New Aluminum-Ice Rocket Propellant Tested 130
eldavojohn writes "With the problem of moving conventional rocket fuel to the Moon and Mars on their minds, researchers from Purdue and Penn State successfully tested and demonstrated the use of aluminum-ice (ALICE) as fuel. In a paper from last August they outlined how it would work (PDF), and now they know it does. Space.com also has more information on the paper and how nano-scale aluminum functions as a fuel."
In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.
We spend so much time arguing with each other here on Slashdot, but when it comes down to it, we're all in this together. We are going to need to secure a future for future generations, so putting an effort into developing non-volatile fuels which can be formulated anywhere is one huge step towards getting off this rock.
Aluminum is plentiful anywhere we intend to go. This could really be the breakthrough that we've been looking for.
In other words, please be true. In other words, I love you.
Re:Reading comprehension. (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmm. One _could_ make solid fuel with rice flour and potassium chlorate or a similar oxidizer...
Hell, you can turn a grain silo into a rocket with just one match...
Re:ALICE? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think he was really asking who the fuck Alice is [youtube.com]
Previous Cool Motors And Stuff (Score:3, Insightful)
http://www.wickmanspacecraft.com/wspcnews.html [wickmanspacecraft.com]
John Wickman has been working on aluminum/oxidizer (LOX, not ice) motors since the 80s. His are intended to run on lunar soil.
Also in the can, a jet engine that runs on Martian atmosphere. Development from Oberth's original ammonium nitrate motors as an alternative to ammonium perchlorate.
Now working on NASA's SHARP re-entry vehicle. He's also one of the few pros that teach his craft at the amateur level and consult out to rocketers who want to carry out major projects.
"Rocket scientist" used to be a compliment. That fell away as they numbered into the tens of thousands and each did a tiny piece of engineering. This guy earns that title all over again.
Isn't today, wasn't acceptable back then either (Score:3, Insightful)
The whole premise of Ralph Kramden was, "You know that crabby bus driver, I wonder what he is like to his wife and friends?"
Ralph on one hand was supposed to be an object of the viewer's sympathy -- a working class guy barely making ends meet, living in a tiny apartment with his wife, barely any furniture or any other possessions to their name. On the other hand, Ralph was a blowhard, a guy with a chip on his shoulder, a fellow in humble circumstances who thought he was Center of the Universe, and yes, a guy who fought with his wife at times, even threatening domestic battery. That a guy like that even talked liked that was regarded as a "fact of life" back in the day, but it was part of the character portrait that Ralph could be the butt of our jokes, someone who perhaps deserved the laughs and ridicule that came his way.
On the other hand, a seemingly self-effacing mega-celebrity golf pro, suspected for cheating on his wife, leaves the house at 2 AM with his wife in hot pursuit breaking out windows on his truck leading him to crash into a hydrant and then a tree, found unconscious on the grass after being beaten about the head with a golf club, who refuses three times to meet with the cops and give a statement and "lawyers up" to keep his wife out of jail on zero-tolerance domestic battery laws put on the books to protect women from abusive husbands, now that is not funny either. And one does not laugh.