Saturday, October 22, 2011

What Harry Reid Can Teach the GOP About 2012

Morning Jay | The Weekly Standard
excerpts:
  • A solid majority of Nevada voters disapproved of both President Obama and Senator Reid, yet the latter was able to win a secure victory.
  • A staggering 45 percent of voters thought Angle’s positions were “too conservative,” and Reid captured 75 percent of those voters.
  • But it is of equal importance that he or she does not commit unforced errors
  • frontlash is pretty much the only shot Obama has [emphasis mine]
 Comment:

"To put it in a nutshell,  frontlash" means making charges like "too conservative".  In Romney's favor, it seems that he makes the fewest errors, but is he going to be able to get out the vote?  Cain may get the conservatives out to vote, but he seems to be making mistakes.

I think Jimmy Carter tried to frontlash Reagan, but it backfired when Reagan said "there you go again".  Both Cain and Romney can employ this tactic if Obama gets too negative.

Update: 10/23

The New York Times, of all places, confirms that the ugliness of today's politics began with Bork.

More from Professor Jacobsen, on the ugliness towards Cain.
Just as we saw liberal feminists fall all over themselves to bash Sarah Palin as an insult to women, so too we see liberals who claim to be enlightened on matters of race fall all over themselves to bash Cain as an insult to blacks.

Comment: So Palin got Borked?

 

Christina Grimmie: Me Singing "Your Song" by Elton John

This girl kicks butt.

Advances in Dense Plasma for Fusion Power and Space Propulsion

via Next Big Future post

Followup post here.

ADVANCES IN DENSE PLASMA FOR FUSION POWER AND SPACE PROPULSION, with George Miley, Ph.D.

Dr. George Miley Replicates Patterson, Names Rossi

Next Big Future and eCat Site

excerpts (eCat site):

  • Dr. Miley feels that the work of Mr. Patterson and Andrea Rossi have many similarities and has offered a theory that is felt to cover both.
  •  I have included a slide show of this presentation below.
  • Previously Dr. Miley has explored the use of fusion for rockets and space planes and a presentation covering that subject can be viewed here.
Comment:
The slide show is fast, so you have to read really fast. Tip: hit the pause button. The link to fusion rocketry is interesting in itself.

Update: 10/23

I revisited the post since I overlooked this snippet:
There is some discussion that he not getting the kilowatts that Patterson was claiming I hear from attendees that Miley is getting about 300 watts of thermal power without inputting any energy. 1[emphasis mine]

George Miley has worked on all kinds of nuclear fusion and headed the nuclear fusion department at the University of Illinois. He is a far more respectable source and researcher than Rossi. 2[emphasis mine]

Comments:
1 That's quite a significant finding. Thermal power without input of energy.

2 There you go again.  But what does politics have to do with it?  I say everything!  Politics and Science are linked.  Scientists can play the political game, just like the politicians.  Money is at stake, as well as power.

Wall Street Did It?

Latest Headlines - Investors.com

excerpts:
  • While not blameless, Wall Street is an easy scapegoat.
  • The problem was the underlying assets: low-quality mortgages.
  • The Democratic National Committee has launched a coordinated attack with the Obama re-election campaign to link GOP candidates closer to Wall Street and the crisis.
Comment:
Ronald Reagan used to quote Edmund Burke who said- "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."   Obama and the left are blaming others for what is their own doing.  The media won't report it, but those who visit these blogs can, and hopefully pass the word along.

JustiaGate

Dianna Cotter,Portland Civil Rights Examiner

Someone was incredibly busy in June 2008 working on an illegal front invisible to the public; searching and altering Supreme Court Cases published at Justia.com which cite the only case in American history - Minor v. Happersett (1875) - to directly construe Article 2 Section 1's natural-born citizen clause in determining a citizenship issue as part of its holding and precedent.

It is one thing to make a big deal out of Obama's citizenship.  It is quite another to tamper with the law itself. This is what makes this a major scandal.  Given the media's total commitment to Obama's well being, as opposed to the well being of this country, it seems doubtful that most people will hear about this at all.

Being Right is Not Enough (video)

Jeff Orchard

excerpts:
  • Popularity <> Truth
  • Perceptions <> Truth
  • Emotions <> Truth
  • But logic is not intrinsically part of our brains. We must learn to think logically. Thus, a logical deduction will not satisfy most believers. In that sense, being right is not enough. 
Comment: I've thought of it as meaning that you needed to bring more to an argument than just reason alone. That is almost sinister in its implications because what do you have after reason?  I would answer that it would mean some type of coercion.

Rossi's Petroldragon and Thermal Depolymerization

This is a followup to a post on the subject of Thermal Depolymerization. (TPD)  I wanted to go into greater detail about Rossi's background, with respect to Petroldragon, and the accusations of fraud.

But first, let me relate how I became interested in TPD.  As those who read my blog will know, I became pretty interested in the subject of energy after writing a post on my old Boots and Oil blog back in 2004.  I saw a new energy crisis looming, as oil production was not keeping up with demand.  I predicted the oil crisis, and sure enough, it happened.  Anyway, I came across a post on Parapundit, which related the story of how turkey guts could be converted into oil and gas.

After looking for this post, I couldn't find it, but I did find this:

ParaPundit: Increased Chinese Demand For Oil Is A Net Loss For The USA
The date was May 8, 2004, before I started my old Boots and Oil blog.  I am sure I read the Parapundit story after that date.  Maybe the author got intrigued about TPD and made a post about it sometime after this date, and that is when I first became aware of the process.

There may have been a connection in Parapundit's post to Howard Graham Buffett, (Warren Buffett's son), who became interested enough in this new technology in order to invest in it.

I also remember hearing about and blogging about how all that biomass might be converted into fuel. This may have been in connection to fuel cells, back in early March this year.  So much about my history with this subject.

I return to TPD in connection to Andrea Rossi.  From the New Energy Times link, a possible connection to what became known as TPD can be found in this quote:
Not long thereafter the news arrived overseas, where U.S. President Jimmy Carter showed his interest in the technology, and right away offered Rossi a permanent entry visa to the United States, in the hopes of convincing him to move to the U.S. to further develop his work. Rossi accepted the invitation to come to the U.S., but he stayed in Washington D.C. for for only a few weeks, as he was still convinced he could refine his invention in his mother country.
 and this,
In December of 1996 Rossi, without a penny, emigrated to the USA and took employment in a company specializing in systems for energy production from biomass: the Bio Development Corporation in Bedford, New Hampshire.
Here's a link to Rossi's side of the story, which is in Italian.   It was most likely the source document for the quotes referenced above.

After reading through the translated story, it remains somewhat murky to me at this point.  Was Rossi unjustly accused of wrongdoing?   I've got Rossi's side of the story, but what about his accusers side?

As for Rossi, he maintains his innocence.  He claims that it was an unjust accusation which deprived him of the benefits of his invention.  From his point of view, the charges were trumped up, so his accusers could have that market to themselves.

As to that counter accusation, you may want to believe Rossi.  But, Rossi was accused by the authorities and evidently spent time in prison because of it.  What about that story?  If the government wrongly accused Rossi, what does that say about the government?   Governments aren't infallible.  Guilty men, or men who appeared to be guilty, have been set free.  Innocent men, who appeared guilty, have been subsequently freed on the basis of new evidence.  Governments are as fallible as the people who run them.

Governments have suppressed cold fusion research.  My personal opinion is that suppression was unjustified. Could there have been more than just one mistake?  If cold fusion is doubtful because of human fallibility, could its critics also be wrong for the same reason?  Much of the justification for doubting Rossi's latest work is based upon the supposed fraud previously perpetrated.  If that accusation of the past was wrong, so could the accusation in the present.  If Rossi was truly innocent in his past, why should he not be believed now?

TPD technology seems to work, although it isn't economical enough at this time.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Russians see room for moonbase in lunar lava caves

Reuters
 excerpts
  • The discovery of volcanic tunnels on the moon could provide a natural shelter for the first lunar colony, cosmonauts and scientists said on Tuesday.
  • "If it turns out that the moon has a number of caves that can provide some protection from radiation and meteor showers, it could be an even more interesting destination than previously thought," he said. 
  • "In ESA, there is still a very strong focus on the moon. It could be a natural first to go there,"
Comment: You have to have a way to get around on the moon, too.

Ten Things to Keep In Mind for 2012

By Kevin D. Williamson - Exchequer - National Review Online

Comment:

A lot of this stuff wouldn't need to be posted if the media did its job.  The media and the Democrats are indistinguishable.

Subscribed videos Oct. 21st

Learn guitar bend and vibrato techniques and string bending within scales lesson


Mess You Up WGTT YT
Maurice Davis band's music accompanies this Wrestling Video


Miramar MCAS 2011 AIR SHOW with your Host Pete! In HD!

Paul Spudis' plan for a sustainable and affordable lunar base

It’s long been a dream to have a human settlement on the Moon, but in this age of budget cuts and indecisive plans for NASA’s future, a Moon base may seem too costly and beyond our reach. However, noted lunar scientist Dr. Paul Spudis from the Lunar and Planetary Institute and a colleague, Tony Lavoie from the Marshall Space Flight Center, have come up with a plan for building a lunar settlement that is not only affordable but sustainable. It creates a Moon base along with a type of ‘transcontinental railroad’ in space which opens up cislunar space – the area between Earth and the Moon – for development.

Podcast with Paul Spudis here and more info at the link above.

Comment:  Spudis' idea was discussed on a post here.

Thomas Sowell: Herman Cain More Black Than Barack Obama

Real Clear Politics

He probably sings better than Obama.

"Private" 1MW eCat Test Will Feature Live Webcam

Free Energy Truth

I didn't see an address so that I can watch it.  I will look for it, and post it here if I find it.

Lawrenceville Plasma Physics produced 150 billion neutrons in each of two shots on October 10

Next Big Future


In the comments section, BW says that they need 300,000 times as much as they are getting now in order to reach break even.


It sounded like good progress until he wrote that.

Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) would be useful for the moon too

Actually, this problem was solved during the Apollo years. The tiny ascent stage on the Lunar Module, which weighed only a little over 10,000 pounds, was a SSTO vehicle. The problem is that you need to double up on it, so that it can do both ascent and descent in the same vehicle. Which it did, but at the cost of 32,399 pounds of hardware. The downside is that it could not be reused. Still got a launch problem, as with the Earth.

I've been researching the topic, and found some interesting stuff. A single VASIMR engine can tow 7 metric tons to a low lunar orbit. If you can keep the weight of a theoretically reusable Lunar Module under that, you can get your Lunar Module into place for a sortie on the lunar surface. The ascent stage for the Apollo programs was less than 5 metric tons. So, if you can do this, you can have the lion's share of an architecture that can do this type of job, and it could all be fully reusable. One more thing is that the VASIMR can't take the astronauts. Some other means needs to be found for that.

I'll stop here and post this as an introduction. I'll update it as the day goes along. Keep tuned.

Update:

The original post on this subject, I assumed 10,000 kg.  There were some errors in the spreadsheet, so I calibrated it, so to speak, by filling in the spreadsheet using Apollo data:
Gives us our baseline spacecraft
From there, I re worked the spreadsheet to get back to a 900 ISP monopropellant propulsion (assuming this is possible).  Mass savings were achieved for propellant, but came at the cost of extra hardware.  Hopefully, the hardware can fit on the spacecraft and not be too heavy.

Does saving 1350 kg in fuel help us?
It may be possible to add additional mass, since the VASIMR can get it to LLO (low lunar orbit) from LEO (low Earth orbit).  So, I added the extra mass, which brings it back up to 7000 kg.  This is less than the original 10,000 kg, but within the capability of the VASIMR from LEO.

Maxxed out at 7000 kg, but this is too heavy for my taste.  Can we lighten it up a little?
It is heavy, so let's lighten it up a little and assume only oxygen monopropellant.  Why oxygen?  Because the moon is loaded with it.  You can harvest it directly from the lunar surface at just about any location.  This gives us the capability to set up "filling stations" all over the lunar surface and get to any part of it.

I found that by using oxygen, it got too heavy, so I deleted some mass.  Hopefully, the configuration is feasible.

Mono propellant reaction mass using oxygen, with ISP of 460, the same as for hydrogen combustion

I think that it isn't assuming too much that an oxygen only propellant can achieve an ISP at the upper range of a conventional hydrogen oxygen combustion engine.  Thus, we are adding 1500 kg in wet mass without needing more fuel.  We can replace the existing rocket engines and add our new hardware, while hopefully remaining under the weight limit.  (cross your fingers)

If this can be achieved, the entire lunar surface is available to us.

Update:

It looks like getting oxygen out of moon rocks may be more of a challenge that I thought.  ( What else is new?)  Anyway, it would be a great idea to go to the lunar poles first, and get situated there.

It turns out that you can obtain your oxygen from the iron oxides on the moon, but you have to beneficiate them first, then use a redox reaction to get the oxygen out.  You get the oxygen out in the form of water or carbon dioxide, depending upon what reducing agent you use- hydrogen or carbon monoxide.  You will at least need a source of hydrogen, and also carbon, which may be available at the poles as well.

I was thinking at some point, you'll want to move from the polar regions to get towards all of the lunar surface area.  You can use lunar oxygen as the reaction mass, you can hop across the surface using nothing more than that as a transportation fuel.  Technically, it would use hydrogen and oxygen in fuel cells, but these elements can be regenerated from the water that the fuel cell produces.  The sun would then be powering your machine, as the energy will be stored in the hydrogen, and thus making hydrogen as the energy carrier for solar power.

Once you have spread out from the polar regions, you can mine the surface for platinum group metals (pgms). Those can be exported to Earth and used there for the hydrogen economy.

Oh, by the way.  You may wonder: why oxygen?  Doesn't that present a problem with oxidizing everything? It turns out that the Space Shuttle's thermal protection used a material that wouldn't oxidize even during the heat of reentry.  You can use that for your heat exchanger.  Parkin's microwave thruster, upon which this idea is based, does the same.

Update: 10/23/11

It looks as if my idea has a serious flaw.  Or at least one serious flaw that I now know about.  The energy calculations are off.  So this idea appears to be off the table.  &^*$!!!!.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

E-cat can't get any respect

What do you say to people who reject something without honestly looking at it?

I doubt that many of the critics at that link have even bothered to examine it with an open mind.  They pronounce their judgments like it was an edict from above.  So confident they are!  To these people, there could never have been a surprise in the history of man, could never have been a thing that was discovered that was not already anticipated.

All things are understood, and foretold before it ever happens, amen.

Balderdash!

Crackdown on Commodity Trading: A Good Idea Spoiled

Yahoo Breakout

Movie "Halloween" (1978)

It appears that this movie is available ( for the time being ) on YouTube.  Today isn't Halloween, but what the heck?

Freddie is back ( Web Series Today )

Cinemassacre's Monster Madness 2011 Day 19: Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master




I usually don't lead off with something like this, but frankly, there's nothing out there to write about- in terms of news.

E-cat news? You can find that elsewhere. Besides, this is more of a "dream" site anyway. Why not a nightmare? Bwa ha ha ha!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Do you remember the Hover Boards in Back to the Future?

Get a load of this!




Not exactly the same thing, but it isn't far from it.

Wealthiest metropolitan area in the United States is now Washington DC

Next Big Future

Comment:

The rather extreme irony of it all is that these people get into power by pretending to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people".   They seem to be, rather, "of the lawyers, by the lawyers, and for the lawyers."

Cain's Stimulating '9-9-9' Tax Reform

Arthur B. Laffer

excerpts:
  • in today's world the tax mandate has many more facets. These include income redistribution, encouraging favored industries, and discouraging unfavorable behavior
  • Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's now famous "9-9-9" plan is his explicit proposal to right the wrongs of our federal tax code.
  • the plan exempts from any tax people below the poverty line
  • I support collecting more in taxes from people with high incomes who choose to actually pay taxes at lower tax rates than use lawyers and accountants to avoid taxes at higher tax rates.
  • Still, a number of my fellow economists don't like the retail sales component of the 9-9-9 plan. They argue that, once in place, the retail rate could be raised to the moon. They are correct, but what they miss is that any tax could be instituted in the future at a higher rate

Comment: Taxes should be for the funding of government and nothing else-neither income redistribution, nor favored industries, nor changing behaviors. Any true conservative should love this plan because a limited government is what it is all about.

Who said the moon isn't made of cheese? "Green" cheese, that is.

I making puns out the wazoo here.  You don't get it?  The kind of cheese I'm talking about is green.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cheese
But it is also green because of this
http://instesre.org/Solar/ApolloEarthRise.jpg
All I'm saying is that you can make money off the moon and promote "greener" policies on Earth.  And it doesn't have to cost too much money.

You can mine lunar platinum, for example.  That can be used for fuel cells on Earth.  You can make solar power satellites and launch them from the moon into Earth orbit.  From there it can provide energy to the Earth.

It takes less energy to get from the Moon to Earth orbit, so it will be more economical.

Hydrogen can be obtained from seawater and made into methanol and shipped to wherever it is needed. Methanol can be electrolyzed back into hydrogen, while saving the carbon dioxide, making it carbon neutral.

The solar power satellites and the platinum can sustain a lunar colony, which saves the expense of getting there because someone is already there.  Their being there has to be sustained and the reason for being there will be sustained because there are resources on the moon which can be exploited.  The economic activity can expand further into deeper space, yielding additional returns.

You can also fashion new worlds from lunar materials.  Getting to and from an Earth Moon Lagragian point to another point in space is a lot easier and cheaper than launching rockets from the ground- even if launch costs come way down.  Space exploration and settlement becomes all the more economically feasible and profitable.  This will yield benefits on the ground, making everyone better off.

"The Power of Herman Cain"

American Thinker
 excerpt:
I thought of this amazing happening when I read about what Herman Cain decided to do when the power went out at his recent speech in Tennessee. He had just started delivering his talk when the generator fueling his mike failed.

After a few awkward moments, Cain did the most amazing thing, something perhaps unique in the annals of politics: he started singing -- and an apt song, "The Impossible Dream."

Comment:  Cain isn't a bad singer.  It's like Gomer Pyle in the sixties sitcom, you may be surprised at how well he does sing.

2012 Republican Presidential Debate

MOXNEWSd0tCOM



Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

Post debate interview with Herman Cain, and my previous post here.

Update:
I am going to watch all of these and make some short comments on each.

Part 1: Lively discussion of Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan.  Cain says read his plan, it is on his website.  Romney talks a bit about his 59 point plan.

Part 2:  There was a lively discussion about RomneyCare as opposed to ObamaCare.  Romney got Gingrich to admit that he got the individual mandate from the Heritage Foundation as well as Gingrich himself. Santorum kept talking over Romney, rude.

Part 3: Rick Perry brings up Romney's hiring of illegals.  Then, he talks over Romney while he is speaking. What is it with this rudeness?  Border fence question.  Bachmann brings up Obama's illegal relatives. Bachmann favors English as official language.  Perry directly accuses Romney of being the main problem with respect to illegals.  Romney loses something with that, it is a direct hit.

Part 4:  Latino vote for Gingrich, which he handles pretty well.  Cain sells tax program again, Perry brings up energy plan.   On the issue of energy Perry sounds a lot like this blog.   Santorum talks about family values. Yucca Mountain question Gingrich answers.  Nothing is mentioned about thorium, which reduces the amount of waste.  Romney says let the free market work.   I think Gingrich loses a bit here.

Part 5:   Real Estate Bubble, Santorum answers.  Perry-Santorum scuffle about TARP.   Romney sells his plan.  Cain explains his position on TARP.  Bachmann accuses Obama of failure to home owners.  Occupy Wall Street question:  asked of Cain.  Cain repeats what he said earlier.   Paul goes after Federal Reserve.
Romney accuses Obama of failure.  Romney and Cain come out the best on this one.  Santorum loses.

Part 6: Romney and Mormonism question, should voters pay attention to religion?  Santorum answers.  Then Gingrich.  Then Perry- who swerves to Obama.  Romney responds by criticizing the idea of paying attention to religion.  Pushes tolerance.  Topic changes to deficit reduction and national defense.   Bachmann criticizes Obama because of his failed policies and especially nuke in Iran.   Gingrich rips special committee process. Trillion spending cut question asked of Paul.  Get out of Afghanistan, says Paul.  Hostage question asked of Cain.  Discussion of Israeli prisoner exchange.  Cain may have a problem with his statements that he has to explain away too often.

Part 7:  Foreign aid-- Perry answers.  Agrees that money shouldn't be sent overseas- defunding UN.   Romney responds-- how to use money- a budget problem he says.  Paul against aid.  Even Israel.  Bachmann says no to that.  Paul brings up Reagan negotiating with hostages.  Gingrich defends Reagan.  Paul is a bit over the top, he loses this- even though he probably makes some good points, he drowns this by going after Reagan. Perry may seem too extreme with UN.  Romney gives a  politically "safe" answer.

Part 8:  Who can beat Obama?  Asked of Santorum.  Says he won swing state of Pennsylvania- twice. Romney responds-- experience in private sector helps with economy issue.  Perry talks about Romney's record v his- says his is better.  Perry and Romney go after it over jobs.  Perry says Romney failed.   Cain says Romney is Wall Street, he is Main Street.  Romney mentions turnarounds.  Bachmann says she is like Reagan.  Gingrich says he about substance.

Who won?  Nobody.  This won't change anything.

Palin: Newt Won Vegas Face-Off, Would "Clobber" Obama In A Debate

Real Clear Politics



More at Free Republic and CNN.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Lithium ion battery hidden in E-cat to fool everybody?

A simple analysis is attempted here:
First, let's take a look at the weight of the E-cat before and after the Oct 6th test- from the pdf titled Test of Energy Catalyzer - referenced here before
Weight of E-cat before test: 98 kg after test: 99 kg
If a battery is inside of the E-cat device, it must be able to fit in there and weigh no more than 98 kg.  Is that possible with a Lithium ion battery?

Let's look at a couple of things in order to answer that question
  1. Specific power for li-on batteries range from 100-250 W-h per kg.  
  2. Energy density is between 250-620 W-h per kg.
How much energy did the E-cat produce in self sustain mode?   I refer to the post I made recently and estimated an amount as follows--
These are the readings from the chart
1. 2.7
2. 6.7
3. 6.5
4. 5.3
5. 7.1
6. 8.5
7. 7.1
8. 5.3
9. 4.9
10. 5.7
11. 4.1
12. 3.9
13. 4.1
14. 6.7
total 78.6
avg reading 5.61 kw
3.5 hrs x 5.61 equals 19.635 kwh produced or 19,635 Watt hours.

This is not a scientific accounting, but it is the best that I am going to do with what I've got available.

Now, based upon the two numbers mentioned above, how much should the supposed lithium ion battery weigh and how big should it be?

Using the most favorable performance data for a li-on battery, it should weigh 19,635 Wh/ 250 Wh/kg which gives the weight of   78.54 kg.  That takes up most of the available weight of the E-cat.  If the performance number 100 Wh /kg is used, it exceeds the weight of the E-cat altogether.  It doesn't appear likely that the lithium ion will fit on the basis of weight.

What about the size?  Again, using the numbers above  19,635 Wh/ 620 W/liter, which gives 31.669 liters.  Again, that would take up most ( if not all) of the available space of the E-cat.  If the performance is less than that, it will be too big to fit inside the device.  It looks implausible to fit a battery like that inside the E-cat.

Another issue is thermal runaway.  Lithium ion batteries need to be cooled down.   If they get too hot, they can explode.  One problem with that is if you were to put it inside the E-cat with a lot of boiling water around it, how does it keep cool?

Another question: how does all that heat affect the performance of the battery?  If it falters just a little, it becomes absolutely impossible for it to fit inside the available space.

All of this supposes also that the battery would not be detected when the E-cat was opened.  Or, everybody who is there is deaf, dumb, blind, or a liar.

But, what about putting the battery elsewhere?  But how do you account for the steam coming out of the E-cat?  No. It is either in the E-cat or it isn't.  You can't pull off this trick any other way that I can see.

But the trick is implausible unless the error is really large.  That is the only plausible fault that exists, in my opinion.

Morning Summary, 10/18/11

A quickie post. I don't have a lot of time this morning, so this is just to inform anybody that posting will be light today.

I am thinking over the lunar rocket proposition. It may turn out to be an interesting proposition.

Update:

Here's what I've figured out so far:
some material obtained from wikipedia- thrust weight ratios and definition of watt
 Hopefully, the above is readable.  I put together sources from a couple web pages.  I wanted it all in one spot, so it can be seen together.  I've been working a bit on the delta v's, so this is not complete.

Update:
Here's some more calculations on a spreadsheet

Update:

If there's a problem here, it may well be that there isn't any such thing as a klystron or what have you that is capable of doing what I am describing. If there is, I'm not finding it on the web. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places.  Gyrotrons and Magnetrons too.  The stuff may be out there, but may not be suitable for this type of application.  This may work, but the mass is more than I expected.  Also, I'm not sure about the power output.

It also may be restricted technology because of its military potential.

I found such topics as induction heating, but this doesn't work for this type of purpose.

Also, I came across something I hadn't seen before: Magnetic field oscillating amplified thruster. However, the ISPs are not what I'm looking for, at least not in that range. Plus the thrust is too low.  Here's another interesting page, but not practically useful.  Also, this.

Overall, the idea may be feasible, but it would have to be some sort of government project.  I would suspect that the government wouldn't want people to fool around too much with this type of technology.

Update:

Compare some of the numbers with the Lunar Excursion Module, which landed 12 men on the moon and brought them back safely.  You can bump that up to 15 men, because of Apollo 13.  If the lunar excursion module wasn't available to the Apollo 13 astronauts, they wouldn't have made it back safely.

Looks like less power on the ascent stage than what I allowed for

Update:
It doesn't say that in this source, but it does in this.  There may be nitrogen on the moon.  If so, you don't need anything else in order to make rocket fuel, such as the hydrazine used on the lunar module on the Apollo moon missions.

Or you could crack water into hydrogen and oxygen and burn it.  But hydrazine may be more easily stored and makes for a simpler engine.

Update: 10/20/2011

I found a likely error by comparing my work with the actual lunar lander numbers, which I obtained here. Also, my numbers were using kgs as opposed to pounds.  The lunar lander ascent stage only weighed 10,000 pounds.   I was allowing for 10,000 kg, and 1 kg equals 2.2 pounds.  This wasn't the error, it was just a coincidence that the numbers were familiar.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Andrea Rossi's E-Cat- the energy catalyzer's test of October 6, 2011

In Italian with English subtitles

Imagine There's No Pizza

SelflessEmpire channel on Youtube

And no dead minners on my pizza.

Superhero and Sidekick return

DATING YOUR MOM

(In case you don't know their real identities, they're Rhett and Link----oops, was I supposed to mention that?)

Floating airship could radically reduce the cost of space access

Sander Olson interviews John Powell of JP Aerospace ---Next Big Future

excerpt (from the comment section):

Here are the 3 remaining potential showstoppers:

1. Scaling active drag reduction.
Active hypersonic drag reduction has been demonstrated in the lab for 30 years. Can we take it out in the real world and scale it up to the airship to orbit requirement?

2. Power density.
Can we achieve the necessary electrical power to mass ratio? The current trend in industry says it will happen in 5 to 7 years, but it's out of our hands.

3. Can you really build two mile long lightweight structures at the edge of space? Working on it, we will let you know.

JP
President
JP Aerospace
America's OTHER Space Program

Comment:
It would be highly ironic and amusing if this can be made to work before NASA can get their big rocket to work.  It won't cost the taxpayer a dime.

Update:

Just noticed the date:  October 6th.  No wonder I missed it.  I was watching the E-cat news very closely that day.

A lot of Nuclear energy could enable an Ammonia as a sustainable fuel

Next Big Future

I wrote about ammonia and methanol synthesis as a hydrogen sources for fuel cells.  I noticed Kirk Sorensen is a contributor to this idea as well.  I've written about thorium too.  Got it covered!

When Cain was at the Fed

Don Surber

Key quote:
Let’s see, an intellectually curious man who can take charge and bring people together. Sounds like the opposite of what we have in the White House today. 

Cafe press is selling Cain bumperstickers and what have you.
Yes, we Cain! bumpersticker

Update:

The Daily Ticker: Here Is Why Herman Cain’s Popularity Boost Won’t Last: Davidowitz

Forbes! Hello Cheap Energy, Hello Brave New World

via Free Energy Truth about the E-cat.

Not an endorsement, but it does speculate a bit about the benefits that could come from this technology.

Best of Web Series Today, 10/17

After finding Christiana Grimmie on the site, I may as well make it one of my regular haunts, if you'll pardon the pun.  ( The video below is about Nightmare on Elm St.)



"Models Playing Dirty" - Ep #14, Model Ball Special Edition HD

Beamed solar power

I've got a brainstorm and so I thought I'd share it with you.  I should mention a speculation alert and also an amateur alert.  I'm not especially qualified to discuss these matters, however, I am hopeful that some of what I post here from time to time might prove useful to someone who is.  In such a case as that, anyone is quite welcome to use these ideas and run with them, if it turns out to be an idea worth pursuing.

The idea is an offshoot of a post, which I made recently about lunar thrusters.  I got into a quandary about it because gyrotrons seemed to be too big, as we see below:
From Parkins' doctoral thesis
Besides, I don't know how useful this would be.  How long can it be fired?  It needs to be continuous, obviously if it is to supply thrust for a rocket off the lunar surface.  It would be incorporated into the device, but that is a lot of mass too.  Kinda defeats the purpose of not just burning the hydrogen and using that as reaction mass.

So, here's the idea:  The gyrotron can be pointed down to the ground, which can be used to generate power on the ground.  It would power itself off the lunar surface and all the way to a geosynchronous orbit.  From there, it will in a position to send its power to the ground.  Thus, the thing that powers it off the moon can now be used to power things on the ground, and sell it!

Then you get the benefit from mass reduction by not using oxygen, which would be otherwise lost to space. You save a piece of hardware that can continue providing useful service for years.  Now, the big question is this: can you manufacture all this on the lunar surface?  You would need a large solar power array, that can lift itself into space by way of this gyrotron.  Therefore, you will also need to manufacture the array on the lunar surface as well.

That part may not be too hard, but the gyrotron could be.

But that's not all. You need to make the rest of the hardware too, like a heat exchanger and rocket nozzle. You would need to be able to obtain all the raw materials from the lunar surface.  Some stuff may have to imported from Earth, but if you do that, you sort of defeat the purpose.  Therefore, you would have to do as much as this through in situ resourcing as possible.

Assuming all of this can be done, so what?  Wouldn't it still be too expensive?  Well, I can't answer that question, but here's the opportunity, if you can:  It costs about 60 cents per kilowatt hour equivalent in order to power an automobile.  That is assuming a 25 mile per gallon vehicle with gasoline selling for $4.00 a gallon.

Why 60 cents?  Take a battery powered auto.  Typically, they get about 4 miles per kilowatt hour.  For 25 miles, let's say that it uses 6 kilowatt hours of electricity.   If it cost 4 dollars to go those 25 miles, then the comparable cost in electricity is 4.00 as well.  Divide 4 by 6 and you get about 60 cents per kilowatt hour equivalent.

Now, all you have to do is compete against that 60 cent a kilowatt hour and you've got it made.

Not only would you need to get the satellite in orbit, you'll need to find platinum on the moon.  Your lunar platinum would be used to power the hydrogen fuel cell cars on the ground on Earth.  Here's how it could work:  Use the electricity beamed from space to synthesize methanol.  You need a source of carbon dioxide.  Easy, that is waste, anybody will let you have that.  You can synthesize the methanol from seawater and carbon dioxide.  Then transport the methanol and electrolyze it back into hydrogen at the point of sale.

Operating a fuel cell vehicle at less than 16 cents per mile would give you a competitive price with gasoline powered cars.  Since fuel celled vehicles get about 60 miles per kg, the cost per kilogram would need to be less than $9.60.  Terrestrially produced hydrogen is less than that.  But not by much.  If you can beat the 60 cents per kilowatt hour, you can beat terrestrially sourced hydrogen.  The cost per mile for the beamed energy produced hydrogen could make this an attractive alternative.

Of course, the cost of fuel celled cars are much higher, no doubt because of the cost of precious metal catalysts, such as platinum.  But that could change if rich sources of platinum are found on the moon.

Toward a Type 1 civilization

LA Times
July 22, 2008|Michael Shermer | Michael Shermer is an adjunct professor in the School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University, the publisher of Skeptic magazine and a monthly columnist for Scientific American. His latest book is "The Mind of the Market."

Someone beat me to the punch.  Shermer is talking about Kardashevian Aspirations several years ago.


 

Are you listening to me, ex-Special Agent Starling?

http://youtu.be/Nb8efy8zHeY

That's a still from a scene from the movie "Hannibal", where Lecter is leading his captors to him and having Agent Starling follow and try to capture them instead.

I get that feeling that people aren't paying attention when I leave a comment somewhere (not here) and somebody really fails to get the point.  I won't name names, but it happened recently with respect to the post about Computerworld and Real Clear Energy.  Somebody didn't actually read what I wrote and made an inaccurate and irrelevant comment.

http://www.realclearenergy.org/


Sunday, October 16, 2011

You gotta admire his enthusiasm

This young man is definitely interested in space. There needs to be more like him.

SpaceX Reusable Rocket, The Grasshopper!!



Jeff Greason Interview



Nautilus-X Will Change Your Life!

Cheap power: An overnight revolution -- Commentary

By Sterling D. Allan, Pure Energy Systems News

excerpts:
  • When considering the logarithmically diminished time it takes to achieve 25% market penetration since the automobile was introduced a century ago (it took a century for it to reach 25%), and more recently the mobile phone took just 13 years, and the web took 7 years; it's conceivable that free energy, starting with Rossi's E-Cat, could take just 3 years.  "Note: I've added a projection for the appearance of "Free Energy" technologies into the marketplace, and how long it will take to reach use by 1/4 of the U.S. Population".
  • Mark Gibbs, a columnist for NetworkWorld, has published an excellent article about Andrea Rossi's E-Cat technology, portraying how it could impact the world, if it is for real. It was picked up by ComputerWorld in Norway. 
  •  But hot fusion is not what the E-Cat does[;] and, while much of the commentary on this device characterizes it as "cold fusion," Rossi claims that it isn't actually cold fusion at all but involves a Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction (I can't figure out what the difference between cold fusion and LENR might be from the research I've done). [ Comment: the difference between cold fusion and LENR may be the difference between protons and neutrons.  But don't quote me on that.]
  • So, here's the question: Let's assume Rossi's E-Cat works. What then?
  • Production costs for anything would fall. The power grid would become obsolete. Power stations of all kinds would no longer be an environmental problem. The balance of economic power worldwide would change and, for example, OPEC would become a historical footnote. [ Comment:  This goes a bit too far.  But the change would be noticeable.]
  • You thought the adoption of the Web was fast? This could change everything overnight.
Comment:

I can see where some may think of this as a bit of hype.  However, the pace of change is quickening.  Some folks have called that the Singularity.

Bread and Circuses

Carnival of Space 219

Comment: Sorry to have to put it this way, but this shouldn't be a spectacle for people's amusement. We've got some real problems here to solve, and I think that space can help us with that. I get the feeling from looking at these sites, that the main interest seems to be in entertainment.

Discovery?
This is your chance to share your original, out-of-this-world take on the future of space exploration—in three minutes or less. Where will we go? What will we discover? Submit your video by November 3, 2011 and we’ll choose ONE winner. [comment: emphasis mine]
How about problem solving?  These people have got it wrong.  But what else is new?  That's how we get the kind of messes we have these days.

I found this on Web Series Today?

She's got a lot of views on her page. Never heard of her before. Evidently, she's a star. I don't how big. Not in the Lady Gaga class, but that doesn't matter.

Me Singing "One and Only" by Adele - Christina Grimmie Cover

Seven Skinny E-Cats Eating Seven Fat Cats

EGO OUT: (comments regarding the Oct.6 Fat Cat experiment) Quoting from Ni-H LENR Genesis 40:21 (a chapter of the Transition Metal LENR Great B...

Comment:  Not a good review of the e-cat demo of Oct 6th.  Quote:
It has happened again- not the ugly facts were slaying beautiful hypotheses but bad experiments have ruined good ideas. 

He may have a point, there.  Anything good could get lost in a maze if improperly executed.  People will get hung up on the process, not the product.

INFORMAVORE's SUNDAY No 477

INFORMAVORE's SUNDAY No 477: My dear Readers, It was a good week for informavores and info-gourmets. My favorite piece this time is the idea to replace the “knowledge w...

Comment: Something here for everyone, this is a lot of stuff. This caught my eye:
Benefits of Laughter Yoga with John Cleese

Why not?

To paraphrase Robert Kennedy

There are those who look at the world the way it is, and ask why... I dream of the way the world could be, and ask why not?

Why not conquer energy and space, which will raise the level of civilization?  What are people afraid of?

Update:

I wonder how many people knew about the Nerva rocket developed in the Apollo Era?   I didn't, until I started writing about space on this blog.  I grew up during the Apollo Era, so it is probably likely that I had heard about it, but had forgotten.  Even now, it seems far fetched.  The significance is that the Saturn V rocket's payload could be increased to 340,000 pounds.  This kind of payload could have been very useful for ambitious missions.  It appears that's why the system was scrapped.

Bad decision.  It need not have resulted in a Mars mission at that time.  A moonbase would have sufficed, and could have been constructed with that kind of capability available with the nuclear Saturn V.  With what we now know about water being on the moon, the decision now appears to have been very short sighted.

But that is "water under the bridge".  We have moved on.

Besides, the anti nukes would have grounded the Nerva rocket many years ago.

How to go forward now?  Eventually, if you had a moonbase, you could process fissionable ores on the moon.  But that is way off into the future.  A way forward could be to enable the development of something capable enough and cheap enough to be used in the near future.

I've explored this idea a little already.  I'll make this a sidebar entry, with a new label "Why not a Moonbase?"