richard Dell interview -claims space propulsion breakthrough

[nextbigfuture]

Richard Dell claims imminent breakthrough with nuclear fusion
propulsion and energy


Why this has some credibility - it is based off of the work of George
Miley, Miley is involved and they have greatly improved on what Miley
was working on. There is rumors of $7 million in funding already.

Note: he is not looking for government funding but wants one of the
wealthy dabblers in space (Bezos, Elon Musk, Bigelow, etc... to step
up with some big money)

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/01/richar ... clear.html

Here is the Richard Dell interview. Mr. Dell believes that he and his
team have developed a method for generating fusion power which is
appropriate for providing the propulsion for exploring and colonizing
space. He is confident that this approach could lead to spacecraft
capable of flying to the moon and landing on it, and returning to
earth using a single craft without jettisoning any stages or
equipment. This technology could also be used to send humans to mars
in only 2 months. His company, which is still largely in stealth mode,
plans on generating short term revenue by selling more efficient
satellite maneuvering thrusters to the satellite industry. Mr. Dell is
confident that breakeven fusion power generation will be demonstrated
within the next 3 years.

Highlight answers from Mr Dell in this the interview:

This technology will change everything. By 2020, we could be
actively implementing commercial settlement and/or tourist expeditions
to Mars.

2011 or 2012 will be the year of small scale fusion

This system will have ten times the propulsive thrust of a
George Miley IEC fusion propulsion proposal

He is working with George Miley, respected figure in nuclear fusion.

George Miley had this IEC Fusion/ MHD spaceplane design.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/05/combin ... d-iec.html

Here is a 100 page presentation by Miley on the work
It is ten times better propulsive thrust than previous IEC fusion spaceplane proposal.

Richard Dell on the page after the title as the program manager.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= ... y=CO7D85UK

the current configuration can achieve ten times the propulsion as a Hall thruster for the preliminary satellite application and market

[ladajo]

This system will have ten billion times the propulsive thrust of a
George Miley IEC fusion propulsion proposal

That, in concept, makes for a very frightening Isp translation.

As noted the SSTO is very similar to Bussard's proposal.

Edit: Added quote from interview:

We are confident that our aneutronic fusion space propulsion system

Hmmm. But then he says HE3 fuel.

[nextbigfuture]

Read the ten orders of magnitude in the interview. Put it out before emailing and getting the correction as ten times thrust.

Although a fully successful IEC fusion setup could scale quite big. Like what Bussard had talked about.

[Giorgio]

Lot of interesting news in these first week of the new year.
Let's see what all of this will bring to.
My only concern with his claims is the lack of details, which is something that I never take lightly, especially when such big claims are involved.

April-June 2011 is getting more and more notes in my agenda

[ladajo]

I see you edited the article
I took it initially as Ten billion for the Hydrid IEC-MHD and 10 times the thrust for the improved satellite thruster. So it is an OOM for both?
Still, does that translate to an OOM for Isp?

My interpretation of the article is that it is two seperate things tech wise - one an IEC improvement, the other a better thruster.
Are they a one in the same of the breakthrough?
Did he indicate at all what the IEC leap was based on/around?
Any insight to what he is actually up to?

[nextbigfuture]

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= ... y=CO7D85UK

[nextbigfuture]

I do not understand what OOM is referring to.

In the 98 pager there is a description of being able to use the IEC in jet mode for propulsion.

The ships that are designed

IEC Fusion Ship I
500 MT
Isp=16,000
Thrust= 1028 N

IEC Fusion Ship II
500 MT
Isp=35,000
Thrust= 4369 N

IEC power units can be added in series to develop higher power units such as required for deep space propulsion -- Magnetically Channeled Spherical Array, MCSA

High Power Operation
Eliminates Grid Structure
Increase Energy Confinement Time

they are tuning the IEC configuration for space propulsion

If they pulse it up to several thousand amps then it is OK if IEC only has scales by cubing the power instead of to the fifth power to get to 25 MW

Brian Wang

[GIThruster]

"Why this has some credibility - it is based off of the work of George
Miley. . ."

Yeah but trouble is, neither Richard Dell Sr., nor his son Richard Dell Jr., has any credibility whatsoever. They're both con-artists.

Sr. conned a rep in congress to give him $40 million in a line item, and Jr. is worse.

They're both living off the taxpayer's purse, pretending to know an amp from a volt.

They're both liars.

Just because George Miley suffers fools, doesn't mean the Dells are anything other than con artists.

[djolds1]

We are confident that our aneutronic fusion space propulsion system

Hmmm. But then he says HE3 fuel.

DHe3 has been popularly credited as aneutronic for decades. Only purists insist it isn't.

"Why this has some credibility - it is based off of the work of George Miley. . ."

Yeah but trouble is, neither Richard Dell Sr., nor his son Richard Dell Jr., has any credibility whatsoever. They're both con-artists.

The same was said of Eric Lerner little more than a year ago, and yet his DPF seems to be panning out. Wait and see. There does seem to be something in the air at the moment wrt successful small scale fusion demonstrators.

[KitemanSA]

Hmmm. But then he says HE3 fuel.

DHe3 has been popularly credited as aneutronic for decades. Only purists insist it isn't.

D-³He is not a-neutronic due to the D-D side (actually dominant at the lower energies) reaction. The ³He-³He should be effectively a-neutronic unless there is a significant ³He-He side reaction that produces a neutron. I don't know about that one.

[djolds1]

Hmmm. But then he says HE3 fuel.

DHe3 has been popularly credited as aneutronic for decades. Only purists insist it isn't.

D-³He is not a-neutronic due to the D-D side (actually dominant at the lower energies) reaction.

Yes, I know. Note the qualifying adverb popularly. Regardless, DHe3 is 1/16th as neutronic/"toxic" as the "preferred" DT fuel cycle (neutronicity of 0.8 vs ~0.05). More than good enough as an alternative for the real world.

[D Tibbets]

I haven't read the article yet, though I know Miley has proposed an IEC thruster that would be higher thrust and possibly higher ISP than Hall thrusters. But, this requires a separate power source as it, like all other IEC efforts thus far is far below break even. Polywell might change this in the future, but not yet. Typical gridded fusors are much less likely to reach this lofty goal.

OOM, I believe, stands for Order Of Magnitude.

[EDIT] Quickly looking at the article, it looks like an extension of a paper Miley published recently. That paper had one ring magnet placed between two elliptical (?) shaped cathodes. The electrons, I think, would be traped inside the ring magnet and electrostatic ally confine ions. Presumably the cathodes were to also act as repellers to prevent the electrons from escaping back towards the gridded cathode. He was struggling with various issues, Several ring magnets and a surrounding solenoidal magnet seem to be a progression. I didn't see them mention any experiments.

Dan Tibbets

[mdeminico]

DHe3 has been popularly credited as aneutronic for decades. Only purists insist it isn't.

D-³He is not a-neutronic due to the D-D side (actually dominant at the lower energies) reaction.

Yes, I know. Note the qualifying adverb popularly. Regardless, DHe3 is 1/16th as neutronic/"toxic" as the "preferred" DT fuel cycle (neutronicity of 0.8 vs ~0.05). More than good enough as an alternative for the real world.

Not when you're talking the massive power outputs involved to produce propulsion.

DT fuel produces lots of neutrons, enough to kill you at relatively light power outputs. Scale that up to the power output required for propulsion, and it's more than enough to kill you hundreds or thousands of times over.

Even if DHe3 was 1/50th as neutronic as DT, it's still not safe. Take 1/50th of 100. Still enough to kill you. Twice.

[Nik]

Uh, if they can get controlled fusion working, building even a modest power station --Or replacing / supplementing the fossil-fuel stages-- would pay for their space project...

[mdeminico]

Uh, if they can get controlled fusion working, building even a modest power station --Or replacing / supplementing the fossil-fuel stages-- would pay for their space project...

mmmmmm hmm.