contacting nanotubes with a source of hydrogen isotopes, such as D2O, and applying activation energy to the nanotubes. In one embodiment, the hydrogen isotopes comprise protium, deuterium, tritium, and combinations thereof.
There is also disclosed a method of transmuting matter that is based on the increased likelihood of nuclei interaction for atoms confined in the limited dimensions of a nanotube structure, which generates energetic particles sufficient to transmute matter and exposing matter to be transmuted to these particles.
DESCRIPTION
This application claims the benefit of domestic priority under 35 USC §119(e) to U.S. application Ser. No. 60/741,874, filed Dec. 5, 2005, and Ser. No. 60/777,577, filed Mar. 1, 2006, both of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Disclosed herein are methods of generating energetic particles, by contacting nanotubes with hydrogen isotopes in the presence of activation energy, such as thermal, electromagnetic, or the kinetic energy of particles. Also disclosed are methods of transmuting matter by exposing such matter to the energetic particles produced according to the disclosed method.
A need exists for alternative energy sources to alleviate our society’s current dependence on hydrocarbon fuels without further impact to the environment.
The inventors have developed multiple uses for nanotubes and devices that use such nanotubes. The present disclosure combines the unique properties of nanotubes and in one embodiment carbon nanotubes, in a novel manifestation designed to meet current and future energy needs in an environmentally friendly way.
Devices powered with nanotube based nuclear power systems may substantially change the current state of power distribution. For example, nanotube based nuclear power systems may reduce, if not eliminate, the need for power distribution networks; chemical batteries; energy scavenger devices such as solar cells, windmills, hydroelectric power stations; internal combustion, chemical rocket, or turbine engines; as well as all other forms of chemical combustion for the production of power.
It’s mind-boggling to imagine the numbers of people who have viewed the NARI Low Energy Nuclear Reaction Aircraft Seedling Seminar by Doug Wells – people from companies serving the aerospace industries, to leaders in engineering and research. The seedling seminar is even being reported in aviation magazines worldwide. Wow!
Doug Wells Low Energy Nuclear Reaction Aircraft [.pdf]
Doug Wells will also present a paper at the AIAA Aviation 2014 Conference, a Study Webinar by Marty Bradley available through the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a paper was presented in January, at the 52nd Aerospace Sciences Meeting, by Robert A. McDonald from Cal Poly.
Thousands upon thousands of savvy people are now grasping that cold fusion is emerging as a source of clean energy beyond our most promising dreams, with the power to move humanity through our next evolution. With popular cold fusion/LENR science, we are on the verge of an epic technological advancement with the concurrent personal, social, economic, environmental, spiritual, and philosophical advancements.
With that change in energetics, the paradigm changes, and we begin building an ecologically sustainable society.
“-given the truly massive-to-mind boggling benefits – solutions to climate, energy and the limitations that restrict the NASA Mission areas, all of them. The key to space exploration is energetics. The key to supersonic transports and neighbor-friendly personal fly/drive air vehicles is energetics, as simplex examples of the potential implications of this area of research.”
–Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist NASA Langley on the energetics of LENR.
Low Energy Nuclear Reaction Aircraft Investigator
Doug Wells, NASA Langley Research Center
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate the potential vehicle performance impact of applying the emergent Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) technology to aircraft propulsion systems.
LENR potentially has over 4,000 times the density of chemical energy with zero greenhouse gas or hydrocarbon emissions. This technology could enable the use of an abundance of inexpensive energy to remove active design constraints, leading to new aircraft designs with very low fuel consumption, low noise, and no emissions.
The objectives of this project are to gather as many perspectives as possible on how and where to use a very high density energy source for aircraft including the benefits arising from its application, explore the performance impacts to aircraft, and evaluate potential propulsion system concepts.
Background
LENR is a type of nuclear energy and is expected to be clean, safe, portable, scalable, and abundant. The expected benefits make it an ideal energy solution. When it is applied to aircraft, LENR removes the environmental impacts of fuel burn and emission from combustion. Excess energy could be used to reduce noise so that all three of NASA’s technology goals for future subsonic vehicles are either eliminated or addressed.
Furthermore, aviation impacts almost every part of our daily lives, civilian and military.
A revolutionary technology like LENR has the potential to completely change how businesses, military, and the country operate as a whole, giving a tremendous financial, tactical, and resource advantage to anyone that utilizes it in the most effective way.
High-density energy sources create some unique capabilities as well as challenges for integration into aircraft.
An LENR concept that has reported some success generates heat in a catalyst process that combines nickel metal (Ni) with hydrogen gas (H). The initial testing and theory show that radiation and radioisotopes are extremely short lived and can be easily shielded.
Although nuclear fission has been looked at for use in aircraft, LENR is different. LENR has a higher energy density and no radioactive by products.
Success of this research will provide a firm foundation for future research and investment for high-density energy source technology integration into aircraft.
NASA LENR Aircraft 2014 Seedling Technical Seminar
The Team
California Polytechnic State University
NASA Glen Research Center
NASA Langley Research Center
The Application of LENR to Synergistic Mission Capabilities
Submitted by Doug Wells for publication and presentation at the AIAA Aviation 2014 Conference. Date: 16 – 20 June 2014.
Location: Atlanta, Georgia. (we must wait to view it)
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession.
Lessons Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR)
Study Webinar Recorded 18 December 2012 – Martin K. Bradley
Available at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500 – Reston, VA 20191-4344
Synopsis
This webinar summarizes the work accomplished for NASA by the Boeing Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) team during a continuing two-phase study, which started in 2008. Results through February 2012 are reported.
In Phase I, the team completed the development of a future scenario for world-wide commercial aviation in 2030, selected baseline and advanced configurations, generated technology suites for each, conducted detailed performance analysis, calculated noise and emissions, assessed technology risks, and developed technology roadmaps. Five concepts were evaluated in detail including a high span strut braced wing concept, a gas turbine battery electric concept, and a hybrid wing body.
In Phase II, the study was extended to the N+4 2040 timeframe and considered the following additional technologies: Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Hydrogen, fuel cell hybrids, Low Energy Nuclear (LENR), boundary layer ingestion propulsion (BLI), unducted fans, and advanced propellers.
Presenter
Dr. Marty Bradley is a Technical Fellow for The Boeing Company, working in the Boeing Research and Technology organization in Huntington Beach, California. For Boeing, he is the leader for a variety of projects related to green aircraft technologies, aviation environmental life cycle analysis, and propulsion integration for advanced technologies. Marty has 28-years of experience in vehicle design, propulsion integration, and technology studies for a wide variety of commercial and military aerospace applications. He has led and conducted projects for green aircraft design, alternative fuels, and environmental life cycle analysis (LCA).
Marty is the Principal Investigator for this NASA funded study looking at advanced technologies for future commercial aircraft, which will be discussed. Marty has a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, all from the University of Southern California.
Impact of Advanced Energy Technologies on Aircraft Design
Robert A. McDonald, California Polytechnic State University
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Publication Date: 13-17 January 2014
Chapter DOI: 10.2514/6.2014-0538
The impact of low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) technology on the design of aircraft is examined. Energy conversion possibilities considered and a Brayton cycle engine with an LENR heat exchanger is selected.
Potential aerospace applications of LENR devices are discussed and a high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned ariel vehicle with multi-year endurance is conceptualized with primary focus on (LENR) energy management.
SpaceWorks Engineering Advanced Concepts Group
Key customers and partners are NASA, Air Force Research Laboratory, DARPA, JPL, Pratt Whitney a United Technologies Company, ULA United Launch Alliance, Orbital, IHI AeroSpace, National Institute of Aerospace, UDRI University of Dayton Research Institute, UTC Universal Technology Corporation, and SI Satrec Initiative.
LENR Spaceplanes
Advanced Propulsion System Concept Studies
Customer: NASA LaRC
Duration: 6 months
Date: 2009-2010
SpaceWorks conducted separate vehicle design studies evaluating the potential impact of two advanced propulsion system concepts under consideration by NASA Langley Research Center:
The first concept was an expendable multistage rocket vehicle which utilized an advanced Air-Augmented Rocket (AAR) engine. The effect of various rocket thrust augmentation ratios were identified the resulting vehicle design where compared against a traditional expendable rocket concept
The second concept leverage Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR), a new form of energy generation being studied at NASA LaRC, to determine how to utilize an LENR-based propulsion system for space access. For this activity, two LENR-based rocket engine propulsion performance models where developed jointly by SpaceWorks and LaRC personnel.
The Complete NARI 2014 Seedling Seminars (click people tab to view investigators)
The NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) presented a 6-day virtual technical seminar on February 19–21 and February 25–27, 2014 to showcase innovative concepts developed by NASA researchers, primarily featuring work from the Seedling Phase 2 (Round 1) and Seedling Phase 1 (Round 3) funds.
http://nari.arc.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/SeedlingWELLS.pdf
http://nari.arc.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/SeedlingCOGAN.pdf
NARI awards the ARMD Seedling Fund grants to make deliberate investments in early-stage and potentially revolutionary aviation concepts and technologies that are aligned with NASA’s mission. These grants go to civil servant-led teams at NASA Research Centers. This seminar was an opportunity for members of the NASA aeronautics community to view the results of this research and see how these innovative concepts might complement and benefit their work and projects across the agency. The results were presented in 33 talks: 30 minutes for each presentation and 10 minutes for discussion and questions. Each session featured a special guest NASA leader as Keynote Speaker and Moderator.
The NASA seminar was free and open to all. Watch the archive and download the slides.
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BUILDING AN ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY
Website: www.issaindia.org.in
Here is a small yet important part of their wonderful work. Enjoy.
What is social?
An act or result of an act involving two or more than two individuals is called social. Since science is produced by two or more than two individuals, it is social. In other words basic character of science is social.
What does it mean?
It means that very notion of science is social. It means the notions of verify-ability and repeatability, reliability, validity, precision, exactness, isomorphism, measurement, methods, hypothesis, inference and theory are social notions. It means there is close connection between society and science and between social conditions and science. As humans and their societies develop so does science.
It also means that proclivity of all humans to social influence and their inability to free themselves wholly from the social and personal prejudices tend to influence objectivity of science. It means science is ‘primitive’ to some extent and ‘precious’ to large extent. It is ‘primitive’ to some extent because it is never cent percent objective. It is, ‘precious’ to a large extent because there is no other system of better objective knowledge.
What is its implication?
It implies that the division of science between science and social science is no longer correct. Today there is no dichotomy between Nature, humans and society or between living matter and non-living matter. Through long and arduous pursuits humans discovered their origin and connections with Nature. Today the term Nature connotes all non-living and living objects including humans and their societies. The 18th century notion of Nature and science or basic science is no longer a valid notion. It might be convenient to fragment science into various subcategories for the sake of study, but it will not serve its social purpose if it is not put together.
Science of Nature, therefore, is necessary for modern humans and their societies. Science of Humans and their societies is integral to the science of Nature. It also means that science is never eternal or static. All objects/things are in constant motion. Since all objects/things keep on changing so does their science. Also, each object is divisible into two because of mutually opposite attributes inherent in it. That is to say, nature of nature, be it non-living or living is dialectical. There is nothing like linearity in Nature.
Science, therefore, is dialectical and not linear. The need for verification and repetition makes science authority free. There is no place for authority in science. Any one and every one enjoys the right to challenge science. Democracy, therefore, is necessary for science. Science grows in democratic conditions and dies in undemocratic or authoritarian conditions.
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REAL ENERGY
Not so far in the near distant future…
The next generation in fact.
Will look back at our generation as the last of the fire era.
And know the term energy shortage was…
A term for unenlightened minds.
gbgoble2009
