Tag: Dennis Bushnell

This particular report focuses on how humans might visit Mars. “In general revolutionary goals [such as Mars-Humans] require revolutionary technology,” writes Bushnell, and LENR is part of NASA Langley’s portfolio of solutions.

In this case, “responsibly imaginable” means that “Nominal and usual enabling timescales for such technologies are the order of 12-to-15 years for research and triage, and another 12-15 years for development.”

For humans to visit Mars, a large infrastructure must be launched from Earth orbit. This “up-mass” consists of all the elements to keep humans alive and safe, what NASA describes as “pink and warm”. Long-term space exploration has so far been powered by radioisotope generators (RTGs), which use radioactive plutonium to make heat that is turned into electricity using thermoelectric converters. Plutonium, aside from being dangerous and dirty, is in short supply these days, and recent Mars robotic rover missions have utilized most of the last store of material.

One thing about LENR, it can make heat. Dr. George Miley, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne and head of start-up LENUCO, proposed replacing RTGs with LENR devices at the NETS conference a year ago, and has since speculated how these devices could power domestic needs as well.

Bushnell’s report also seeks to refute a statement made at a recent USAF workshop that claimed, according to Bushnell, “Space is a Mature and Declining field of Endeavour in the U.S.”

To do so, he first lists the experimental and commercial efforts with which NASA has been engaged over the decades to develop new useful technologies but that have not succeeded. Then he explains why, writing “Essentially, Space Commercialization going forward is hostage to far lower space access/launch costs.”

“We have, throughout the “Space Age” starting in the 1950’s, been in thrall to Chemical Propulsion. Breakthroughs in energetics and propulsion beyond Chemical appear to be required going forward.”

Fortunately, Bushnell believes that “The relatively straight forward applications of the ongoing civilian and military worldwide technology investments will greatly reduce mission cost and enhance safety going forward.”

Advances in materials science, information- and nano-technology have reduced the mass of spacecraft and thus the cost, but as Bushnell notes, “humans are not shrinking”, thus lower-cost lift, propulsion and power systems are required. That’s where LENR comes in, for high-thrust in-space propulsion.

“The LENR situation is in a major state of flux with recent apparently successful theoretical efforts and indications of much higher yields,” writes Bushnell, adding “if proven technologically viable, (LENR) would also be candidates for in space and on planet power.”

While the report inventories an array of possible technologies, here’s the portion devoted to LENR:

“Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, the Realism and the Outlook
LENR could, by itself, COMPLETELY Revolutionize Space access and utilization. Although there is a quite long history of “anomalous” observations including transmutations the “recent” consideration of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions begins with the Pons/ Fleishman late 80’s observations and assertions regarding what they termed “Cold Fusion”. Subsequent difficulties with experimental replication and an utter lack of convincing theoretical explication forced research in this arena “underground” with minimal financial support.”

“Also, The Key to SST’s and neighbor-friendly personal fly/drive air vehicles is Energetics, as simplex examples of the potential implications of this area of research. There are estimates using just the performance of some of the devices under study that one percent of the nickel mined on the planet each year could produce the world’s energy requirements at the order of 25 percent the cost of coal. No promises but something[s] seriously “strange” are going on, which we may be closer to understanding and if we can optimize/engineer such the world changes. Worldwide, worth far more resources than are currently being devoted to this research arena. Need to core down and determine “Truth”. If useful, need to engineer/apply.” —Dr. Dennis Bushnell Advanced-to-Revolutionary Space Technology Options The Responsibly Imaginable

They won’t call it cold fusion, but NASA is keeping an open-mind to new energy technology through experimentation and testing a LENR theory. Bushnell knows the importance of “not picking the winner” too early on. It isn’t easy, even for a national Chief Scientist.

In the report, Bushnell quotes Ivan Bekey from his Chapter 9 Long Term Outlook for Commercial Space in the book “Toward a Theory of Space Power”:

“The Nation’s space programs are in a horrible mess and appear to be locked in a
downward spiral. Almost all defense and civil government space programs suffer from
similar symptoms:

 no toleration of or planning for failures
 avoidance of risk
 lack of funding for new technologies
 inability of industry to afford research or to develop technologies alone
 suppression of disruptive technologies
 disappearance of the concept of experimental systems in space.
As a result of these symptoms, the following conditions are now the norm:
 absence of innovation
 long timelines for even modestly new developments
 billion-dollar price tags for major systems
 major overruns and schedule slips
 need for long on-orbit life to amortize the investment
 obsolescence of systems upon launch or soon thereafter.”

Bushnell sums it up with:

“Overall – As mentioned in the Bekey comments cited herein, the pursuit of Revolutionary Space Technologies has over the years been akin to a battle, with the forces of conservatism/evolution consistently winning over those advocating risky/huge payoff REAL “Game-Changing” approaches. The Space Community has simply been unwilling to make the investment of time and treasure to ideate and triage/develop Revolutionary Technologies, resulting in Space being largely and still a high capital investment evolutionary at best Industrial Age Endeavour in the IT age heading rapidly to the Virtual Age.”

and ends with this quote of Ivan Bekey:

“The battle is within. It is a cultural one: between glorifying the past or
marching toward the future, between protecting successes or cannibalizing them,
between averting risk or embracing it. The battle is for the soul of the of the Industry [and the Future of Humankind in Space]”

… and we’ll add ‘on Earth too’!

Cold Fusion Now!

Related Links

Review of NASA/Zawodny US Patent application David J. French

Aneutronic Fusion Spacecraft Architecture – LENR Cold Fusion Gregory Goble