Magnetic Field Thruster Developed 257
ndverdo writes "There are reports of a working magnetic field engine prototype based on Alfvén waves designed by Austrian scientists. According to the reports fuel savings in rocket engines of 90% could be achieved. Other benefits include enhanced durability due to the nozzle forming outside the engine."
Yeah but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Yeah but... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Yeah but... (Score:5, Informative)
They usually have problems with erosion, not to mention the low thrust-to-weight ratio (which means you cannot get off the Earth's surface with one). Also, they take a lot of juice, so you likely need something like a nuclear reactor or friggin huge solar array (we are talking MW here) to generate enough electricity to power one of these babies.
Re:Yeah but... (Score:5, Informative)
MOA: Magnetic Field Oscillating Amplified Thruster
Mr. Norbert Frischauf, Booz Allen Hamilton, Austria
Mr. Tobias Bartusch, University of Augsburg, Germany
Dr. Andreas Grassauer, Green Hills Biotechnology, Austria
Mr. Manfred Hettmer, Manfred Hettmer Datenverarbeitung, Austria
Abstract - It was in 1942, when the later Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén [wikipedia.org] published a letter, stating, that oscillating magnetic fields can accelerate ionised matter via magneto hydrodynamic interactions in a wave like fashion. These waves were later called "Alfvén waves [wikipedia.org]", in honour of their discoverer. Although the evidence for Alfvén's hypothesis came already rather early with the observation of certain plasma phenomena, such as being connected with high solar wind Wolf-Rayet stars, more than 60 years had to pass by before a technical implementation of Alfvén waves for propulsive purposes was proposed for the first time.
The name of the concept, utilising Alfvén waves to accelerate ionised matter for propulsive purposes, is MOA - Magnetic field Oscillating Amplified thruster. Alfvén waves are generated by making use of two coils, one being permanently powered and serving also as magnetic nozzle, the other one being switched on and off in a cyclic way, deforming the field lines of the overall system.
It is this deformation that generates Alfvén waves, which are in the next step used to transport and compress the propulsive medium, in theory leading to a propulsion system with a much higher performance than any other electric propulsion system.
Based on computer simulations, which we conducted to get a first estimate on the performance of the system, MOA is a highly flexible propulsion system, whose performance parameters might easily be adapted, by changing the mass flow and/or the power level. As such the system is capable to deliver a maximum specific impulse of 13116 s (12.87 mN) at a power level of 11.16 kW, using Xe [wikipedia.org] as propellant, but can also be attuned to provide a thrust of 236.5 mN (2411 s) at 6.15 kW of power.
Although a dual-use system, space propulsion is expected to be the prime application for MOA. As MOA works best in high-power mode and with ionised matter, utilisation concepts range from a high-efficient Nuclear Electric Propulsion System, to an 'afterburner' for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Systems. This wide range of applications makes MOA a unique accessory for any nuclear propulsion system to overcome specific concept drawbacks, allowing a full-fledged hybrid nuclear propulsion system, with attune able thrust / specific impulse parameters, perfectly suited for nearly all types of space missions.
This article will be presented on Friday, October 21 2005, 08h30m at the 56th International Astronautical Congress [iac2005.org] in Fukuoka, Japan.
Re:Yeah but... (Score:5, Funny)
Surely everyone must be familiar with Drs. Hikita and Lazardo's work on the oscillation overthruster!
Re:Yeah but... (Score:2)
Re:Yeah but... (Score:2)
Yeah but the article is inacurate. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Yeah but the article is inacurate. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yeah but the article is inacurate. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeah but the article is inacurate. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yeah but the article is inacurate. (Score:3, Interesting)
top eight implications (Score:4, Funny)
This has loads of implications:
1) longer lived satellites, which by weight are 50% fuel
2) heavier payloads for rockets.
3) smaller more robust rockets--no more shuttle fuel tank explositions
4) launch the ISS in 10x fewer launches, making pH of acidified atmosphere 1 pH unit higher, closer to breathable.
4) ten times fewer mobile ballistic missiles to hide and still be able to destroy the earth
5) perhaps a return trip from mars.
6) my personal rocket car will get better fuel milage than my hummer.
7) New distance record for rocket propelled pumpkin toss
8) Jet pack, baby!
By the way, When will these be available for my este's rocket and bong lighter ?
Re:top eight implications (Score:5, Funny)
Wow... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Funny)
With the help of one on "Alfven waves" of based plasma propulsion the thrust of a rocket can be drastically reduced increased, at the same time the fuel consumption, so the idea.
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wow... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow... (Score:4, Funny)
Anyone has any idea what it was supposed to mean ?
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
He got ahold of some really bad joints.....
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
Re:Wow... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Informative)
More push, less consumption (diepresse.com) 14.10.2005
Domestic researchers developed a plasma-drive, that should revolutionize space
flight.
The idea is 20 years old and comes of Manfred Hettmer, president of the Austrian Mars Society: by means of a plasma-drive being based on "Alfven-waves", the push of a rocket could increased, drastically diminished become simultaneously the fuel consumption, so the idea.
And actually, according to tests leads the plasma drives to a fuel saving of appro
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Funny)
It won't hurt you to suffer it one time - hah!
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
Re:Wow... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
Its pure babel (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Translate it again? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Its pure babel (Score:2)
Did They interview Yoda? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Did They interview Yoda? (Score:4, Informative)
Oblig... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Oblig... (Score:2)
Obviously (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obviously (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Obviously (Score:2, Funny)
Amazing it is (Score:2, Funny)
Rockets vs Space Elevator (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Rockets vs Space Elevator (Score:3, Informative)
I think you'll find that this effect has a fairly small thrust/mass ratio, so it won't really be suitable for heavy lifters. While we're at it what does efficiency mean in this context? Why don't they quote a specific impulse?
Anyway, it sounds like a good thing.
the soviet joke (Score:3, Funny)
With the help of one on "Alfven waves" of based plasma propulsion the thrust of a rocket can be drastically reduced increased, at the same time the fuel consumption, so the idea.
In das Soviet-Russeland, der Rocketfuelconsumption reduces increases YOU! So.
Perfectly understandable... (Score:5, Informative)
This sort of thing has been in the works forever and there's entire university physics and astrophysics texts written on it as well as related disciplines including plasma and ion propulsion. That the superheated reaction products of a rocket are ionized and thus subject to magnetic fields is well known. What is not well known is when we might make some use of this.
We do know that various superconductors are in that state when subjected to the cryogenic temperatures of liquified oxygen and hydrogen and using the fuel and oxidizer to cool such magnets would be an interesting thing. It would have to be in the line before the liquified reactants reached the nozzle cooling section but if it worked it might well dramatically reduce the size and thus mass of the nozzle and thus the cooling requirements as well. It depends on the tradeoff of field generating power equipment, coils, and so forth.
Ultimately the basic research being done here will be contributory to the future of space propulsion in its own small way.
Re:Perfectly understandable... (Score:4, Interesting)
A studied response, that - but will the fuels of an upper-stage necessarily be cryogenic, especially at the low fuel pressures at the latter life of the fuel supply? I'd be interested in seeing how much of the energy goes into keeping the magnetic post-nozzle configuration alive past that point. But I like the idea, and would be a little surprised if it couldn't be scaled up to main engines. Any efficiency gains at the heavy end of the trajectory would pay off handsomely.
Re:Perfectly understandable... (Score:3)
99% of the problem is that babelfish, systran, and all the others, don't even try to move the verb where it should be.
Babelfish supports many languages that I don't know anything about. However, I can say with certainty, it would be trivially easy to compile a few wordlists for English and German, and write a script to move th
Come On Editors (Score:5, Insightful)
USE CORAL CACHE and create a Fish-friendly copy [nyud.net]!
It's not ignorance anymore editors, it's pure arrogance. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" Yeah, so you direct the tsunami that is Slashdot. Ooh, aah, wow. Altavista doesn't even get any ad-generated revenue. This is what will make people block specific referrers. I know if I was the webmaster for Altavista, Babel would not allow references from slashdot.org anymore.
Re:Come On Editors (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Come On Editors (Score:2)
Re:Come On Editors (Score:3)
Error decoding translated text.
We're sorry we've encountered an error with your request.
If you think this is a bug we should know about send us e-mail and let us know the following:
* What browser you were using.
* The operating system you are on.
* The type of translation you were trying when this error occurred.
The
Re:Come On Editors (Score:2)
Already happened. Bugzilla already blocks people coming from Slashdot, and at least two stories this past cfortnight have redirected Slashdot visitors to a Goatse site. Having what amounts to a denial of service attack aimed at you without warning is considered to be extremely unwelcome by some people.
Re:Come On Editors (Score:2)
Re:Come On Editors (Score:2)
then, if the page gets put on slashdot.org or digg.com, you can shit a brick when you see your bandwidth bill exceed $17,000 in just four hours.
You are naive. I think that whole uppety attitude of yours will die away quickly if this happens to you.
Re:Come On Editors (Score:2)
Re:Come On Editors (Score:2)
Yes, but there's a difference between normal access to a website and thousands of Slashdotters all requesting the same resource at the same time. And if the website isn't a money-spinner, the extra bandwidth bills could easily have the effect of shutting the site down completely for weeks if not permanently.
In any case, the nobody is complaining about the visitors themselves. People are complaining that the Slashdot editors are we
Re:Come On Editors (Score:4, Insightful)
I hear people screaming at the editors over and over, telling them they should link to Coral/Mirrordot/Wayback/etc. As nice as it sounds in theory, every time somebody posts a comment with a link to any of those web caches, they go down much more quickly than the linked website itself.
One benefit of linking to websites directly is that they're each only serving up the contents for one story. If the editors used any of those caches, they'd be responsible for serving up the traffic for ALL slashdot stories. They'd close-up shop permanently after maybe 2 days of that.
If you've got some actual, viable alternative, let us all know about it.
Cache Catch (Score:2)
Re:Come On Editors (Score:3, Informative)
Firefox users can just install the Coral Cache extension [coralcdn.org] and save the bother of typing ".nyud.net:8090" to the URL and the obligatory "why not use Coral?!?!" re
Re:WikiSlash? (Score:2)
googling for a readable story (Score:5, Informative)
Ah, Randseed! His eyes uncovered! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ah, Randseed! His eyes uncovered! (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, couldn't resist...
It would be simpler... (Score:4, Informative)
Anyway, here's a better(or at least another) translation [homelinux.com] done by ImTranslator [paralink.com].
Re:It would be simpler... (Score:2)
Better translation (Score:4, Informative)
General info for (Score:5, Informative)
This could be a first... (Score:2)
I guess the singing career didn't work out in the end.
Seems simple enough... (Score:3, Funny)
BabbleFish (Score:2)
""with satellites the fuel up to 50 per cent of the weight constitutes, because on it also the life span depends. Without drive cannot be maintained the accurate position finally ", so project co-ordinator Andreas grass-sourly."
"Up with this I shall not put." - Winston Churchill
Re:BabbleFish (Score:2)
It'd be like trying to run one language through another language's interpreter. Oh, wait, that sounds like Parrot/Perl6. :)
Re:BabbleFish (Score:3, Informative)
NASA Plasma Propulsion (Score:4, Informative)
Chemical Rocketry (Score:2, Insightful)
Alfven waves and velocity (Score:3, Informative)
Pathetic article. (Score:2, Insightful)
Another better translation (Score:5, Informative)
The idea is 20 years old and was conceived by Manfred Hettmer, president of the austrian mars society. A new plasma-engine based on "Alfven-waves" could increase the thrust of a rocket while at the same time drastically reducing its fuel consumption. At least that is the theory.
And in practice, in tests the plasma-engine achieved fuel savings of around 90%, which is no small thing: "A sattellites weight is 50% fuel, because its fuel determines its life time. Without engines the sattellite could not keep it's exact position", says project coordinator Andreas Grassauer.
The basis of the development is a discovery by nobel prize winning physicist Hannes Alfven in the year 1942. Alfven was researching, among other things, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which describes the interaction between an electically conductive fluid with electic and magnetic fields, and also the propagation of waves in the fluid - now known as "Alfven-waves".
Now, for the first time, there is a technical implementation of the "Alfwen-waves", that, in Grassauer's words, "could be the start of a new era in rocket engine technology". The main feature of the technology is a ten times higher escape speed, that can otherwise only be achieved by a fusion engine, which doesn't exist yet. The measurements were taken on a prototype engine in a vacuum chamber. Also, corrosion of the engine is avoided since the thrust is achieved using the magnetic jet on the outside.
Economically, there has been some interest in the project already. Besides Grassauer and Hettmer the experimental physicist Norbery Frischauf, system engineer Tobias Bartusch and Otto Koudelka of the TU Graz are also involved. On the 15th of October the plasma-engine will be shown for the first time at the convention of the Internation Aeronatic Federation (FAI) in Japan.
what about NERVA? (Score:2)
Re:what about NERVA? (Score:5, Informative)
These guys have come up with a way to accellerate a plasma with just magnetic fields: no electrodes need be exposed to the plasma.
Re:Another better translation (Score:4, Funny)
Bah. Like every other revolutionary invention in space propulsion, this one is sure to be bought out and crushed by the powerful vested interests of the Space Elevator lobby.
Re:Another better translation (Score:2)
Re:Another better translation (Score:3, Informative)
a little googling would have yielded this:
http://www3.inspi.ufl.edu/space/program/abstracts/ 1146.pdf [ufl.edu]
text:
MOA: Magnetic Field Oscillating Amplified Thruster and
its Application for Nuclear Electric and Thermal Propulsion
Norbert Frischauf1), Manfred Hettmer2), Andreas Grassauer3), Tobias Bartusch4)
1)BAH - ESA/ESTEC
Raiffeisenstrasse 31-33/6/2, 2322 Zwölfaxing, Austria
Tel:+ 43 1 706 15 99, Fax:+ 43 1 706 15 99, Email: Norbert.Frischauf@cern.ch
2)Manfred Hettmer Datenvera
Laugh while you can monkey-boy! (Score:2)
My oscillation overthruster will put your magnetic thrusters to shame.
You know what shocks me? (Score:5, Interesting)
One second, time to climb on the soapbox. There we go.
Jokes about different languages being "messed up grammatically" or just wrong, or the (very old and not really relevant anymore) jokes about German's reallylongwordsthatneverend are lame.
Do you know what purpose words like those are for? Do you realize how incredibly useful that linguistic feature is?
I admit that German verb structure is uncanny at first. Especially those damn separable verbs. But even they aren't that bad. There are reasons verbs come at the end of some German sentences. EG a modal verb in the first position.
This really is no different than trying to use some wacky translator to translate smalltalk directly into c. It won't look pretty because of the differences in "grammar".
Bad analogy but I am continually shocked by my own geek friends who think it is weird that I like to learn other human languages. They aren't that different than learning another computer language, and the power they allow can be infinitely more useful.
And from my own experience, there are LOTS more women that learn French than German. Sooooo.... Learn some French and get laid. I think, actually stay away I like my odds right now.
And I am done, time to get off the soapbox.
Pick apart the English grammar/spelling if you want, I didn't proofread this at all.
To quote mister Mark Twain himself about German orthography:
Since long, my gentlemen, have I the passionate longing nursed a speech on German to hold, but one has me not permitted.
Even funnier if you understand German grammar. Just had to vent, sorry if I pissed anyone off, but these jokes are really boring after the 1000th time reading them.
PS: bonus for learning German, really hot intelligent German/Austrian/Swiss/Luxembourg women will adore you. Very few europeans even expect an American to know a tiny bit of any language other than English. Did I mention blonds? I am pretty sure I did.
Re:You know what shocks me? (Score:2)
Re:You know what shocks me? (Score:2)
BTW I've already discovered that knowing English will not get you laid by English women.
Re:You know what shocks me? (Score:2)
OK, are you implying that learning Japanese will get me laid by Japanese women?
Knowing english will get you laid by Japanese women. You just have to not be a total troll.
OMGyourjokewassolame (Score:2)
Jokes about different languages being "messed up grammatically" or just wrong, or the (very old and not really relevant anymore) jokes about German's reallylongwordsthatneverend are lame.
Gah, no they're not. First of all, the slashdot-standard jo
Applicable to launch vehicles? (Score:5, Interesting)
Now the key difference appears to be this: Ion propulsion gains efficiency by having a dramatically higher specific impulse. Some performance of ion propulsion systems is sacrificed due to its low thrust/mass ratio, but the high Isp usually more than makes up for that.
The article states "The most substantial characteristic of the technology is ten times a higher flow-out rate, which otherwise only by a nuclear fusion engine - which (still) does not exist - is attainable." This makes it sound as if they are working on the fuel efficiency problem from the other part of the equation. If this technology does infact yield a very high flow rate, its possible it has a thrust level adequate for launch vehicles. Is there any word on whether or not this technology has any limitations to being used in such an application?
Re:Applicable to launch vehicles? (Score:4, Insightful)
At first I thought this was another article about M2P2, this is much different and very interesting. It'd be funny to combine the two.
Josh
Breakthroughs are a dime a dozen nowadays (Score:3, Informative)
Unfortunately, no electric propulsion breakthrough has done a thing for getting off of Earth. They're all for maneuvering in space and they're all roughly the same in terms of benefit.
Sorry folks this cool but not that big of a deal. (Score:2)
What are Alven waves? (Score:2)
Re:chinglish (Score:2)
The grammar structure is fairly constant if you can live with the odd punctuation .
Re:Oh, Babel... (Score:3, Funny)
So is your common sense (Score:2)
Re:I was just going to say, learn how to write! (Score:2)
Re:I was just going to say, learn how to write! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I was just going to say, learn to read (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Call me when... (Score:2)
Re:Call me when... (Score:2, Funny)