Time for the U.S. to Colonize the Moon and Mars.

OK. So long as you pay for it.

 

Have I not said that there should be a SSTO horizontal launch vehicle before we do any significant spacefaring? Pretty freaking sure that I have......

As for your characterization of everyone else here not having a grasp of the nuclear fuel cycle, you're also forgetting that once entirely used up, fuel pellets spent of their uranium are insanely radioactive. Yes, some advocate for the thorium cycle, but even that will have undesirable byproducts.

 

I believe a sealab on the ocean floor could be good practice for working in less hospitable environments. Advances in modern textile technologies could be of help.

 

By definition, fuel pellets can NEVER be fully spent of their Uranium. In fact, only 6-7 % can be burned, of what is not DU.

Yes, they are radioactive. And in most foreign countries, they are routinely reprocessed into new fuel pellets. The United States is the ONLY G7 country which does not reprocess them.

Have you ever handled Trans-Uranium Wastes? I have. It can be done safely, with care, tools and discipline.

Thorium is a great option, better than Uranium in most respects. No reason you can't use a Thorium Ion-Plasma Reactor.

The "Pile" design with core moderator vs. absorber control rods was the only option to people in the 1920-30s. Lasers, electron gun neutron generators, super conducting magnets, turbo vacuum pumps and liquid helium cryo-pumps, had not been invented yet.

Its is far past the time to abandon the Pile reactor design.

-

 

I appreciate your knowledge and experience, but apart from what you're saying here, I don't have any reason to believe we will not have fusion power plants for 200 years. We're making breakthroughs.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013...-tenfold-increase-in-plasma-confinement-time/

 

That's like saying we shouldn't go to the store until we get cold fusion cars. I hope we get SSTO soon though. Maybe Skylon will work out.

 

Probes are smaller.

 

No, it's like saying "Let's wait until we have access to a moving truck if we're going to move halfway across the country."

SSTOs are just around the corner if companies would work on it. The only problem is, companies won't work on it without a sizable contribution of public money. If we get an SSTO that, as I said, could be turned around in 12-36 hours, they could be sold to several countries. Canada, for example, could buy two or three for purely Canadian uses, instead of having to wait for a NASA or ESA rocket slot to come open. An SSTO could also be bought and used by private companies to help hasten the speed with which we bolster our presence in outer space.

The only problems are an SSTO would have to be at least a six-engined vehicle that is liquid fueled (a mix of LOX/RP1 for instance). I have an idea for a compound-engine design that uses a turbofan for subsonic and low super-sonic, a ramjet for mid-supersonic to trans-hypersonic, and a rocket motor for orbital insertion.

 

In my opinion, advancing fusion technologies provides a much larger, production possibility frontier for many Firms and reduces that cost to the public sector for any public sector business ventures.

 

I think the US is in decline and it's best days are behind it. If in the 1960's or 70's a Presidential candidate had suggested establishing a moon colony, it would have been taken seriously. When a presidential candidate suggested that last year, he was widely mocked. Millionaires want to live in comfort, and would rather flee to a terrestrial tax haven than to points upward. I think the Chinese will take the lead in space not because they have more money to spend on it, although they do, but because they have the will to do it. In the US, every spare dollar is going to be dedicated to bread and circuses.

 

As much as humanity would love to colonize Mars, think twice. The atomsphere is not as friendly as one would hope and they'd have to figure out a way to keep gamma ray's from cooking your body over time. If living underground in an acceptable way of life, then go for it.

http://nineplanets.org/mars.html

 

Forgive my ignorance, but if they're going to go big to get Helium-3 why wouldn't they reach higher than that, like why not use Helium-5, or something?

 

I'm aware that there have been significant efforts to develop a SSTO vehicle, but it hasn't panned out, yet. If you have an idea for one, please get it out there. I'd help if I can. I agree that we should provide more public money. I'd be in favor of Apollo style crash-programs as routine. I'm a NASA fan, but I've learned to quit being disappointed in government stupidity on budgets priorities. We should just move forward with what we have, and keep fighting for more. If I have to move halfway across the country, I'll take a Toyota if I have to. When I get to where I'm going, maybe I'll find a way to get a starship with warp drive.

 

I can't find anything on "ion-plasma heavy metal reactors". I'm curious.

 

Try Google"Advanced heavy metal reactor designs"

There are many different concepts, from "pebble-beds" to "Liquid Heavy Metal" to "Scanning Neutron Beam on Uranium Plate Array".

Among the various designs is the Ion-Plasma concept, which is useful because the Heavy Metal Ions are circulating around a Torus of magnetic confinement. In one section of the loop, where the ions are guided down a straight line, an external energetic neutron generator stimulates the Fission events.

The biggest advantages are instant reaction shut down, by simply turning off the electron gun which makes the neutrons. Additionally, because it is a very controlled reaction, with short Mean-Time-Between-Fission-Events relative to Moles of Uranium in the system, it has a low included mass or Curies of radioactive material.

Additionally, the turning magnetic affect the low-Z (atomic weight) elements more strongly, resulting in their "Turning Out of the Beam and being collected on cryo-chilled Cold Trap Cups. The wastes are also automatically separated by atom weight, meaning that the long half-life elements are separate from those which will decay to safe levels of radio-activity in a few hours to years.

This means that you only have to store some of the waste for a short period, test it carefully, then recycle it.

The really nasty stuff can then be dealt with much more thoroughly, because its not mixed in with a much greater mass of waste.

Other than a Line Item description of the Congressional Budget approval, you won't find much information about these designs on the web, because the details are all classified.

The information I've given here is at the level and detail of the description given in the congressional budget documentation, and the contracts and mission statements openly documented when the projects are funded. More detail is not released to the public.

These designs are also not funded at anywhere near the levels of the "Politically Selected" and far less useful research going on at NIF and EAST type of facilities, even though those concepts will NEVER result in practical power plant designs.

Allot of the work and research being done for Advance Heavy Metal Reactors is being done with private, Corporate dollars, driven by the Industries which need that type of power plants. Allot the best research is happening outside of the United States.

American let the large number of Electoral Votes in California select NIF as the big budget research approach, even though Pulse Laser Inertial Confinement is a silly approach for a practical power plant. But California has the votes, so we spent Billions on a Boondoggle.

Once Again, Leftie Abusive and Manipulative Politicking is keep American from a Pragmatic Solution.

-

 

See the Periodic Table of Radio Nuclides:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...a=X&ei=5hOMUvWEO-mM2gXSsYHoDg&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_nuclides


So He3 is a standard Helium atom, which in the 200 Mile and deeper fires of the sun, has picked up an extra proton in its nucleus. Its actually a rare event, but the Sun's mass is huge, and the time is long....

Most of the He3 produced quickly "Burned" into even heavier atoms, but some near the surface blows out in the solar wind. Some small amount of that hits the Moon. What would hit the earth, as an ionized atom of He3, is deflected by the Earth's Magneto-Sphere. Though a very small amount is guided by the magnetic fields, to come down into the atmosphere, along with a large mix of other isotopes, and makes the Northern Lights.

But He3 is still lighter than air, so it stays in the very top of the atmosphere, where eventually it "Boils" off again, back into space.

On the Moon, without magnetic field or atmosphere, it hits the Regolith, and embeds into the silicon matrix of Lunar soils, and "Builds-Up" over Eons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regolith

Well, Making He3 is a rare event, but as the Period Table of Radio Nuclides shows, other Isotopes of Helium do exist. But many are VERY short lived, because the "Extras" make them very unstable. They either quick fuse with other elements in the sun's fires, or the simply go through Radio Active Decay, turning back into He, or He3, or something else.

First you have to have the rare event of making He3, then you have to have the even more rare event of adding ANOTHER particle to the isotope, and then it has to be stable enough to not spontaneously decay, and close enough to the surface of the sun to make its way out into the solar wind before it changes into something else.

He3 is Heavy and Unstable enough to be useful, but not so unstable or quickly fused, to not be available.

Does that answer your question?

-

 

Yes, so the higher Helium isotopes are unstable and don't last long.

But, now I'm just wondering about Helium 5. It's been on my mind. I've heard it mentioned before but I can't remember where. Is there anything special about Helium 5?

Can't they just create it in a lab, somehow, then run in through a particle accelerator into a reaction before it decays?

 

So, consult the Table of Nuclides.

Many of the Isotopes listed on the table are caveat-ed with the notation that the existence of the isotope is theoretical, and none has ever been found or made.

From a fusion fuel perspective, He3 is already unknown on the earth, and only available in meaningful amounts as a fusion fuel on the Moon, (and perhaps Mars).

If He4 or He5, assuming the designation would mean 2 or 3 extra protons, exists, it would likely have a very short half life, and very small Solar Photosphere Escape factor.

Understand that the nomenclature is not consistent, and has "Evolved". So what we call He5 might be a He nucleus with one extra proton, and one extra neutron, and be the 5th stable element of He discovered.

In the circles of people working on fusion energy, He3 is a significantly discussed option, He4 and He5 just never come up.

I am NOT the expert in potential Fusion Fuels. That's a lifetimes study in itself. But people who do know, never discuss He5 as an option, so I would assume that it would not apply.

Bigger atoms are not always better. In fact, Iron is were everything in the universe is going. Any atom above iron is breaking apart to become iron, and atom below iron is combining to eventually become iron.

Iron is the most stable atom... 2nd Law of Thermo-Dynamics in action.

-

 

Thank you for walking me through that description of the table notation.

I especially found the part about the evolution of the "nomenclature" terms to be useful and important to take note of, so now I know to look out for the possibility that the definition of the isotope number might be different depending on where/when it's used.

Well, I'm not going to get a chemistry major to understand everything, but this was a useful description, I think. So, I have a little bit more/better understanding of the terms and concepts involved in the idea of the Helium fusion energy push.

 

Seems creating oxygen is as easy as growing plants isn't it?

 

Growing them on what?

Plants take CO2 from the air, and dissolved into water, along with free nitrates and other organic compounds, and use photosynthesis to release 02, and fix the carbon from the CO2.

Obviously, plants ( Tubes of Algae ) would be a very important part of a Moon Colony Life Support Carbon Fixing cycle.

But you have to have the organic compounds and CO2 present to work from...

Plants cannot make matter, just change the chemical compounds of matter they can access.

Plants cannot break down particular kinds of molecules, even if the molecules have the type of elements it needs, because the chemical binding energy is too high for the plants metabolic processes to overcome.

Ammonia NH3 is the most common form of free nitrate fertilizer. Any good Hydroponics system will regulate and add Ammonia to the growth medium when it gets low. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia

Other types if Nitrate compounds, such as Potassium nitrate, KNO3, found on the Moon's surface in the form of hard rock olivine, have to be preprocessed by grinding and roasting and sometimes treatment with acids or bases to "Free" the Nitrogen into a form which can be absorbed and used by plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivine

http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/30jan_smellofmoondust/

So while Olivine is ready to hand on the Moon's surface, it would have to mined, and processed before it could be used to grow plants for the carbon fixing cycle.

Sorry, Moon Breathing Air is allot more complex than just packing seeds.

-

 

I once heard iron described as the poison of the universe lol. It just stops everything, including stars. They fall down go boom when they get the end of the carbon cycle, and nothing left will burn

 

Thanks a bunch for that. You've given me a full plate of stuff to work on and think about.

 

Just a note.

THE ONLY REASON I AM POSTING THIS STATEMENT IS THAT IT HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE PUBLIC THUS REGARDLESS OF CLASSIFICATION AND COMPARTMENTALIZATION.....MY POSTED WORDS ARE BASICALLY THE SAME AS THOSE STATEMENTS AND POSTS CURRENTLY EXISTING UPON VARIOUS FORUMS AND WEBSITES ON THE INTERNET.

Whew! Now that I have that out of the way.....the new Ford Class USN. Stealth Nuclear Carrier....which at this point....‎USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-7 - USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79 and the ‎USS Enterprise (CVN-80).....all of which will have Mag-Lev Catapults to launch aircraft and will also be powered by two new A1B Nuclear Reactors....will also have another GAME CHANGING ADDITION AND INSTALLATION.....the FEL....or THE FREE ELECTRON LASER.

All Nimitz Class Nuclear Carriers will also be fitted with the FEL system as well as ALL TICONDEROGA CLASS AEGIS USN CRUISERS.

In addition to this a World Wide Orbital Network of FEL PRISM REFLECTION AND SPLIT BEAM CAPABLE SATELLITES will be placed into orbital positions that will allow any U.S. Navy or otherwise FREE ELECTRON LASER SYSTEM to vaporize any target anywhere on land, sea, air, underwater and in space.

All FEL's will be controlled by Networked Super Computers and along with Split Beaming Tech. will be able to not only vaporize any static target but can also do so with any aircraft and any anti ship missile or any ICBM, SLBM or Air Launched Cruise or other Missiles.

It's targeting is so precise that it can even vaporize multiple incoming .50 Caliber Rounds from say a small craft or near shore target.

Now that I said all that.....there is a slight problem.

In order for the FEL to be used and be as capable as advertised....it must have an OFF THE CHART ELECTRICAL POWER SUPPLY which some IDIOT conned some OTHER IDIOTS into thinking that the two A1B Nuclear Reactors on the U.S. Carriers would supply.

Even though these two reactors are more than enough to supply the FEL to the point that all that money that China and Russia and Iran and Korea have been spending to create CARRIER KILLER MISSILES will be wasted....as even though the FEL could vaporize anything incoming.....WE ALREADY HAVE SM-3 ABM/ASAT capable of destroying such Carrier Killer Missiles EASILY.

Sooooo.....a while back I am checking out a site and I read something that made my JAW DROP!!!!!

I will not confirm or deny the reason for my Jaw Dropping was due to such a story on the net being so silly that I was rendered speechless......nor will I confirm or deny the reason for my Jaw issue was due to possible accuracy of the story posted.

But the story posted detailed how a decision had been made to release the existence of U.S. Military R&D Contractor Development of a Low Temp Micro-Fusion Generator that would be added to all Carriers and Cruisers to provide beyond just adequate POWER DEMANDS for each FEL SYSTEM.

As well it went into the reason why FEL Targeting Satellites could not use STANDARD OPTICS as the FEL although a Laser works kind of like a Particle Beam and standard optics a vaporized thus a PRISM MULTIPLE COMPOUND INSECT EYE LIKE REFLECTIVE, SPLIT BEAMING CAPABLE, ROTATING TO ALLOW BEAM DIAMETER SIZE AND CONCENTRATION AS WELL AS MOBILE TO ALLOW FOR OTHER TARGETING CONCERNS.

The Free Electron Laser is hardly effected by atmospheric conditions and this is a REALITY as anyone here can google tests done by the USN.

It would make the U.S. Military Invincible as well as be capable of not only protecting our Navy but as well be capable of vaporizing any incoming Ballistic or Cruise Nuclear Missiles.

AboveAlpha

 

So the NIF and tokamac are a waste? Why?