On the way to San Jose

The 80-minute sample of cold fusion history focuses on the aftermath of the March 23, 1989 announcement of cold fusion by Drs. Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons. Video of Martin Fleischmann in declining health makes for an emotionally-tough portrait.

Cold Fusion Now will offer free goodies to patrons after the Friday night show as antidote to anguish.

But there’s plenty of sunshine to spread all the way to San Jose.

I made a stop at my favorite Spaceport in Mojave and dropped off History of Cold Fusion Calendars to rocket scientists.

Voyager Restaurant got the first visit.

I posted up a calendar on their bulletin board for all the spaceship engineers to see at lunch.

It was a crowded spot, but you can sure see it, and plenty of people pass by on their way to the restaurant overlooking the runway.

Rolling over to Scaled Composites, I dropped off a handful of calendars for the designers of SpaceShipOne and Two.

The Secretary at the Front Desk really dug all the info packed into each page.

I took a picture of the calendar in front of their X-prize that commands the lobby.

I had to sigh, if only there was an X-prize for new energy…

Then I slid over to Xcor, a small, independent company making their own spaceship – “the whole thing”, said the young engineer who answered the door. I said cold fusion promises a clean, dense, power solution, though no technology is available just yet.

Showing him the pictures of cold fusion cells, he said “I need a power plant – not two guys with a test-tube!”

I had to laugh at that one, and told him “it’s in the works…”

Driving cross the port to BAE Systems, I saw for the first time the big, new hangar for Virgin Galactic. It was almost like spotting a used bookstore from the road – I made a beeline to their facility.

Walking through the lobby doors, I had to remember that I was walking through the doors of a commercial space enterprise – with real spaceships – for people!

“Hi, I do clean energy advocacy for cold fusion and wanted to drop off a few calendars for your engineering team,” I said to the woman at the Virgin Galactic Front Desk.

“Well thank you, nobody ever gives us calendars!” she kindly replied.

I sure was happy to break the mold.

“Are you an engineer?” I asked a young man standing around watching our exchange.

“Uh, I’m one of ’em,” he said.

“Here, have a calendar!”

He started paging through the “facts, fotos, and fun” right away!

I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the place, only the lobby backdrop. I was so excited, I forgot to ask about the graphics, but that sure looks like a WhiteKnight to me.

I pulled out of Mojave satisfied that cold fusion will be on the lips of at least a few engineers tonite – one way or another, and they’ve got a handy reference too. I’ll look forward to stopping in again on my way back down to Los Angeles in another week or two.

Will the calendar on the bulletin board still be there? How many were recycled? How many were ridiculed? How many inspired?

Hey Mojave, hope you dig it, and check out George Miley‘s GPHS designed to replace RTGs as presented in Session 462 Advanced Concepts at the NETS last year.