Status of fusion research and implications for D/He-3 systems

World wide programs in both magnetic confinement and inertial confinement fusion research have made steady progress towards the experimental demonstration of energy breakeven. However, after breakeven is achieved, considerable time and effort must still be expended to develop a usable power plant. The main program described is focused on Deuterium-Tritium devices. In magnetic confinement, three of the most promising high beta approaches with a reasonable experimental data base are the Field Reversed Configuration, the high field tokamak, and the dense Z-pinch. The situation is less clear in inertial confinement where the first step requires an experimental demonstration of D/T spark ignition. It appears that fusion research has reached a point in time where an R and D plan to develop a D/He-3 fusion reactor can be laid out with some confidence of success

Space fusion energy conversion using a field reversed configuration reactor: A new technical approach for space propulsion and power

The fusion energy conversion design approach, the Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) - when burning deuterium and helium-3, offers a new method and concept for space transportation with high energy demanding programs, like the Manned Mars Mission and planetary science outpost missions require. FRC's will increase safety, reduce costs, and enable new missions by providing a high specific power propulsion system from a high performance fusion engine system that can be optimally designed. By using spacecraft powered by FRC's the space program can fulfill High Energy Space Missions (HESM) in a manner not otherwise possible. FRC's can potentially enable the attainment of high payload mass fractions while doing so within shorter flight times

IRAS observations of AGN candidates at low flux levels

IRAS additional observations were used to obtain a sample of point sources at much fainter flux levels than hitherto available through the IRAS Point Source Catalogue. This sample is being used to compile an incomplete but representative catalogue of faint IRAS candidate Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and to study the evolution of the infrared bright galaxies. Ground based follow up observations (optical spectroscopy) are mainly hampered by identification confusion

NASA-NIAC 2001 Phase I Research Grant on Aneutronic Fusion Spacecraft Architecture

This study was developed because the recognized need of defining of a new spacecraft architecture suitable for aneutronic fusion and featuring game-changing space travel capabilities. The core of this architecture is the definition of a new kind of fusion-based space propulsion system. This research is not about exploring a new fusion energy concept, it actually assumes the availability of an aneutronic fusion energy reactor. The focus is on providing the best (most efficient) utilization of fusion energy for propulsion purposes. The rationale is that without a proper architecture design even the utilization of a fusion reactor as a prime energy source for spacecraft propulsion is not going to provide the required performances for achieving a substantial change of current space travel capabilities

Model of two-picometer deuteron clusters for LENR supported by laser emission of nuclear reactions products

Results about nuclear reactions of deuterons in 2 pm distance was specified in support of the experiments for LENR based on an evaluation of results of Prelas et al. were a Coulomb screening by a factor 13 was derived. These results were especially fitting the later results of ultrahigh density clusters fulfilling conditions of Bose-Einstein condensation where the conditions of surface states with swimming electron layers appeared to be of advantage. These results are now supported by recent measurement of emission of nuclear reaction products from the states of clusters within the voids in crystals (Schottky defects). An evaluation of these developments is presented for comparison about ongoing experimental results of LENR with the measurements of large amounts of neutrons from nuclear reactions in the LENR sources. These results are supported by the detailed quantum mechanical evaluation of the Coulomb screening computations which arrived at the same values as the phenomenological evaluations of the measurements of Prelas et al.

Advanced methods for nuclear reactor gas laser coupling

Research is described that led to the discovery of three nuclear-pumped lasers (NPLs) using mixtures of Ne--N/sub 2/, He--Hg, and He or Ne with CO or CO/sub 2/. The Ne--N/sub 2/ NPL was the first laser obtained with modest neutron fluxes from a TRIGA reactor (vs fast burst reactors used elsewhere in such work), the He--Hg NPL was the first visible nuclear-pumped laser, while the Ne--CO and He--CO/sub 2/ lasers are the first to provide energy storage on a millisecond time scale. Important potential applications of NPLs include coupling and power transmission from remote power stations such as nuclear plants in satellites and neutron-feedback operation of inertial confinement fusion plants

A Radio Galaxy at z=5.19

We report the discovery of the most distant known AGN, the radio galaxy TN J0924-2201 at z = 5.19. The radio source was selected from a new sample of ultra-steep spectrum (USS) sources, has an extreme radio spectral index alpha_365MHz^1.4GHz = -1.63, and is identified at near-IR wavelengths with a very faint, K = 21.3 +- 0.3 object. Spectroscopic observations show a single emission line at lambda ~ 7530A, which we identify as Ly-alpha. The K-band image, sampling rest frame U-band, shows a multi-component, radio-aligned morphology, typical of lower-redshift radio galaxies. TN J0924-2201 extends the near-IR Hubble, or K-z, relation for powerful radio galaxies to z > 5, and is consistent with models of massive galaxies forming at even higher redshifts.Comment: 11 Pages, including 3 PostScript figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter