Lifeboat Foundation

For the first time ever, US scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain, a source familiar with the project confirmed to CNN.

The US Department of Energy is expected to officially announce the breakthrough Tuesday.

The result of the experiment would be a massive step in a decadeslong quest to unleash an infinite source of clean energy that could help end dependence on fossil fuels. Researchers for decades have attempted to recreate nuclear fusion – replicating the fusion that powers the sun.

The US government may have made a major scientific breakthrough in fusion energy, paving the way for creating a limitless supply of energy with zero carbon emissions or radioactive waste, The Financial Times reported, citing people with knowledge of a recent experiment’s results.

The fusion process is a landmark step of progress in the quest to achieve a limitless supply of environmentally-friendly energy.

According to The Financial Times, the US Energy Department will have US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Undersecretary for Nuclear Security Jill Hruby announce a “major scientific breakthrough” sometime on Tuesday.

Americium-241 emits power for more than 400 years.

The world’s first space battery fueled by Americium-241, a nuclear-based fuel, will be developed in cooperation between the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and the U.K. Space Agency.

This project will be carried out in a brand-new laboratory in Cumbria costing £19 million ($23 million) and outfitted with cutting-edge machinery and technology, according to a joint press release by NNL and the Space Agency on Friday.

Continue reading “World’s first space battery powered by ‘game-changing’ nuclear fuel is coming soon” »

Year 2019 😁 nanoscale fusion.

A research team of fusion scientists has succeeded in developing “the nano-scale sculpture technique” to fabricate an ultra-thin film by sharpening a tungsten sample with a focused ion beam. This enables the nano-scale observation of a cross-section very near the top surface of the tungsten sample using the transmission electron microscope. The sculpture technique developed by this research can be applied not only to tungsten but also to other hard materials.

Hardened materials such as metals, carbons and ceramics are used in automobiles, aircraft and buildings. In a fusion reactor study, “tungsten,” which is one of the hardest metal materials, is the most likely candidate for the armour material of the device that receives the plasma heat/particle load. This device is called divertor. In any hardened materials, nanometer scale damages or defects can be formed very near the top surface of the materials. For predicting a material lifetime, it is necessary to know the types of the damages and their depth profiles in the material. To do this, we must observe a cross-section of the region very near the top surface of the material with nano-scale level.

Continue reading “Fusion scientists have developed ‘the nano-scale sculpture technique’” »

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In the future humanity may build enormous structures, feats of mega-engineering that may rival planets or even be of greater scope. This episode catalogs roughly 100 major types of Megastructure, from those that are cities in space to those that rival galaxies.

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Continue reading “The Megastructure Compendium” »

Earth has been hit by an intense, unusual blast of light that could change our understanding of the universe, scientists have said.

Late last year, scientists spotted a 50-second-long blast of energy coming towards Earth, known as a gamma-ray burst or GRB, which are the most powerful explosions in the universe. Immediately, researchers started looking for the afterglow that such blasts leave behind, with that visible light being useful to find where the blast has come from.

The animation describes the concept of launching a nuclear fusion reactor into orbit in sections for final assembly in space. The concept uses live footage of Pulsar’s existing hall effect plasma thrusters (HET) and hybrid rocket engines tested at RAF Westcott in March 2022. Pulsar is also developing LOX / Methane rocket motors to support this concept.

The space firm has already built the most powerful electric propulsion engine in Europe.

Nuclear fusion-powered rockets might be nearer than you think. UK rocket company Pulsar Fusion has been awarded funding from the UK Space Agency to help it develop “integrated nuclear fission-based power systems for electric propulsion”, a press statement shared with IE via email reveals.

Continue reading “A company’s nuclear fusion rockets could help us escape the Solar System in our lifetime” »

Interesting Engineering sighted ‘Spot the Dog’ with construction group Balfour Beatty. Naturally, we had a chat with one of their technicians.

‘Spot the dog,’ Balfour Beatty’s first robotic employee, was sighted by Interesting Engineering (IE) at the ‘Brooklands Science Summer School event’ yesterday (Nov. 29).

Continue reading “Spot the Dog: The robotic dog busy delivering data on dangerous construction sites for Balfour Beatty” »