Researchers at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works claim they may have opened a technology channel that could finally realise the Cold War dream of nuclear-powered aircraft with essentially unlimited endurance – a “compact fusion reactor” they say could fit in a shipping container, reach prototype stage in five years and be operational in a decade.
Fission reactors create heat to drive steam turbines by splitting atoms, but also release radiation and generate toxic waste. Fusion units, however, would release vast amounts of clean energy by recreating on Earth the nuclear reactions that power the Sun. Fusion is the power behind H-bombs, but 60 years of research have so far failed to contain these forces to generate electricity.
However, Lockheed Martin claims to have discovered a compact method for building the “magnetic bottles” needed to contain hydrogen plasma at the temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees needed for the atoms to fuse together, realising a net gain in heat and generating helium as a by-product. Other US and European attempts to master fusion power have involved billions of dollars and industrial-scale equipment, but so far have offered little but the promise of clean energy in the distant future from a technology that in principle could end global dependence on fossil fuels, but which has proven daunting to develop. Lockheed Martin, however, says its miniature approach should enable it to quickly produce several iterations of reactor, leading to a prototype in as little as five years.
As illustrated by accidents at reactors like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl or Fukushima, fission technology remains dogged by the dangers that deterred both the US and Soviet Russia from attempting to design nuclear-powered long-range bombers – a concept that in any case lost its appeal with the development of intercontinental missiles.
Whether Lockheed Martin is seriously anticipating fusion-powered aircraft remains to be seen. Explaining the “high risk, high payback” compact fusion concept in a Lockheed Martin video, Skunk Works project lead Thomas McGuire expresses optimism that further miniaturisation could enable a “next generation of airplanes that don’t rely on fuel”. He goes on to say that the fusion reactor he envisions would be safe, clean and “proliferation-free…[which] means we can ship it to the whole world with a good conscience”.
Adds McGuire: “As a defence company our increasing mission is to enhance global security, and this is how we do that in the energy realm.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
