High Speed Nuclear Commercial Shipping

This site had examined a study of the economics of nuclear power for commercial shipping. The study showed that a nuclear ship would be $40 million per year cheaper to operate when bunker oil is at $500/ton. Those studies had indicated improved economics when bunker fuel is over $300/ton. Bunker oil is currently about $375/ton. …

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Controversial Blacklight Power Signs 6th Commercial License Deal

BlackLight Power (BLP) Inc. signed its sixth commercial license agreement and first with Akridge Energy, LLC. UPDATE: Further Rowan University confirmation has been published Akridge Energy may use the technology to produce electric power up to a maximum continuous capacity of 400 megawatts (MW). To date, BLP has licensed the rights to produce approximately 8,000 …

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Laser Propulsion Tests in Brazil using Gigawatt Pulsed Lasers

At a Brazil-based lab, a hypersonic shock tunnel is linked to two pulsed infrared lasers with peak powers reaching the gigawatt range – the highest power laser propulsion experiments performed to date. Leik Myrabo is an aerospace engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who has demonstrated the feasibility of using ground-based lasers to propel objects …

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Space Elevator Games In final Prep for August 5-14, 2009 : Delayed at Least 4 weeks

The Space Elevator Games for 2009 were delayed but there are competitors no site and final preparations are occuring. UPDATE: The space elevator games are delayed at least 4 weeks. See the Space Elevator blog to track events. Power beaming CompetitionAugust 5, 2009 Sept or October 2009NASA Dryden Flight Research Center,Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, …

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Future Fuel Efficient Airplanes

1. GE Aviation is advancing jet propulsion and its next-generation engine core program, called eCore, through several private- and government-funded R&D programs, many with key technology milestones this year. General Electric is working on HEETE (Highly Efficient Embedded Turbine Engine) A three-year program sponsored by the USAF, HEETE focuses on embedded technologies for the endurance …

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General Fusion Raises USD$9 million

An SEC filing reveals that General Fusion has sold US$9 million out of $13.75 million offering. H/T to Xconomy for the details on this fund raising. General Fusion had been award C$13.9 million from the Canadian government. General Fusion is using the MTF (Magnetized Target Fusion) approach but with a new, patent pending and cost-effective …

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Nuclear and Geothermal Updates

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)’s introduction of a metal-organic heat carrier, or MOHC, in the biphasic fluid may help improve thermodynamic efficiency of the heat recovery process. This image represents the molecular makeup of one of several MOHCs. 1. PNNL developed a superior type of heat-extracting fluid that could dramatically improve the economics of producing …

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Potential Microbial and Algae Biofuel Breakthroughs

1. Solar farming: A photobioreactor houses photosynthetic microorganisms that use the energy in sunlight to make fuel and other chemicals from carbon dioxide and water. Credit: Joule Biotechnologies Joule unveiled its revolutionary Helioculture system for producing SolarFuel™ energy products that will dramatically redefine how the world’s energy needs are met. The modular SolarConverter design is …

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James Cameron’s 3D CGI Avatar Movie coming Dec 18, 2009

25 minutes of Avatar was revealed at the recent comic-con The animated “Avatar” is set on a distant, lush planet called Pandora, a super-saturated world filled with 1,000-foot trees, exotic, near fluorescent forests, fearsome predators and an indigenous people known as the Na’vi — tall, blue humanoids who are peaceful until provoked. The story revolves …

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Carnival of Space 113

Jupiter Impact picture taken by Hubble Carnival of space 113 is up at Dynamics of Cats This site provided the interview with Ross Tierney of Direct Launch and an article on breakthroughs in curing radiation sickness. Three is coverage from Samba about the impact on Jupiter. Centauri Dreams reviews a paper on detecting potentially habitable …

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