Interstellar Vacation Spot

The scientific world is all abuzz today about the annoucement of the first discovery of an extra-solar terrestrial planet within the “habitable zone” of its star. The planet has been inferred to orbit its sun — the star Gliese 581 — at a distance that allows for liquid water to be present on its surface. It masses about 5 times as much as Earth, and is about 50% larger. If the 50% refers to radius, then the gravity on the star’s surface would be around 20 meters per second squared, which is just over 2 times that on the Earth’s surface.

Interesting if True

Instapundit links to a Spectator article that says that a US inspector found multiple giant repositories of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq shortly after the US invasion. The information was somehow mislaid (hmm. cui bono?), and the material was subsequently removed to Syria before the Iraq Study Group got around to looking at it.

Between March and July 2003, he says, [Dave Gaubatz] was taken to four sites in southern Iraq — two within Nasariyah, one 20 miles south and one near Basra — which, he was told by numerous Iraqi sources, contained biological and chemical weapons, material for a nuclear programme and UN-proscribed missiles. He was, he says, in no doubt whatever that this was true.

Intriguing, if true. As the article says, if this is confirmed, it’ll be equally embarassing to both Republicans and Democrats at this point in time.

One Small Step

There are reports that because of all the publicity surrounding R. W. Bussard‘s work in inertial electrostatic fusion, the US Navy has offered him an additional year’s funding. This is nowhere near enough to build a full-scale net power reactor, but should be enough to produce more convincing proofs of concept.

If Dr. Bussard’s work can be made to produce a net power fusion reactor, we could be on the verge of a significant period in history. Dr. Bussard is no crackpot; he’s been a respected figure in fusion research for over forty years.

The prevailing model of fusion reactor, called a Tokamak, which has not yet been made to produce net power in over forty years of research, has a significant problem, in that the easiest fusions it can use are Deuterium-Deuterium, or Deuterium-Tritium. The problem with these reactions are that they produce excess neutrons, which fly out and collide with the walls of the reactor vessels, causing them to become more and more radioactive over time.

However, Dr. Bussard calculates that his MaGrid Polywell design may easily fuse protons (Hydrogen ions) and Boron-11. This particular reaction does not produce neutrons. On the contrary, it produces extra protons, which, if things are balanced in precisely the right manner, may be induced to draw electrons from the walls of the reactor, turning themselves into hydrogen atoms which then may be pumped out or reintroduced to the reactor. A flow of electrons in the reactor walls is plain old electricity, which may be used directly — without any of the intermediate steps used in present fission reactors as well as tokamaks of heating fluids into steam which drive turbine generators.

This stuff really has the potential to change the world.

Drive, He Said

So we caught about three-quarters of Tim Minear’s new show Drive last night.  Despite the presence of Mal Reynolds, it was just too unremittingly cruel for us.