Batteries:
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/17/new-micro-batteries-show-great-potential-now-the-most-powerful-batteries-on-the-planet/
Nuclear engine:
http://dailyfusion.net/2013/04/scientists-testing-nuclear-fusion-powered-rocket-engine-5042/
TL;DR versions:
Microbatteries:
The batteries owe their high performance to their internal 3D microstructure. Batteries have two key components: the anode (minus side) and cathode (plus side). Building on a novel fast-charging cathode design by materials science and engineering professor Paul Braun?s group, King and Pikul developed a matching anode and then developed a new way to integrate the two components at the microscale to make a complete battery with superior performance.
With so much power, the batteries could enable sensors or radio signals that broadcast 30 times farther, or devices 30 times smaller. The batteries are rechargeable and can charge 1,000 times faster than competing technologies?imagine juicing up a credit-card-thin phone in less than a second. In addition to consumer electronics, medical devices, lasers, sensors, and other applications could see leaps forward in technology with such power sources available.
Nuclear fusion engines:
To power a rocket, the team has devised a system in which a powerful magnetic field causes large metal rings to implode around plasma, compressing it to a fusion state. The converging rings merge to form a shell that ignites the fusion, but only for a few microseconds. Even though the compression time is very short, enough energy is released from the fusion reactions to quickly heat and ionize the shell. This super-heated, ionized metal is ejected out of the rocket nozzle at a high velocity. This process is repeated every minute or so, propelling the spacecraft.
Only a small amount of fusion is needed to power a rocket ? a small grain of sand of this material has the same energy content as 1 gallon of rocket fuel.
I hope those batteries can become commercially viable, I would love to see them in phones. What with all the new smartphones with their fancy-pants [hyperbole]Super Mega Ultra Retina AMOLED 8K UHD[/hyperbole] displays (not that I don't like them, they look marvelous) discharging after a day or two of use, it would be nice for them to last longer and charge in just a couple of seconds.
And it seems that with that bad-ass engine it will be possible to have Mars expeditions of just 30-90 days by 2020 (I really hope so).
P.S.
The way that the engine works is beyond cool - using plasma and magnetic fields to implode metal rings so much that they start fusion?
AWESOME
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/17/new-micro-batteries-show-great-potential-now-the-most-powerful-batteries-on-the-planet/
Nuclear engine:
http://dailyfusion.net/2013/04/scientists-testing-nuclear-fusion-powered-rocket-engine-5042/
TL;DR versions:
Microbatteries:
The batteries owe their high performance to their internal 3D microstructure. Batteries have two key components: the anode (minus side) and cathode (plus side). Building on a novel fast-charging cathode design by materials science and engineering professor Paul Braun?s group, King and Pikul developed a matching anode and then developed a new way to integrate the two components at the microscale to make a complete battery with superior performance.
With so much power, the batteries could enable sensors or radio signals that broadcast 30 times farther, or devices 30 times smaller. The batteries are rechargeable and can charge 1,000 times faster than competing technologies?imagine juicing up a credit-card-thin phone in less than a second. In addition to consumer electronics, medical devices, lasers, sensors, and other applications could see leaps forward in technology with such power sources available.
Nuclear fusion engines:
To power a rocket, the team has devised a system in which a powerful magnetic field causes large metal rings to implode around plasma, compressing it to a fusion state. The converging rings merge to form a shell that ignites the fusion, but only for a few microseconds. Even though the compression time is very short, enough energy is released from the fusion reactions to quickly heat and ionize the shell. This super-heated, ionized metal is ejected out of the rocket nozzle at a high velocity. This process is repeated every minute or so, propelling the spacecraft.
Only a small amount of fusion is needed to power a rocket ? a small grain of sand of this material has the same energy content as 1 gallon of rocket fuel.
I hope those batteries can become commercially viable, I would love to see them in phones. What with all the new smartphones with their fancy-pants [hyperbole]Super Mega Ultra Retina AMOLED 8K UHD[/hyperbole] displays (not that I don't like them, they look marvelous) discharging after a day or two of use, it would be nice for them to last longer and charge in just a couple of seconds.
And it seems that with that bad-ass engine it will be possible to have Mars expeditions of just 30-90 days by 2020 (I really hope so).
P.S.
The way that the engine works is beyond cool - using plasma and magnetic fields to implode metal rings so much that they start fusion?
AWESOME
