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GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: Quantum Power For Spaceflight? - Unusual source of energy - useful?

http://www.matus1976.com/features/isomer.htm

Picked up on this neat little topic, also featured in a recent Popular Mechanics issue... Anyway, the nucleii of certain materials (eg Hafnium 178) have an unusual "excited nucleus" which can be provoked to release energy when exposed to certain EM energies and regenerated when exposed to high energy (gamma) energies... a quantum storage battery. This isn't nuclear decay, it has nothing to do with the fissioning of a nucleous, its a wierd quantum phenominon that only deals with the energy of the nucleus.

Apparently you can pump a very large amount of energy into a given mass of such materials, and hold more per-pound than Uranium/Plutonium/Thorium etc... say, eight hundred million watts per kilo. Also interesting, when you turn off the excimer source, this additional release of energy stops and the substance will only release whatever radiation (if any) it would normally.

Of course there is a catch, that the energy released is in the form of gamma rays. The USAF is wondering if the rays can be captured to make heat to run a jet engine; what i'm wondering is, could this be turned into heat to power a rocket more efficently than NTR, or used to power an ion/MHD engine directly by atomic ionization? Might make great interstellar spaceship fuel even if it doesn't produce enough power for interplanetary hops.

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[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]

[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]

Euler

Member

From: Corvallis, OR

Registered: 2003-02-06

Posts: 922

Re: Quantum Power For Spaceflight? - Unusual source of energy - useful?

I remember a sci&tech thread about this from a while ago.  We did some discussion of nuclear isomer propulsion, mainly concentrating on using the power directly rather than generating electricity or heat.  The concept is sort of like Orion propulsion, but you do not need critical mass to cause a reaction, so it can generate constant thrust instead of pulses.

GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: Quantum Power For Spaceflight? - Unusual source of energy - useful?

How would that work? As I understand it, Orion used the plasma heated/accelerated by the nuclear detonation to push the vehicle. Nuclear isomers only produce gamma rays, so how would these push a hypothetical spacecraft directly?

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[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]

[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]

Euler

Member

From: Corvallis, OR

Registered: 2003-02-06

Posts: 922

Re: Quantum Power For Spaceflight? - Unusual source of energy - useful?

Turning the gamma rays into useful energy is one problem.  There are not many materials that can efficiently absorb gamma rays.  If the rays are relatively low energy, they can be reflected back and forth in a combustion chamber until they are absorbed. 

The other bug problem is creating energetic isomers.  They are extremely rare in nature, and creating takes a lot of energy.  Current methods of manufacturing have low efficiency and can only make small quantities.

[http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3103]Here is the old thread.

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

Re: Quantum Power For Spaceflight? - Unusual source of energy - useful?

Holy Cow!  It's a spin drive!   

I had always thought that spin drives would prove impractical because of conservation of energy concerns.  However, if the requisite energy really can be stored by _stable_ nucleon spin pairing in large nuclei, all you have to do is figure out how to tap it once you've put it in.

If this really can be scaled up, this is very cool.

  Very cool indeed.

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"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger

SBird

Banned

Registered: 2004-03-10

Posts: 490

Re: Quantum Power For Spaceflight? - Unusual source of energy - useful?

I'm dubious, myself.  This uses very rare isotopes that are generated by a highly inefficient process that releases hard-to-use gamma rays.  If we're going to use that sort of technology, we might as well go the whole way and use antimatter - at least it's got the highest possible energy density and we know how to make it.