Nuclear Fusion might not be 20 years away any more...

I'm willing to accept fusion-powered submarines or aircraft carriers as a significant advance. I don't think it will happen, but if it's possible and the Lockheed Skunkworks are indeed making a serious attempt to create them, I'd expect they'd be the most likely to solve the problem. It could also mostly be a stunt to help them win contracts, or some combination of the two.

If this were some Silicon Valley start-up trying to win angel investors with a really optimistic pitch, I'd probably just chuckle and ignore the story unless I heard that they made some actual advance that they'd demonstrated.
 
Actually, a fusion reactor core is almost certainly going to be bigger than a fission reactor core at the same power. Fusion needs to run at 100 million K, that is quite hard to miniaturize without everything exploding.

In fact, what is delaying fusion is the need to build the reactors big to get better efficiency. If you could generate energy by fusion in a small tabletop experiment, it would have been realized a long time ago. Once you have it working, going bigger is just a question of investment.
 
CavLancer said:
Thank you Lockheed Martin, if true.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/breakthrough-future-energy-102227913.html

The old joke... "Fusion is 20 years away and it always will be."
Click to expand...

Agreeing with the others that this video has almost no info on what supposedly changed in what they knew. Not following why the much smaller reactors will be a breakthrough (?) in regards to fusion being a reality instead of the usual fission.
Also the video reminded me of the 'science briefings' in the Starship Troopers movie :(

"Would you like to know more?"
 
Mostly.

BTW, after watching Loockheed video and comparing it with this one from ITER...

Link to video.
...doesnt it looks like Lockheed Martin bought its fusion laboratory in toys r us? For instance look at the machine at 4:58 in the ITER video and compare it to the one at 1:49 in Loockheed video. Both look like the same piece of machinery but it is me or the one in Lockheed's video looks too filmsy and simple, almost fake, compared to the one in ITER's video?

Of course i am speaking out of my ass basically, and hopefully i am totally wrong and Lockheed and this McGuire guy are on something really bright nobody else has think of before, but i cant help about being highly sceptic.
 
Again, I feel I have to point out that this is Lockheed Martin Skunkworks. It isn't Yugo. If it was some fly by night new startup by a bunch of starry-eyed new college grads, I'd be right there with you guys on not buying into it. That isn't the case here.
 
Obviously. i know Lockheed is not in any way some random company they are among the most technologically advanced in the aerospatial sector and have a bright background. But that does not make them omnipotent, and i think that solving fusion is too big even for Lockheed's boots.
 
Are we sure this isn't all part of Operation: Red Cabbage?

I really hope this is an honest claim by Lockheed, and they know what they're doing. Given their track record, it would be a safe bet with almost any other claim. But with fusion, the claims have been made so many times in the past that I need to wait and see.
 
Thorgalaeg said:
Mostly.

BTW, after watching Loockheed video and comparing it with this one from ITER...

Link to video.
...doesnt it looks like Lockheed Martin bought its fusion laboratory in toys r us? For instance look at the machine at 4:58 in the ITER video and compare it to the one at 1:49 in Loockheed video. Both look like the same piece of machinery but it is me or the one in Lockheed's video looks too filmsy and simple, almost fake, compared to the one in ITER's video?

Of course i am speaking out of my ass basically, and hopefully i am totally wrong and Lockheed and this McGuire guy are on something really bright nobody else has think of before, but i cant help about being highly sceptic.
Click to expand...

I agree. But what's the explanation if Lockheed Martin are faking? Is it a PR exercise in industrial misdirection?
 
bhsup said:
Again, I feel I have to point out that this is Lockheed Martin Skunkworks. It isn't Yugo. If it was some fly by night new startup by a bunch of starry-eyed new college grads, I'd be right there with you guys on not buying into it. That isn't the case here.
Click to expand...
They are the skunkworks not magicians, no evidence is still no evidence. It doesnt matter to me who makes the claim, if they dont have any scientific breakthroughs to accompany bold claims im not going to get excited.
 
CavLancer said:
Its Lockheed, the folks who made the SR 71.; If they say they can do this then its likely they can do this. Still, proof would be nice for the principle of the thing.
Click to expand...

They're also the guys who made the F-22 and F-35 which don't perform as advertised and had huge cost overruns. Thist announcement is probably just be a publicity stunt.

...or...

[CYNICISM]
If an american arms manufacturer really invests in fusion research, it's only to get patents and prevent anybody from legally builiding a working reactor in the future.
[/CYNICISM]
 
In all this discussion of Lockheed the aerospace company having credibility it seems like people are glossing over the fact that Lockheed is also a major player in the warship business and has been for a long time. The immediate military application for a hundred MW fusion reactor is naval propulsion. Now maybe they are just trying to scare Newport News for some reason, but usually when Lockheed speaks the DoD takes them very seriously...so I do too.
 
Borachio said:
I agree. But what's the explanation if Lockheed Martin are faking? Is it a PR exercise in industrial misdirection?
Click to expand...
It may have to do with getting more government contracts - essentially using the fact that they're working on fusion power to make themselves look more advanced and win contracts over their competitors. Or it could be a PR stunt for some other purpose. I suspect they're worried that budget cuts will significantly impact their bottom line over the next decade and are trying to appear extraordinarily innovative in order to improve their market position.
 
bhsup said:
Again, I feel I have to point out that this is Lockheed Martin Skunkworks. It isn't Yugo. If it was some fly by night new startup by a bunch of starry-eyed new college grads, I'd be right there with you guys on not buying into it. That isn't the case here.
Click to expand...

Do you own LMT shares?
 
There are only a few companies I'd trust with this news based on reputation and Lockheed Martin is one of them. That said it wouldn't surprise me if this is a big loot-the-company-from-within ploy.
 
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