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Inside Piston-Powered Nuclear Fusion Company General Fusion
quax writes "Slashdot first reported on the Canadian start-up company that is attempting piston powered nuclear fusion back in 2009. This new blog post takes a look at where they are now, and gives some additional behind the scene info. For instance, a massive experimental rig for magnetized target fusion in the US is currently underutilized, because ITER's increasing costs absorb all the public fusion research funding. Because this Shiva Star device is located in an Air Force base, security restrictions prevent any meaningful cooperation with a non-U.S. companies. Even if U.S. researchers would love to rent this out to advance the science of magnetized target fusion, restrictions make this is a no go."
That summary made no sense.
I ran out of oil once in my car and my gasoline engine did piston fusion into a single block of metal
It is my layman's barely informed opinion that this scheme has the highest chance at success in the next 10 years at achieving practical electrical output from nuclear fusion reactions.
Mostly random stuff.
Because this Shiva Star device is located in an Air Force base, security restrictions prevent any meaningful cooperation with a non-U.S. companies.
We have a problem with Canadians because of security restrictions? WTF - NORAD is a joint US-Canadian operation. The 2nd in command is always Canadian. If that's not giving Canadians access to important military operations (specifically USAF no less) then I don't know what is.
MIT Prof Peter Hagelstein, one of the rare true believers in battery-type cold fusion is teaching his cold fusion seminar again. Just about everyone else in academia does not believe him. Peter has done brilliant work in other subjects such as Xray lasers, so MIT tolerates him.
If Robert Zemeckis is to be believed, in less than 2 years.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
As someone who has worked for a UK defense company - ITAR is more of a problem for the US than it's allies. The US has a nightmare contracting out work to european companies that have a technology/experience they need. You should see the time and money they waste, it is extraordinary.
For what ever reason, "piston powered nuclear fusion" sounds like it belongs in a Steampunk novel or movie!
ITER is an initiative 45% funded by the EU and 9% funded by the US, that Americans repeatedly complain about sucking away all of America's money, even though it was America's idea to build it in the first place, America gets an equal share of the knowledge gained and America only has to pay one 11th of the cost, despite having the largest economy out of the participants.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
but in the Zemeckis causality, a genius inventor with no regard for preserving the natural timeline traveled back to 1885, and then abandoned a highly sophisticated laboratory capable of refrigeration and probably other disruptive technologies. In other words, the 2015 we saw in Back to the Future, was heavily augmented by timeline disrupting technology injections in both 1885 and 1955... and 1985 for that matter. Chances are, most of that stuff could not be invented as early in our timeline, because in the BTTF timeline, doc brown and others saw the various technologies in action, years before they were duplicated/invented.
In my opinion this same phenomenon explains perfectly why the JJAbrams Star Trek is perfectly justified in having more advanced ships and transporters than the Roddenberry continuity. 8 minutes of sensor scans of a ship 129 more years advanced than anything ever witnessed would change the course of technology forever.
Actually the EU has a higher GDP than the US, the usual marker for the strength of an economy. Mostly that's due to the greater population (505 million EU citizens compared to 310 million or so Americans) as per-capita GNP in the EU is a bit less since we don't have quite as much raw materials production (oil, gas, coal) which inflates the figures.
The US tried withholding its funding contributions for ITER during the run-up to the off-the-books trillion-dollar war in Iraq after most of the other participants in the project decided it should be built in Cadarache in France, home of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys, instead of Japan. It didn't work, America decided to rejoin the project and they're pouring concrete this month in southern France for the reactor vessel's base.
Refrigeration wouldn't be disruptive, there were commercial ice-making machines in 1855. Now, all the DeLorean/time machine parts lying around are another story.
"piston powered nuclear fusion" sounds an awful lot like a technical description of an internal combustion engine.
C|N>K
Soon to be acquired by... Apple, Google or Facebook?
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
per-capita GNP in the EU is a bit less since we don't have quite as much raw materials production (oil, gas, coal)
Do you have figures that show that that's the main difference in GDP/capita? (GNP is not usually used these days).
As for "raw materials production ... which inflates the figures", by that standard the GDP's of Norway, Canada and Australia are even more inflated.
Slashdot has finally found a way to force people to read the article before posting.
In all seriousness, it's nice to see new approaches to the problem of creating a fusion reaction that produces more usable energy than it consumes. Between the National Ignition Facility (which unfortunately was largely but not entirely dedicated to military research at the first sign of success), going massive with ITER, and this piston powered approach, I believe we will one day get there. We may try and fail and try and fail, but ultimately there is no stopping humanity.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Yep, that's why Qatar's per-capita GNP is twice that of the US. Moving money around also inflates the GNP figures hence the appearance of Monaco, Leichtenstein and the Bermudas at the top of the world tables. Japan has virtually no raw materials it can export and it's not a financial black hole for rich people to hide funds from their national governments but it still holds up well in terms of GNP per-capita due mainly to its industrial base.
Actually the EU has a higher GDP than the US
Depends on how you measure it. The EU has a higher nominal GDP but a slightly lower GDP under PPP. Both are right around $16-17 Trillion in 2013.
per-capita GNP in the EU is a bit less since we don't have quite as much raw materials production (oil, gas, coal) which inflates the figures.
As for GDP per capita, it isn't even close. The US population is around 315 milliion versus 510 million in the EU. Since the GDP is roughly the same, the US GDP per capita is about 40% higher at around $52,000 versus $34,000 for the EU. The differences in GDP are not explained by energy production. The EU is the 7th largest energy producer and 2nd largest consumer) while the US is the 3rd largest energy producer and largest consumer (with China catching up fast). Both economies have services sectors that comprise around 68-69% of the economy. Both have similar sized manufacturing sectors and agriculture sectors. Frankly the US and EU economies are remarkably similar in many ways.
Yep, that's why Qatar's per-capita GNP is twice that of the US.
And your point is? Qatar does have a GDP/capita about 2x the US. Do you think that's fake money? Parties outside of Qatar seem to happily accept it.
While we're at it, you still haven't cited figures showing that most of the difference between the US and the EU GDP/capita is due to differences in raw materials production.
Moving money around also inflates the GNP figures hence the appearance of Monaco, Leichtenstein and the Bermudas at the top of the world tables.
Yes it does. I think a good chunk of that (including Wall Street and the City of London) is rent seeking and activities that should be banned, but it still doesn't change the fact that it's real money they get for it.
"Canadian technology!" is going down the tubes now that Blackberry has failed. But this can put Canada back in the lead as the global technology powerhouse.
Don't look to the Americans. All they care about is making a quick buck. Their best and brightest minds are busy at work trying to figure out how to get more people to click on website ads, or how to make portable electronic gadgets a "magical experience".
Could you explain the profit part to me? That'll be most interesting.
A hoax Jeff Bezos invested in. I'll take it you didn't bother to read any of the links.
. . . would be to set back the development of a reliable automobile by over a century! (ba-doom, boom)
8 minutes of sensor scans of a ship 129 more years advanced than anything ever witnessed would change the course of technology forever.
If and only if the scans expose the core technologies in ways that you can understand ---
If and only if you can reproduce the core technologies or their precursors on less than 120 years.
Doc Brown's refrigerator and telescopic sights were mid-nineteenth century tech. The really interesting possibilities open up only when you can build an air conditioner and have refrigerants safe enough for domestic use.
Even a small chance of this leading to nuclear fusion piston-powered P-51 NukeMustangs must be supported!
It has been a while since I have seen the movies, but was he building a vapor condenser?
I ask because while they were around almost nobody used them. Far more economically to harvest ice in the winter and store it for the summer. I mean today we have jet packs and space rockets but they are not “consumer grade”, like today’s refrigerators or the future Mr. Fusions.
So because America has more money, they should pay more?
Hint: that philsophical, political and economic system doesn't work.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.