Boeing patents a fusion reaction based jet engine

[SonicSP]

http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-j ... 015-7?op=1

Boeing filed and receive a patent from the US Patent Office on a engine using lasers and fusion reactions.

From the article:

"Boeing’s new jet engine works by firing high-power lasers at radioactive material, such as Deuterium and Tritium.

The lasers vaporize the radioactive material and causes a fusion reaction — in effect a small thermonuclear explosion.

Hydrogen or helium are the exhaust by-products, which exit the back of the engine under high-pressure. Thrust is produced.

At the same time, the inside wall of the engine’s thruster chamber — coated in uranium 238— reacts with the high-energy neutrons produced by the nuclear reaction and generates immense heat.

The engine harnesses the heat by running coolant along the other side of the the uranium-coated combustion chamber.

This heat-energized coolant is sent through a turbine and generator that produces electricity to power the engine’s lasers. Yes, lasers!

Other than the radioactive material, the engine requires very little in terms of external energy."

It's probably so out there that it's not ever going to built anytime soon - or even ever but it's interesting thing to read about I guess.

Curious on what some posters here think about the design concept since I have read some pretty detailed discussions on nuclear engines or/and reactors here from some of the shows. Or even how safe it is in theory.

They should totally put this and the force field they're making on the Megabot for lulz.

[Seto Kaiba]

NASA's done a few studies and position papers on fusion turbines. I've got a copy of NASA/CR-2005-213749 that describes a few possible options that don't use uranium.

[Kuruni]

Fuck.

Being patented mean that even if Boeing never use it for whatever reason, if someone figure out what might be more practical technique based on similar method, they have to pay Boeing just to test it.

Damn, to think that a huge advancement of humanity may be blocked by a company named after breasts jiggling! Boing! Boing!

[Seto Kaiba]

ZOINKS.

Being patented mean that even if Boeing never use it for whatever reason, if someone figure out what might be more practical technique based on similar method, they have to pay Boeing just to test it.

Only if they do so while Boeing's patent is still valid... we're still a ways off from having sustainable fusion under laboratory conditions, so odds are the 20 year lifespan of Boeing's patent will be over long before anyone can put this into practice.

[MrMarch]

I suppose it's the closest thing to a Macross-style thermonuclear reaction engine we're ever likely to see, but this sounds a bit different. Still, very interesting. I like the idea of a version that doesn't use uranium.

[stormturmoil]

Actually, by the sound of it, the Uranium jacket is there purely to soak up the neutron radiation produced by the D-T fusion reaction; it's only using Depleted Uranium because U238 is damned good as radiation shielding against neutrons because it captures them; it's also good against other forms of radiation due to it's high density.

In other words, it's only using Uranium because Uranium is the best material for the job, rather than because of Nuclear anything. Of course, that won't stop the naysayers who believe Uranium=Nuclear and to whom Nuclear is a dirty word.

[Wilks Waldwika]

Apparently it's a laser-fusion propulsion system.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/ener ... jet-engine

[BrentD15]

Does that mean we're not getting any Doms?