The vision of Earth provided by NASA lunar missions is a powerful image; possibly the most potent archetypal image of our times. This image brings to mind the beauty of the biosphere, our world and life-as-we-know-it, surprisingly small against the vast starlit darkness of space.
NASA sees LENR energetics in concert with advanced computer and flight technologies as, “The key to supersonic transports and neighbor-friendly personal fly/drive air vehicles.”(NASA)
This technology could replace much earth bound transport; roads and their inherent environmental damage would become obsolete.
NASA realizes the fragility of our biosphere and seeks to limit atmospheric damage from aeronautics and transportation in amazing ways:
The SUGAR Program (SUGAR – Subsonic Ultra Green Aeronautics Research) was initiated in 2008 as a challenge to four that received contracts, Boeing, GE Aviation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northrop Grumman. The goal is a deep reduction in harmful emissions from airplanes and to decrease their noisome irritation. “Hybrid electric engine technology is a clear winner because it can potentially improve performance relative to all of the NASA goals.”(Boeing)
NASA Green Flight Challenge – “NASA has awarded the largest prize in aviation history, created to inspire the development of more fuel-efficient aircraft and spark the start of a new electric airplane industry. The technologies demonstrated by the CAFE Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, competitors may end up in general aviation aircraft, spawning new jobs and new industries for the 21st century.”(NASA)Green Flight Challenge Sponsored by Google – (Final Results 2011)
Txchnologist The Future of Transportation – “Mapping Out the Future of Flight”(GE)
ON A FALLEN TREE ACROSS THE ROAD (To hear us talk) by Robert Frost
The tree a tempest with a crash of wood
Throws down in front of us is not to bar
Our passage to our journey’s end for good,
But just to ask us who we think we are,
Insisting always on our own way so.
She likes to halt us in our runner tracks,
And make us get down in a foot of snow
Debating what to do with an ax.
And yet who knows obstruction is in vain:
We will not be put off the final goal
We have hidden in us to attain,
Not though we have to seize earth by the pole
And, tired of aimless circling in one place,
Steer straight off after something into space.
Rocket Toxicity
Over 4,000 (Wiki) recorded space launches and an unknown number of missile launches have burned hundreds of millions of tons of the following propellants, oxidants, and rocket elements.
Who knows how these recombine after combustion, with each other and with atmospheric elements?
The engines powering the Space Shuttle’s initial liftoff boosters may have been the most polluting engines ever operated by mankind. For each kilogram of payload, the shuttle’s main boosters burn 30 kilograms of fuels and oxidizers.
During 135 missions 122,472,000 kilograms (135,002 tons) of this highly toxic fuel was burned in the solid fuel boosters of the Space Shuttles.
Approximate Amount Burned (tons)
94,365 Ammonium Percholate
5,600 Powdered Aluminum
9,450 Iron Oxidizer Powder
16,204 Polybutadiene Acrylic Acid Acrylonitrile
2,646 Epoxy-curing Agent
21st Century Timeline of U.S. Rocket Fuel Pollution Scandal (read)
Perchlorate is a powerful oxidant that has been detected in public drinking water supplies of over 11 million people at concentrations of at least 4 parts per billion (ppb). High doses of perchlorate can decrease thyroid hormone production by inhibiting the uptake of iodide by the thyroid. Thyroid hormones are critical for normal growth and development of the central nervous system of fetuses and infants.
A Summary of NASA and USAF Hypergolic Propellant Related Spills and Fires (pdf)
The fuel is monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and the oxidizer is nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) which is similar to ammonia. Both fluids are highly toxic, and are handled under the most stringent safety conditions. Hypergolic propellants are used in the core liquid propellant stages of the Titan family of launch vehicles, and on the second stage of the Delta.
The Space Shuttle orbiter uses hypergols in its Orbital Maneuvering Subsystem (OMS) for orbital insertion, major orbital maneuvers and deorbit. The Reaction Control System (RCS) uses hypergols for attitude control.
NASA is hoping to reduce launch emissions for space flight with LENR.
Cold Fusion – NASA – LENR Part Three Earthbound and Spacebound Transportation
The Chief Scientist of NASA and the Chief Scientist NASA Langley Porter Research Institute move forward with the energetics of LENR – cold fusion as the solution to problems like global warming, transportation, energy, and NASA space missions planned yet unrealized.
NASA has a broad prerogative, their mission is to:
Protect the Earth
Develop a permanent extraterrestrial human presence
Enable commercial ventures to advance into space
The science of LENR will give us electricity without generators and controlled heat without a carbon signature. Overpopulation, global warming, and environmental damage are the greatest dangers to Earth. Converting to LENR power and human expansion into space is the solution.
The energetics of LENR will enable a new generation of launch vehicles and platforms that bring payload costs down from thousands per pound to dollars per pound. The compact size of LENR power, abundance of LENR fuels, and safe clean operation allows ease of use for space colonies.
The wide range and ease of availabity of LENR technology, 3D- Printing technology, advanced robotics, and the abundance of natural resources will allow private sector interests to thrive in space without a standard profit motive. Humanity as a space faring race will develop new economic models.
NASA Names Waleed Abdalati As Agency’s New Chief Scientist (nasa)
The NASA Office of Chief Scientist was discontinued in 2005 and reinstated in 2011.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has named Waleed Abdalati the agency’s chief scientist, effective Jan. 3, 2011. He is currently on leave from his position as director of the University of Colorado’s Earth Science and Observation Center, which carries out research and education activities on the use of remote sensing observations to understand the Earth.
His research has focused on the use of satellites and aircraft to understand how and why Earth’s ice cover is changing, and what those changes mean for life on our planet.
His appointment as Chief Scientist marks a return to NASA for Dr. Abdalati, where he worked from 1996-2008. From 2004-2008, he was head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where he supervised a group of scientists who carried out research in the development and analysis of remote sensing observations to study the behavior of ice sheets, sea ice, and glaciers.
From 2000-2004, he managed NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters, managing the agency’s interests and research investments in cryospheric research, and serving as program scientist on the ICESat and RADARSAT missions.
From 1996-2000, Dr. Abdalati was a researcher at Goddard in the Oceans and Ice Branch, where he analyzed satellite and aircraft measurements of glaciers and ice sheets to assess their contributions to sea level rise. He also served as deputy project scientist for NASA’s Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat).
In the mid 1980s, before returning to graduate school, he worked as an engineer in the aerospace industry, designing, analyzing and testing components of various spacecraft and submarine systems.
Dr. Abdalati has received various awards and recognition, most notably the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House.
“The Chief Scientist, located in the Office of the Administrator, serves as the principal advisor to the NASA Administrator in science issues and as interface to the national and international science community, ensuring that NASA research programs are widely regarded as scientifically and technologically well founded and are appropriate for their intended applications.“
Goal 1: Provide oversight to assure that NASA funds only the most exemplary and meritorious science to enable NASA to achieve its mission.
Goal 2: Lead strategic planning for new and revolutionary research directions for NASA.
Goal 3: Maintain and foster communication links with the scientific and technical communities at large, including other Federal science agencies, academic, industrial, international partners, and the general public.
Goal 4: Act to encourage cooperation and synergy among the science programs and between science programs and other NASA programs.
Goal 5: Lead and manage the Generate Knowledge cross-cutting process.
Goal 6: Lead and manage the Communicate Knowledge cross-cutting process.
Dr. Waleed Abdalati, recently appointed NASA Chief Scientist, addressed the Science Committee and described his background in Earth Science, research on glaciers and ice sheets, remote sensing, and managing the cryospheric sciences branch at GSFC.
Dr. Abdalati stressed that he accepted the position in the hopes of making a difference and being useful as an advisor to the Administrator. He noted that Mr. Bolden had also expressed an interest in employing a Chief Scientist to address the complex relationships among the agencies. The functions of the new office are meant to be free from the burdens of implementation in order to take a broad agency view, and to offer a different perspective across directorates and centers. The Chief Scientist will also identify where activities span directorates, and where these activities may be leveraged, and also “orphan science” such as life and microgravity sciences, which now resides within ESMD, to address the role of science in exploration.
The Chief Scientist will provide advocacy on behalf of science in general, through a philosophical approach. The office should be perceived as an additional avenue for communication, not an opportunity for an end-run. The main goals are to maximize science return for investment of resources; the objective is to put NASA science at the forefront. As the space program is transitioning, there is an opportunity to highlight this.
Authors note: Many managers cite rising costs of launch platforms as problematic. Read the full NASA Advisory Council Science Committee meeting notes for a deeper understanding.
“Scientists to hold bake sale for NASA”(MSNBC News) Tech article by Clara Mskovitz, June 8, 2012
In his fiscal year 2013 budget proposal, President Obama has requested $17.7 billion for NASA. The 2013 budget proposal submitted would cut funding for NASA’s planetary science projects by about $300 million.
Chief Scientist at NASA Langley
The Chief Scientist at NASA Langley is Dennis Bushnell; a bit of his bio, career, and recent history of actions is worth noting.
Bio: (nasa) Dennis M. Bushnell is the Chief Scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center where researchers are focusing on some of the biggest technical challenges of our time; global climate change, access to space and revolutions in airplanes and the air transportation system.
During his more than four decades at NASA, Dennis served the Gemini, Apollo, Viking and space shuttle programs. He invented and developed the riblet for speeding airflow across surfaces, an advance that led to turbulent drag reduction in aeronautics technology. He had six patents and has authored more than 250 publications and major presentations often on the future of technology and the impact it will have on our society.
He has received awards from professional groups, governmental agencies and academia, including the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement and Outstanding Leadership Medals and Distinguished Research Scientist Awards. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Career: (link)Responsible for Technical Oversight and Advanced Program formulation for a major NASA Research Center with technical emphasis in the areas of Atmospheric Sciences and Structures, Materials, Acoustics, Flight Electronics/Control/Software, Instruments, Aerodynamics, Aerothermodynamics, Hypersonic Air breathing Propulsion, Computational Sciences and Systems Optimization for Aeronautics, Spacecraft, Exploration and Space Access.
Forty-nine years experience as: Research Scientist, Section Head, Branch Head, Associate Division Chief and Chief Scientist.
Author of 252 publications/major presentations and 340 invited lectures/seminars, Member of National Academy of Engineering, Selected as Fellow of ASME, AIAA and the Royal Aeronautical Society, 6 patents, AIAA Sperry and Fluid and Plasma Dynamics Awards , AIAA Dryden Lectureship, Royal Aeronautical Society Lanchester, Swire and Wilber and Orville Wright Lectures, ICAS Guggenheim Lecture, Israel Von Karman Lecture, USAF/NASP Gene Zara Award, NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement and Outstanding Leadership Medals and Distinguished Research Scientist Award, ST Presidential Rank Award,9 NASA Special Achievement and 11 Group Achievement Awards, University of Connecticut Outstanding Engineering Alumni, Academy of Engineers ,Pi Tau Sigma and Hamilton Awards, Univ. of Va. Engineering Achievement Award , service on numerous National and International Technical Panels and Committees and consultant to National and International organizations.
DOD related committee/consulting assignments include USAF Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, BMDC, ONR, Intelligence Community/STIC, AFOSR, NRAC, NRC,WL, LLL, HASC, NUWC, DARPA, AGARD, ARL,IAT, AEDC, JANNAF, NAVSEA, Air Force 2025,AFSOC,Sandia ,SAB, Army War College ,ACOM Joint Futures ,SOCOM,TRADOC,SEALS,JFCOM,IDA,NDU,DSB and Army After Next.
Reviewer for 40 Journals and Organizations, Editor, Volume 123 of AIAA Progress Series “Viscous Drag Reduction in Boundary Layers.” Responsible for invention/ development of “Riblet” approach to Turbulent Drag Reduction, High Speed “Quiet Tunnels” for Flight-Applicable Boundary Layer Transition Research, Advanced Computational Approaches for Laminar Flow Control and Advanced Hypervelocity Air-breathing and Aeronautical Concepts with revolutionary performance potential.
Contributions to National Programs include Sprint, HSCT/SST, FASTSHIP, Gemini, Apollo, RAM, Viking, X15, F-18E/F [patent holder for the “fix” to the wing drop problem],Shuttle, NASP, Submarine/Torpedo Technology ,Americas’ Cup Racers, Navy Rail Gun, MAGLEV Trains and Planetary Exploration.
B.S. in M.E. degree from University of Connecticut with Highest Honors, Distinction, University Scholar (1963), M.S. degree in M.E. from University of Virginia (1967).U.S. Govt. ST
Recent History of Actions
“For Bushnell, Green Is Global, Personal”(nasa)by Jim Hodges 03.21.08
Statements by Bushnell
“All of these things indicate that by 2100, we could be looking at an average temperature increase 6 to 14 degrees Centigrade,” adds Bushnell, Langley’s chief scientist. “At those temperatures, beyond 2100 all of the ice will melt and the oceans beyond 2100 could come up 75 to 80 meters, enough to drown the homes of some 2 ½ billion people globally.”
“We would like to incite brainstorming on the part of the entire field,” Bushnell says. “I am soliciting, the (center) is soliciting any and all ideas, thoughts, comments about climate and energy. We want people to intuit, find, seek, identify, hunt an assembly of concepts of green energy generation, storage, conservation and transmission – the entire spectrum of approaches. We’re looking for ideas.”
“There’s some thinking on the field that the next administration may take climate and energy far more seriously,” Bushnell says. “And so we’re involved in an effort at a very low level to do a ‘what-if-the-boss-asks’ planning exercise.
“In other words, if the White House or the next administrator asks what could Langley do for energy, warming or whatever, it’s nice to have an answer.”
“So, it’s sometimes good to work ‘what-if-the-boss-asks’ before he asks it. This is called due diligence homework.”
“LENR the Realism and Outlook”(nasa) by Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist NASA Langley Research Institute.
Commercialization of Asteroids for Expansion into Space
“Extraterrestrial Mining Could Reap Riches & Spur Exploration” by Leonard David, SPACE.com (read)
“We talk about asteroids as a source of palladium and platinum and rare metals.” says Peter Diamondis of Planetary Resources Inc. “They’re also a source of … the things we value as humans… air water; that which keeps us alive. Asteroids are primarily a resource for our life as we expand into space.”
“Water sourced from asteroids will greatly enable the large-scale exploration of the solar system. Using the resources of space to expand into space is what will enable that bright future that we all dream of.” Eric Anderson, Co- founder.
.
Planetary Resources Inc.
X Prize’s Peter Diamandis, Space Adventures’ Eric Anderson, NASA astronaut Tom Jones, and Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki, backed by visionary investors James Cameron, Larry Page, Ross Perot want to develop our Solar System’s natural resources.
Electrical current without generators using cheap abundant safe nuclear dense LENR fuels will enable next generation space-planes to use magnetic controlled plasma drives with a thrust magnitudes greater than chemical (400X). Mag Lev Launch will reduce costs and exhaust pollutants.
Plasma Rockets
“Plasma Propulsion in Space” by Eric J. Lerner, The Industrial Physicists magazine (pdf)
Rocketry: A comparative analysis
“PROPULSION SYSTEMS” A PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION OF ROCKET ENGINES (link)
Mag Lev Launch
The same electricity will enable mag lev launch platforms on the Earth, asteroids, moon, and Mars.
LENR/LENT science is known as cold fusion in popular vernacular for many reasons. There is the well-remembered worldwide media flurry over the wondrous announcement by Pons and Fleishman in 1989; the decades long discourse exemplifying it as the fringe of fringe sciences; the repeated high-profile dirty-dealt blows to cold fusion science by established energy concerns aimed at debunking it once and for all. Even movies and sci-fi have helped put cold fusion in the public vernacular. Basically anything that is ‘less hot than the sun’ fusion, involving some sort of nuclear reaction, is cold fusion in the minds eye of the public. It’s a popular name with a nice ring to it, Cold Fusion, and it is about to become the most popular sweet source for energy.
Now the chief scientist at NASA – Langley has released a paper to help us better understand this art. It is densely written, each sentence packed with meaning. Even the title bears a closer look, REALISM and OUTLOOK.
In order to better understand the paper we can look at each part of every sentence and categorize it as the title suggests, under Realism or Outlook. It is best to list only those parts that qualify as definitive when kept in context; parts based on ‘maybe’ or ‘what if’ are not included.
Thanks are given to ‘we’ll stick to our guns’ Pons and Fleischman and to all the dedicated scientists who continued the research: now we have a fantastic science emerging as the ‘Solution to All Energetics’, through low-energy nuclear reactions.
LENR/LENT Science – popularly known as Cold Fusion.
READ NASA and VIEW THEIR VIDEO PRESENTATIONS
Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, the Realism and the Outlook (read)
by Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
REALISM
hundreds of experiments worldwide indicating heat and transmutations with minimal radiation and low energy input
evidence indicates something real is occurring
with effects occurring from using diverse materials, methods of energy addition etc
This is far from a “Narrow Band” set of physical phenomena
several labs have blown up studying LENR and windows have melted, indicating when the conditions are “right” prodigious amounts of energy can be produced and released
are in fact inventing (in real time) the requisite engineering, along with verifying the physics
OUTLOOK
NASA Langley, the epiphany moment on LENR was the publication of the Widom-Larsen Weak Interaction LENR Theory
theory indicates energy densities, some several million times chemical. The current experiments are in the 10’s to hundreds range
still far from the theoretical limits of the weak interaction physics for LENR performance
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
1% of the nickel mined on the planet each year could produce the world’s energy requirements at the order of 25% the cost of coal
it is worth far more resources than are currently being devoted to this research arena
With NASA and many others we are able to quickly replace all major sources of energy with cold fusion. At a cost savings, both in implementation and future use, ad infinitum.
Every friend, neighbor, coworker, student, teacher, politician and activist, liberal and conservative, both young and old should become aware of this as soon as possible.
Then the harm caused from continued use of dirty crippling coal, asthma inducing oil, or birth defective radioactive nuclear becomes a matter of criminal negligence. Do all you can to both get the word out and enable this energy transition. It is the most important topic of our time.
With popular cold fusion – LENR/LENT science we are on the verge of an epic technological advancement. Always there are concurrent personal, social, economic, spiritual, and philosophical advancements, our evolution as a species.
Our strong survival instinct is now evolving to include each of each other, and all life on the planet, as a whole.
Sociobiology is the instinctual relationship of a species with both it’s environment and with members of it’s own species. It is theorized that humanity evolved (and is evolving) along lines of empathy and compassion as the strength of cultures that propagate successfully, our own survival of the fittest. Instinct in a species evolves as the species does.
As humanity’s instincts evolve we gain further insight. We observe interactions amongst ourselves, our universe, and its many components. We gain deeper understanding of cause and effect, it’s benefits and detriments both within and around us. Our sociobiology then evolves.
Back in the far distant past our instinctual fear of fire warned us away, we ran like all other creatures. Over time we cautiously captured embers when fearful raging fires had passed. We learned to utilize and then create fire. This was an epic technological advancement. Our instinct had changed and we entered the Fire Era, a major step in our evolution.
With technological advancements we then harnessed fire for metallurgy, motion, work, and the generation of electricity. As coal, liquid, gaseous, and radioactive fuels delivered more electricity, work, and motion, modern civilization experienced a surge in personal, social, economic, spiritual, and philosophical advancements. Humanity has evolved quite a bit since the dawning of the Fire Era. Concepts of the right to well-being have grown. Humanity is slowly becoming more humane.
We are now entering the Transmutation Era. We will have unlimited, nearly free, easily available, dense, and non-polluting energy from the transmutation of elements. With excitation, the harmonic convergence of atomic particles within the lattice ensures the cold fusion LENR/LENT nuclear active phenomenon. This is an epic technological advancement; which is sure to further our evolution as a species.
A Theory of Evolution through Cold Fusion
Our strong survival instinct is evolving to encompass each of each other, and all life on the planet, as a whole. In the past century our understanding of the biosphere and the importance of environmental stewardship has grown exponentially. Concepts of nonviolence and peace have progressed. Life’s collective right to well-being is better understood. Cold fusion/LENR/LENT technology will empower this change in our species; we will evolve to be harmonic with both our biosphere and our neighbors.
As humanity moves into space we will consider the guaranteed right to sustenance and nutriment; with food, air, water, lodging, and health care ensured for any citizen who migrates to Mars or other space colonies. These concepts will then gain hold on Earth.
Our concept of what constitutes “profit” will also evolve. Humanity will have a galactic mentality with goals beyond the monetary based “profit motive”. Economic models will evolve to reflect this. Sustainable economic generosity created through the continuous resource of energy at point of use for the health of community; economy experienced as the word’s Ancient Greek roots imply: οἰκονομία (oikonomia, “management of a household, administration”) from οἶκος (oikos, “house”) + νόμος (nomos, “custom” or “law”), hence “rules of the house(hold)”. Maximizing the profit of mutual well-being will be the new measure of success.
The dawning of the Fire Era seems like eons ago. We’ve come a long way. Evolution seems inevitable. If the past has anything to show us, humanity is inevitably transmuting into an empathic civilization.
Evolution Through Cold Fusion – Greg Goble
“The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology, and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an improved theory, is it then a science or faith?”- Charles Darwin
“We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility.” – Albert Einstein
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” – Charles Darwin
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science” – Charles Darwin
“Those instrumental goods which should serve to maintain the life and health of all human beings should be produced by the least possible labor of all.” – Albert Einstein
“The very essence of instinct is that it’s followed independently of reason.”- Charles Darwin
“Where there is love there is no question.” – Albert Einstein
“A human being is part of the whole… universe… ” source
To learn some of the science behind this theory please view “The Empathic Civilization” by Jeremy Rifkin.
Evolution (muse)
Once again, in wonder a child whistles a refrain while sitting on a hill under the shade of a tree. From above a bird on a branch tilts its head and once again joyfully warbles its response.
On a distant mountain a youth walks alone towards the high peaks. Arrives reflective of humanity, life, and wondering a part to play. A vision unfolds of all that has been and of what can be. Then returns to walk a path praying for the best for all thru-out time.
Elsewhere, an elder experiences the fruition of a hearts dream that has taken years to bring to success.
Others watch and inspiration blossoms deep within.
It’s no wonder my mind wanders in awe of it all…
Not so far in the distant future, the next generation will look back at our
generation as the last of the “fire era” and know that the term “energy shortage”
was a term for un-enlightened minds.-gbgoble2009
This is an action initiated by Contributor Gregory Goble, poet and clean energy advocate. He felt pity for the hot fusioneers who have lost their largesse due to budget cuts, and who might now consider taking help from their poor ole cousins in the cold fusion community who have the ability to save their programs by providing clean, affordable power to probe plasma science. Ironic, huh?
Follow This
We are biting our fingernails waiting for commercialization of cold fusion and the hot fusion folks are sweating out their own issues. It’s going to be a long summer.
While a lattice-assisted nuclear reactive (LANR/cold fusion) device is operating at MIT with zero funding, the MIT hot fusion budget has been eliminated (shut down) and hot fusion energy generation research may soon end worldwide. Ironically, Tokamak reactors may be much less costly to operate if powered by low-energy nuclear reaction LENR generated power. Presently the power to create a Tokamak nuclear reaction is magnitudes greater in costs with today’s energy technologies than if supplied by cold fusion generated electricity.
Primary utility power for the MIT Alcator C-Mod is provided by a 24-MVA peak power, 13.8-kV line. In total, storage and conversion systems have been designed to supply up to 500 MJ at up to 400 MVA to the experiment. Electrical costs are $5,002,000, which is approximately 5% of the run budget. [source]
Alcator C-Mod MIT Budgets and Schedule (2009 – 2013)
Incremental costs for 1 run week (at 14 ± 3 weeks) Cost: $2,008,000
As you can see the hot fusion folks still believe fusion only takes place at extremely high temperatures in a plasma and seem to be unaware of fusion taking place in low temperature vibrational environments. Science is discovering nuclear active environments NAE can occur in a condensed matter.
Here is where we “turn substance into accident“.
This is a medieval term which means “to give new quality to substance; a loose and ironic use of the terms of scholastic philosophy.” –from the glossary of Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer translated by A. Kent Hieatt and Constance Hieatt Bantam Books.
Hot and cold fusion folks can work together to advance science by using cold fusion/LANR/LENR to power hot fusion experiments.
If you live in a district where your Representative in on the House Energy and Water Subcommittee FY2013 Appropriations bill, then message the following note to your representative. (You need to put in a zip code matching the Representatives district to use the email form).
If you do not live in a district where your Representative is on the House Energy and Water Subcommittee FY2013 Appropriations bill, then message the following note to: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers – Attention Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Members here
@
Energy and Water Subcommittee Members
Republicans
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey email
Jerry Lewis, California email
Michael K. Simpson, Idaho email
Denny Rehberg, Montana email
Rodney Alexander, Louisiana email
Steve Womack, Arkansas email
Alan Nunnelee, Mississippi email
Democrats
Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana email
Ed Pastor, Arizona email
Chaka Fattah, Pennsylvania email
John W. Olver, Massachusetts email
“The Department is instead directed to continue operations at the Alcator C-Mod facility and to fund continued research… ” –by funding LENR to help hot fusion.
Honorable Subcommittee Members,
The MIT Tokamak reactor is a project that advances engineering and science. Both construction and operational energy costs can be reduced by utilizing cold fusion/LENR energy devices just now emerging into the marketplace. Blacklight Power has a technology, recently validated by academic and industry experts that could provide cost-reductive electricity for research with high-energy requirements.
NASA plans utilization of condensed matter nuclear reaction science engineered into its next generation of spacecraft. Here are two announcements by NASA to utilize Cold Fusion/LANR/LENR energy devices to replace plutonium for spacecraft power and a NASA presentation of the science and theory behind this science.
Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, the Realism and the Outlook by Dennis Bushnell NASA Abundant Clean/Green Energy by Joseph Zawodny NASA LENR at GRC from NASA Glenn Research Center .pdf
The following is a list of four companies developing new commercial products based on LENR:
Include these advanced energy solutions as relief to your budget, energy, and environmental concerns. Funding LENR research brings benefits far beyond science exploration; we will be developing the ultra-clean energy that can power our future for millenia.
Thank you for this consideration,
The following is publicly posted fund raising material from MIT and ITER – Help Save Hot Fusion. It describes conventional models of fusion based on high-energy collisions in a hot plasma.
This does not describe cold fusion/LANR/LENR which hot fusioneers do not believe possible.
Intro Fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which light nuclei fuse together to create a single, heavier nucleus and release energy. Given the correct conditions (such as those found in plasma), nuclei of light elements can smash into each other with enough energy to undergo fusion. When this occurs, the products of the fusion reaction have a smaller total mass than the total mass of the reactants. The mass difference is converted to energy as determined by Einstein’s famous formula, E=mc2. Here, m is the mass difference and c is the speed of light. Even though the mass difference is very small, the speed of light is extremely large (about 670,000,000 miles per hour), so the amount of energy released is also very large. [source]
What is a Tokamak?
Since we have now established what nuclear fusion is, and its potential as an attractive source of energy, the next obvious question is: How do we create fusion in a laboratory? This is where tokamaks come in. In order for nuclear fusion to occur, the nuclei inside of the plasma must first be extremely hot, like in a star. For example, in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak we routinely create plasmas which reach temperatures of 90,000,000 degrees Celsius, about 5 times hotter than the center of the Sun. [source]
The President’s 2013 Budget Proposal shuts down Alcator C-Mod, an essential laboratory for clean energy research at MIT.
Does the proposed budget only cut Alcator C-Mod?
No. Almost all domestic programs under the Department of Energy’s Office of (Hot) Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) received cuts under the president’s FY13 proposed budget, although the shutting down of Alcator C-Mod is by far the most severe and irreversible. Proposed cuts also target the DIII-D tokamak in California (-11.9%), plasma physics theory (-14.4%), the Advanced Design program (-62.9%), and general plasma science (-21.6%), among many others. [source]
What has happened?
The Presidential budget request for 2013 was announced on Monday, February 13, 2012. In that request, C-Mod, an essential laboratory in the U.S. and World Fusion Energy Program, is threatened with termination. C-Mod is a world-class laboratory housed at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center and dedicated to educating students. As the only high field, compact high performance divertor tokamak, it is unique in the world. In the coming decade, vitally important research, including many critical ITER physics, research and development tasks, can only be accomplished on C-Mod. Although the budget for the fusion science part of the Department of Energy remained nearly constant at 400 million dollars, most US fusion labs face significant cuts because funding for the construction of ITER was increased by 45 million dollars. This money was taken out of C-Mod and other existing experiments. View the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) director’s presentation about the budget here. [source]
ITER Faces Massive Budget Cuts
Due to the many challenges of fusion energy—just look at the size of the investment in ITER—this is a project that could only be attempted at an international level. However, let’s always remember that (hot) fusion technology remains in competition with other technological approaches for energy generation. We therefore need to implement and stop losing time. We must bear in mind that we have been entrusted with public funds, which gives us an enormous responsibility towards the citizens within the ITER Members.
Since the European Union has agreed to earmark funds for ITER through 2020 at the level of EUR 6.6 billion (of which EUR 2.3 billion is for 2012-2013), we have concerns regarding the schedule slippages that have occurred over the past several months. Slippages do not contribute to the positive image of the project; they also risk undermining the political support for ITER if they are not corrected soon. The next six months will therefore be crucial. [source]
C-Mod Funding Restored in Proposal from House Appropriations Subcommittee
The House Energy and Water Subcommittee released their FY2013 Appropriations bill. This appropriations recommendation includes specific language restoring funding to the Alcator C-Mod project:
The [President’s budget] request proposes to shut down the Alcator C-Mod facility and provides only enough funding for decommissioning and existing graduate students. The Department is instead directed to continue operations at the Alcator C-Mod facility and to fund continued research, operations, and upgrades across the Office of Science’s domestic fusion enterprise. House of Representatives Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, 2013, pg. 105
The domestic fusion budget (inclusive of C-Mod) is almost completely restored to FY2012 levels (the President’s Budget Request cuts ~$48.3 million, the House Appropriations recommendation only cuts of $0.5 million). ITER, the international fusion reactor which the US is collaborating on, also receives increased funding, $73 million above the President’s Budget Request. These increases overcome the issues of trying to fund both the domestic US fusion program and ITER on a flat budget. [source]
