JoeSchmuckatelli Posted February 9, 2023 Author Share Posted February 9, 2023 https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/coming-campus-nuclear-microreactors-rcna69980 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerbiloid Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/coming-campus-nuclear-microreactors-rcna69980 We had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmerben Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) Gas cooled micro reactor, that's cool. I'd love more specs. there is this https://www.usnc.com/mmr/ Edited February 10, 2023 by farmerben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerbiloid Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 1 hour ago, farmerben said: Gas cooled micro reactor, that's cool. I'd love more specs. there is this https://www.usnc.com/mmr/ The best part of it is the small human-like service robot standing next to it with the hand up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 4 hours ago, farmerben said: Gas cooled micro reactor, that's cool. I'd love more specs. There is this: https://www.usnc.com/mmr/ This does seem pleasingly complete. They even make their own fuel pellets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDE Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 6 hours ago, farmerben said: Gas cooled micro reactor, that's cool. I'd love more specs. there is this https://www.usnc.com/mmr/ I must ask, though... why the SLS in the illustration of a site in Alaska? 1 hour ago, AckSed said: They even make their own fuel pellets. And yet Bill Gates's project couldn't? Doesn't fit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) 19 minutes ago, DDE said: I must ask, though... why the SLS in the illustration of a site in Alaska? Expression of confidence? "Hey NASA, we can place this anywhere! Fund us!" 19 minutes ago, DDE said: And yet Bill Gates's project couldn't? Doesn't fit... Speculation: I think this may be an outgrowth of something from Lawrence Livermore Labs, and it lets them piggyback onto existing regulations granted to the Oak Ridge site used by the Manhattan Project instead of being snowed under with forms. Edit: it is an outgrowth of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. So in regulatory terms, it's right down the street. Edited February 10, 2023 by AckSed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerbiloid Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 They reuse it to save RAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve9728 Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 The "news" but not pretty "new" and I think is quite cool: the Chinese rescue team using wire-tethered drones to light rescue site in Turkey. The reason why not pretty 'new' is I found that this way to using the drones was already used at the flood happened in Henan Province in 2021. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 Aerogel could be used to make a vacuum dirigible. They tested different densities of aerogel and about three different chemistries, then sucked all the air out of a tube capped with each one and tested how long they held their vacuum. Paradoxically, the least dense aerogel held vacuum the best, taking about 6 hours for it to reach ambient atmospheric pressure. They also tested the strength of aerogel reinforced with helical silica fibres and found it to be greatly increased. Second stage was making pressure vessels out of the aerogel. Using the densest aerogel, they moulded two hemispheres, gave one an air valve, mated them together and turned on the vacuum pump. It held, and when they applied vacuum grease to the interfaces, the pressure dropped below what the meter could measure. Turning off the pump, it lasted about 50 seconds before it separated. Then, they reassembled it, sucked all the air out again... and beat it with a ball-peen hammer. The wall of the vessel was made of foam less than a centimetre thick, and yet it took two or three hits before it failed. Now that's science. Summary: these basic aerogel vacuum vessels can withstand a hoop stress of 292 megaPascals, withstand impacts and they are at a density of 34 times that of atmospheric air. Larger ones about 25cm across would be around 10 times the density. If the trend continues, and they make fibre-reinforced aerogel that much stronger, you might get your vacuum aerostat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beamer Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Blue Origin creates solar cells out of simulated lunar regolith: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/blue-origin-makes-a-big-lunar-announcement-without-any-fanfare/ Quote The engineering work is based on a process known as "molten regolith electrolysis," and Blue Origin has advanced the state of the art for solar cell manufacturing. In this process, a direct electric current is applied to the simulated regolith at a high temperature, above 1,600° Celsius. Through this electrolysis process, iron, silicon, and aluminum can be extracted from the lunar regolith. Blue Origin says it has produced silicon to more than 99.999 percent purity through molten regolith electrolysis. The key advance made by Blue Alchemist is that its engineers and scientists have taken the byproducts of this reaction—and these materials alone—to fabricate solar cells as well as the protective glass cover that would allow them to survive a decade or longer on the lunar surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 I am highly interested in this, and not only because ye olde Artemis program and SpaceX are going back to the moon. This has been a dream of a fair few lunar scientists for a while, and it's now a reality. I do wonder what efficiency the cells produced operate at? Still exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 52 minutes ago, Beamer said: Blue Origin creates solar cells out of simulated lunar regolith Holy [Redacted excitement due to forum rules]-balls! That, if functional, is awesome-sauce! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beamer Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 20 minutes ago, AckSed said: I am highly interested in this, and not only because ye olde Artemis program and SpaceX are going back to the moon. This has been a dream of a fair few lunar scientists for a while, and it's now a reality. I do wonder what efficiency the cells produced operate at? Still exciting. I imagine you can get away with some sub-par production methods and still get a very decent overall efficiency. Higher efficiency is always better of course, but many aspects that require both high efficiency and high durability on earth should be absent or far less stringent on the lunar surface due to the absence of atmosphere and abundance of available real estate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 20 minutes ago, Beamer said: I imagine you can get away with some sub-par production methods and still get a very decent overall efficiency. Higher efficiency is always better of course, but many aspects that require both high efficiency and high durability on earth should be absent or far less stringent on the lunar surface due to the absence of atmosphere and abundance of available real estate. This. If it can be made and laid out by autonomous machines, then who really cares how efficient it is? The $/W is bound to be magnitudes cheaper than shipping from Earth. The first steam engines were 0.5-1% efficient, after all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 15 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said: This. If it can be made and laid out by autonomous machines, then who really cares how efficient it is? The $/W is bound to be magnitudes cheaper than shipping from Earth. The first steam engines were 0.5-1% efficient, after all Yes, it was only useful pumping water out of coal mines as you got more coal out of the mine and other costs like wages was higher, the transport cost was also low who was important as this obviously predated steam trains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 Next stop, the Luna Ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 Meh - the 'beaming power to earth' thing has so many problems it's not worth spending the time / money on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 6 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Meh - the 'beaming power to earth' thing has so many problems it's not worth spending the time / money on. Not for beaming power to Earth, but for powering equipment on the Moon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 3 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said: Not for beaming power to Earth, but for powering equipment on the Moon. From the article: 20-kilometer-diameter antennas would beam the power to receivers on Earth. Just now, JoeSchmuckatelli said: From the article: 20-kilometer-diameter antennas would beam the power to receivers on Earth. I'm almost laughing, actually. 20 KM. uh. yeah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 @JoeSchmuckatelli My bad, didn't actually read the article, just read the posted quote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 I would be more interested in beaming power to spacecraft, powering mass drivers and even beaming lightsails to interstellar speeds. As Xykon says, "Power equals power." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 33 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said: @JoeSchmuckatelli My bad, didn't actually read the article, just read the posted quote My first read through I almost missed it - I figured they were talking about how to avoid the 2-weeks of night thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 44 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: From the article: 20-kilometer-diameter antennas would beam the power to receivers on Earth. I'm almost laughing, actually. 20 KM. uh. yeah Ok wait. Now I've read the linked BO article on arstechnica. I didn't see anything about beamed power in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 24 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said: Ok wait. Now I've read the linked BO article on arstechnica. I didn't see anything about beamed power in there? Arstechnica article? The only link I see is the one above called Luna Ring Oh wait - you read the regolith article about BO. That is cool! The 20km antenna is the Luna Ring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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