Nuclear Fusion with Pulsed Power Improvement at Sandia

[Skipjack]

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/05/progre ... ulsed.html

Can anybody please explain to me what exactly they are doing? I dont even get what kind of fusion reactor they are working on...

[zapkitty]

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/05/progre ... ulsed.html

Can anybody please explain to me what exactly they are doing? I dont even get what kind of fusion reactor they are working on...

They're not working on any fusion reactor... which would explain your confusion

The Saturn facility at Sandia is an accelerator.

http://www.sandia.gov/capabilities/puls ... aturn.html

Their research touches upon various fusion power reactor aspects sometimes... as when they have to deal with rapid switching of massive power pulses... which is what the article is about

And the Sandia work could be of interest to the Focus Fusion Folk as they're having to design, build, diagnose and redesign their own switching gear to handle the massive power pulses.that go into each "pinch".

[Skipjack]

Ok, that perfectly explains my confusion
I guess the focus fusion people having some wind in their sails at the moment. Whether it will do them any good in the end is of course a question on its own. After all, a lot of people are very sceptical of their approach. I am not so sure either, but hey, if it works, I will be more than happy

[DeltaV]

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/05/progre ... ulsed.html

Can anybody please explain to me what exactly they are doing? I dont even get what kind of fusion reactor they are working on...

The lead author is into antigravity, presented at SPESIF 2010 and has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum (T-P search for "Felber" draws a blank, however):
Test of relativistic gravity for propulsion at the Large Hadron Collider

[kurt9]

There are lots of speculative concepts for space drives and even FTL. Not all of them are flaky. The two I follow are the Mach effect and Extended Heim Theory.

[Skipjack]

The two I follow are the Mach effect and Extended Heim Theory.

Yupp, worth keeping an eye on. The ME thruster in particular could change the world (provided it works as advertised). These things are far out there, but still worth keeping an eye on due to their potentially high impact.

[D Tibbets]

Actually, I believe that Sandia Labs have played with the idea of using their Z- pinch machine as the basis for a Fusion reactor.

Dan Tibbets

[CaptainBeowulf]

Yeah, I find the Mach effect and EHT the most credible as well.

I doubt either theory will turn out to be entirely correct, but if there is an underlying effect that both have partially described, and which has been detected by Tajmar's gravity modification experiments, you could get a propellantless drive.

Not needing to carry loads of propellant would revolutionize spaceflight. Combined with a fusion reactor for a power source, it would open up the solar system. Assuming that you're limited to something a fair bit under light speed, it would still make interstellar probes and one-way interstellar colonization missions feasible.

[zapkitty]

Actually, I believe that Sandia Labs have played with the idea of using their Z- pinch machine as the basis for a Fusion reactor.

Yeah, but their Saturn accelerator is a bomb-code rectifier at heart...

[D Tibbets]

Actually, I believe that Sandia Labs have played with the idea of using their Z- pinch machine as the basis for a Fusion reactor.

Yeah, but their Saturn accelerator is a bomb-code rectifier at heart...

As is the National Ignition Facility's laser inertial confinement system...

Dan Tibbets

[Nik]

Okay, you've got me interested: What's a bomb-code rectifier ??