Using atmosphere as propellant

[DeltaV]

Triggering, guiding and deviation of long air spark discharges with femtosecond laser filament
(PDF)

Laser-triggered lightning discharge

Electrolaser

[DeltaV]

http://defensetech.org/2013/05/20/video ... -take-off/

Now on to the Boron-11 version...

[ladajo]

And the stores were?

[DeltaV]

And the stores were?

It's not in stores, yet.

[ladajo]

stores = payload

<I did smile>

[DeltaV]

What, no guffaw?

The stores are where the kerosene fuel used to be, before switching to milligrams of H and B11.

[ladajo]

<guffaw>

<chokes back chuckle> More Ordnance is never bad, unless you are trying for V/STOL. For VTOL, no stores is the general word.

[DeltaV]

For VTOL, no stores is the general word.

You are stuck in the kerosene era.

[ladajo]

I am stuck in the Power Density era.

[DeltaV]

OK, we'll mark you down as "zero faith" in future high-MW/GW Polywells.

Please stop wearing the "Aneutronic Fusion Now" T-shirt and return your Boron-11 fuel storage key fob.

[ladajo]

I didn't say I didn't want out of the Power Density era. Just that for now, I am stuck in it. I hope soon to escape.
Do I really have to give up my key card?

[DeltaV]

Not a key card, such as one might use to access a vast, underground kerosene storage depot.

A key fob, containing within all the milligrams of B11 fusion fuel you might need.

(I will of course need centigrams. Muwahhhahhhaahahhhhaaa...)

[DeltaV]

Elon Musk Just May Have To Develop an Electric Supersonic Jet
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-0 ... c-jet.html
Wisely, VTOL.

Starting at 53:00 --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy9y_YSpYxA

"I wish somebody would do that," Musk said during a video chat with entrepreneurs that was streamed on YouTube. "If somebody doesn't do that, maybe at some point in the future, I will."

Send money.

[DeltaV]

There has been some recent progress on the electrostatic motor front:

A tabletop motor using an entirely new driving principle
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-tabletop-m ... ciple.html
(I wouldn't say entirely new...)



http://www.c-motive.com/our-technology-products/

Varying capacitance rotating electrical machine
http://www.google.com/patents/US20130106317

An obstacle to the development of varying capacitance rotating electrical machines is the relatively low capacitive coupling that can be obtained between the stator and rotor resulting in low power density (eg the need for physically large devices for a given power level).

The present invention provides a varying capacitance rotating electrical machine in which capacitive coupling is obtained between rotating and stationary capacitor plates by allowing one plate to float on a cushion of fluid, generated by the relative motion of the plates, in the manner of an air bearing. The small gaps between the plates, achievable with reasonable manufacturing tolerances, greatly increase the power density of the device.

Claimed:
High-torque at low-speed
95 percent efficiency
Lightweight

But, the small air gaps also make it more prone to arc-over.

Maybe connect a bunch of these in series to reduce the voltage drops (Polywell p-11B direct-conversion yields > 1 MV), but then your lower flight envelope propulsors get bulkier...
The high/low voltage design conundrum for p-11B flying machines continues.

Some earlier discussion about electrostatic motors also in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2084

[DeltaV]

Laser-triggered electrical arcs:
Features of electrical discharges in air triggered by laser
(Edit) XX- High-voltage electrical discharges induced by an ultrashort-pulse UV laser system -XX (Edit)
(Edit -- Gone behind a paywall. Bummer. One of the pictures showed a very straight, laser-triggered HV discharge over an EAPE-relevant distance when the laser was focused near mid-gap.)
High-voltage electrical discharges induced by an ultrashort-pulse UV laser system
Ultraviolet Laser Induced Ignition Using Resonant Enhanced Mulitphoton Ionization

Electrical arcs in reverse-flow vortices (bottom of page):
(Edit) XX- Drexel Plasma Institute -XX (Edit)
http://www.plasmainstitute.org/publications/
(Edit -- Fixed dead link.)

Found another picture of a very straight, laser-guided arc for EAPE:

Progress towards lightning control using lasers
http://www.teramobile.org/publications/ ... 5_2008.pdf