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For Calliban re Trompe operation... thanks for patiently explaining that operation again. I'm almost certain you explained it when you were describing the delivery of air to mines. That would have been cool air, which might have been appreciated. So I deduce the same 12 volt motor does ** both ** operations. That's pretty slick. The use of solar power eliminates issues of efficiency. It might turn out that this system is more efficient for compression of air than other systems.
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For Calliban!
Of the many interesting ideas you have introduced over the years here in NewMars, some stand out as worthy of further development.
Perhaps all do, come to think of it.
However, the one that I'd like to see progress is the Muon mediated ignition of fusion/fission pellets.
You tossed that idea out in one of the existing topics. I created a dedicated topic for it.
My attempt to develop the idea into a proposal shows (or offers a glimpse perhaps) what might be done.
It seems clear that a linear accelerator to produce protons of the required energy at a constant rate is not only possible but such equipment exists on Earth today.
Work at the US National Ignition Laboratory seems to show that pellets can be positioned correctly to receive concentrated energy.
Your unique knowledge and insight is what appears to me to be needed, to design the pellets for a deep space vessel that would follow the lead of the Orion project but use tiny explosions in great numbers over a long period of time.,
The question of how to benefit from the explosions needs to be clarified.
The Orion project used inert mass directed at a pusher plate to achieve transfer of momentum.
Something like that is needed for this design to become practical.
At the same time, the reaction needs to deliver electrical power and plenty of it.
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For Calliban re Trompe air conditioning...
This initiative of yours might be suitable for a Project topic in the Engineering Category that SpaceNut created for us.
It occurred to me that the thermal energy in the hot air drawn into the water stream is going to heat the water.
Eventually the water will approach the temperature of the incoming air. That may not be a problem.
However, if the reservoir of water is large enough, any excess thermal energy absorbed by the water might flow out into the Earth around the reservoir if the Earth is cooler than the air, which (I presume) would normally be the case.
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TH, I wondered about that. The warm water would lose heat to it's surroundings by a mixture of radiation, conduction and convection. The heat added to the water above ambient air temperature would balance the heat removed from the air during expansion. The equilibrium temperature of the water will depend on the surface area of the trompe, the emissivity of the surface, ambient temperature, wind flow, as well as whether or not it is in direct sunlight. One way of mitigating the problem would be for the inlet pipe to pass through a borehole in the ground. Ground temperature will always be lower than peak summer temperature. Pre-cooling the air would help to remove compression heat from the trompe.
Last edited by Calliban (2026-10-01 15:48:11)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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For Calliban re #454...
Thanks for taking up the question of heating of water in the Trompe compressor!
This has never occurred to me before, but your observation about passage through a channel underground brought drain pipes around homes to mind. Many homes in areas where ground water occurs and thus threaten basements have drainage pipes around part or all of the home. Those ** could ** be used to condition air, but the air thus conditioned might have a musty smell.
Obviously, there is more to this problem than one might suppose.
As an observation ... OpenFOAM is often used to model gas flow or liquid flow. Your proposal would require modeling of both gas ** and ** liquid. It would be a challenge for an advanced physics or engineering student. It would be an opportunity for original work, assuming (of course) that it has not already been studied. I guess that would be the place to start.
If you are interested, you are welcome to write up a description of the proposal and I'm willing to run it by ChatGPT and Gemini. Void or SpaceNut can run it by CoPilot. It would be interesting to see how the results compare.
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For Calliban re Isaac Arthur video on synthetic carbon products...
Thanks for providing the link to that video... I had to split viewing over two sessions but just finished it and i like the ending.
The section about "mining" carbon dioxide from sea water caught my eye ... That would blend nicely with a massive desalination operation, which will be separating molecules of various kinds anyway. CO2 would thus be just one of the spin-off products from a large scale operation.
An example of an ambitious concept in early planning here is to refill the Colorado River with uploaded desalinated sea water.
That would be a large scale project on the order of Hoover Dam but 100 years later.
The fact that such a project is even in public discussion shows how far we humans have come.
Updater Thanks for the link to the Wikipedia article on electric roads, and for your assessment of possible implementations.
The advantages of the subsurface induction system are so overwhelming, I was surprised by your leaning toward an overhead third rail. It is possible the Wikipedia article explains why you decided as you did, but I'll have to return to it later.
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The induction device turned out to be the worst option. (1) It was limited in the power it could transfer; (2) The induction coils were expensive; and (3) It suffered the highest losses of the three systems considered. Overhead catenary (similar to a tram catenary cable) was the most energy efficient option and delivered the most power. However, there were safety problems and the catenary was less useful for power transmission to small vehicles like cars.
The ground level power supply appears to be the best option overall, but still has problems. Low voltage DC can supply limited power, unless very high current is used. Losses are significant and to keep them manageable, transformer-rectifier stations are needed at regular intervals - roughly every few miles. That will be a significant cost. To keep losses at manageable levels (<10% total power consumed) the conductor rails must be thick and must be made from electrical steel (this is almost pure iron). Installation costs may be significant.
The Swedish study concluded that for investment in this technology to be worthwhile, it would need to be adopted by a large part of Europe. It doesn't make sense to have a bespoke electrification technology across a nation with vehicles that only work in that nation. I suspect that the same would be true in North America. The various states of the US and Canada woukd need to agree to roll this out as a general technical solution. Electric vehicles manufacturing in North America coukd then adapt to the new system.
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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For Caliban re induction power transfer (Post #457)
Thanks for taking up my question! Perhaps plain old batteries may turn out to be the most practical solution for a region the size of Europe.
***
Please note that Oldfart1939 has been traveling in Germany.
I've asked him to try to make a contact for GW Johnson. It seems unlikely to me that an ordinary tourist could make such a connection, but (I'm guessing) Oldfart1939 may not be "ordinary".
His commends about his travels may be of interest, because you have generously reported on your travels.
Update question about induction charging: Noting the difficulty of charging while in transit, how about while sitting in a parking space?
All parking spaces could be fitted with induction chargers. This would eliminate the physical plug and make charging an expected part of parking.
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For Calliban re Trompe coolling...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 15#p242115
If you power the equipment with solar power, who cares how much it "costs" if you buy power from the coal fired power plant?
How many solar panels would you need? The cooling season coincides with high overhead sunshine.
I'd like to see you succeed with this "ancient" technique.
Does it help to make the pipe taller?
I'm looking at the data center market to see if there is any advantage It might turn out it is just robbing Peter to pay Paul, but I thought I'd ask.
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For Calliban re Muon topic ...
HG Muller recently posted in the Muon topic.
I spent about an hour with ChatGPT today, attempting to understand the two posts ... on by you and the new one by HG Muller....
After a lot of discussion, I've come up with a single question that you could help us with...
This hits the outer layers, generating negative muons.
We scoured your post and in the end, had to give up. What material are you planning to bombard to generate pions that decay into muons?
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For Calliban re electric roads ...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 03#p242303
This is a fascinating quest! It is the stuff of science fiction vision with an immediate "real Universe" quality.
That 780 volt line might be a bit much for the average consumer. Could 240 VAC work with a little power cart that rolls along the overhead guide, and supplies power by a dangling cable with a quick-disconnect feature if the car has to change lanes?
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For Calliban re electric roads ...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 03#p242303
This is a fascinating quest! It is the stuff of science fiction vision with an immediate "real Universe" quality.
That 780 volt line might be a bit much for the average consumer. Could 240 VAC work with a little power cart that rolls along the overhead guide, and supplies power by a dangling cable with a quick-disconnect feature if the car has to change lanes?
(th)
It could. Catenaries have been used for tramway electrification and powering smaller vehicles is also possible, though cumbersome. The main problem is safety. A ground level rail is robust. Catenary cables are more frequently damaged by the pickup and generally suffer a lot of wear and tear. If a cable fails it could easily be fatal for any road users that it falls upon.
We could use a ground level power supply at lower voltage. But that means either higher current or lower power. Conductor rails are already quite thick, so higher current probably isn't an option. We could put transformer stations closer together. Maybe every kilometer? That increases capital cost. If we reduced voltage down to 60v, we eliminate completely the risk of fatal shock. But transformers must then be 380m (1250') apart to sustain the same power level. Until we have actual numbers it is hard to say whether this is viable or not.
Last edited by Calliban (2026-10-22 12:56:24)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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For Calliban re thoughtful mini-essay.... https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 90#p242490
At first reading, the motivation you've described certainly is persuasive.
At second and third reading, I found myself thinking of notable exceptions to the reasons for human migration.
The motivation you described is powerful and a major current in a very wide stream.
***
My own view is that the Star Trek replicator is far closer than must of us humans realize.
The idea of humans away from Earth being dependent upon Earth certainly has precedent in human history.
That has never lasted long. No human wants to put up with dependency upon a foreign power however benign that power may be.
Never-the-less, you have captured a strong current in human history, and it will surely carry forward into the Solar System.
What I think is more likely in the long run is a thriving exchange of information between human communities. Eventually Earth will be just a small backwater with interesting antiques and museums to visit virtually.
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For Calliban ...
Can I interest you in a new flow in the Boron-11 topic?
With the arrival of HG Muller, we have the potential to build up a small ? amount of knowledge about this important topic?
HG Muller added numerous additional insights relating generally to the problem of fusion.
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For Calliban!
Thank you for this significant contribution to the Aneutronic Fusion topic!
This is exactly the kind of substantial contribution I am hoping for in this topic. We ** may ** have the members on hand to make progress with this topic.
We have no funding, but we have access to the data that has been published by funded individuals and organizations.
It seems to me likely that the folks working this problem around the world are in the top tier. We are fortunate to have members who can understand reports from the field. My hope is that someone will spot something that shows a way forward that everyone else has missed.
A thorough review of all the failures is mandatory.
You and HG Muller have already shown the broad outlines of the problem.
The reward for a solution is significant.
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The holy grail that we are all hoping for is a fusion based propulsion system, that combines high thrust with high ISP. Clean enough to take off from Earth's surface and powerful enough to reach orbit with a single stage and mass ratio <2.0, against our planet's substantial gravity. That would pretty much be the Epstein drive shown in the Expanse series. It would make space travel both fast and cheap and would rapidly open the solar system to human colonisation. So there is a huge amount riding on this. It would only really work in an inertial confinement situation. Magnetic fusion simply cannot achieve the power density needed to power a rocket capable of lifting itself against Earth's gravity. What is more, the driver assemblies would need to be very compact. So the Epstein drive is very technically challenging. Not quite so impossibly difficult as a warp drive. But still technically very difficult.
Last edited by Calliban (2026-10-30 15:07:10)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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For Calliban re post in Boron-11 topic...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 22#p242522
Thank you for NIST links showing ionization energies for Boron and Hydrogen.
Thank you too, for a reprise of your concept of a fission/fusion/ICF strategy.
In your discussion you mentioned working with Boron-11 in a plasma state.
I am pretty sure researchers have attempted to put Boron-11 into such a state.
If you have time to do a bit of research, you may find some interesting examples of researchers investing in equipment to try to achieve fusion using that idea.
To my knowledge, these efforts have not yet succeeded.
Those were simple "hot plasma" experiments, but they may have value as experiments to study.
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Calliban,
I was curious about the Epstein Drive concept, so I looked into it on several sci-fi websites. It's an interesting idea. A terawatt-scale Boron-11 / Hydrogen fusion drive could dump nearly all of the Bremsstrahlung heating it generates into Depleted Uranium "dust". It's an open-cycle gas-core rocket engine using fusion instead of fission.
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As for high-thrust nuclear propulsion: I remember that the director of the institute I worked in (the late prof. Kistenmaker) after his retirement did some research on a gaseous nuclear reactor based on uranium, carbon and fluorine. He claimed that it was possible to confine a mixture of these elements and their molecules (CF4, UF6) could be confined by rapidly spinning it in an ultracentrifuge, from where it could heat non-spinning gas in the center, which could then flow out axially without any of the heavy elements (U and fission products) flowing out. According to him this could be used for building a rocket engine.
I don't know if this concept is internationally known, or hans since been debunked. I just happened to be present at one of the institute's weekly lectures, where he presented these ideas.
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