Centrifugal Magnetic Mirrors could enable commercial nuclear fusion reactors on Earth and are also promising for next level propulsion in space. There is funded near term work for both goals. An early Centrifugal Magnetic Mirror propulsion concept could achieve 1 to 10 newtons of thrust with 10,000 to 30000 ISP. This would be propulsion that is 30 to 100 times more fuel efficient than chemical propulsion.
The magnetic mirror is the simplest form of steady magnetic confinement, and centrifugal rotation at supersonic speeds makes it a promising fusion reactor candidate for its stability, engineering simplicity, and expected affordability with respect to other fusion concepts.
Simple mirrors are known to be unstable at thermonuclear conditions. Imposed supersonic rotation stabilizes them and helps heat the plasma all the way to fusion temperatures. The primary goal in CMFX is to achieve high temperatures, with better density control and longer steady discharges than in the previous generation. CMFX is an intermediate but important step in the development of a centrifugal mirror reactor, and success in this program will enable a fast path toward the goal of commercial fusion reactors.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
Before any joke is made, remember, Uranus is Latin and therefore it’s pronounced Ooranoos.
Ancient Greek: Οὐρανός, literally ’sky’, [uːranós]
Sounds interesting… With radius on the order of a meter, supersonic could mean tangential velocity at ~6000 RPM (too lazy to math). Changing magnetic field faster than the jello can squeeze out of confinement?
I’m here because I like this site.
I’m wondering, though, if my device is unique, in that, when trying to read an article, dozens of pop-ups, autoplay, and re-autoplay, videos reloading the page, over and over, occasionally deleting comments as I’m trying to write.
The videos drain my battery faster.
I don’t want to use an ad blocker, but, wow.
Maybe it’s just my bad luck?
Yeah, Brian has made the site almost unusable with all his ads and videos. No option but to use an adblocker until the site’s user experience improves.
Brian runs the site at the bleeding edge, and often the bleeding out edge. This site has crashed and burned more often than any other I’m acquainted with, often taking with it years of labor intensive detailed comment history, one of the reasons several of us no longer devote large amounts of time to math intensive comments. I think pretty much everybody has found it necessary to block at least some elements of the site to read it on mobile devices.
For all that it’s a regular site for me, but I could use a lot less gosh wow site design to go with the gosh wow stories.