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| Science & Technology |
| Discovery of New Molecule Could Lead to More Efficient Rocket Fuel |
| 2010-12-24 |
| Trinitramid is the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. This fuel could be 20 to 30 percent more efficient in comparison with the best rocket fuels available today, according to researchers. The discovery was made at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. "A rule of thumb is that for every ten-percent increase in efficiency for rocket fuel, the payload of the rocket can double." And very suddenly, the world changed. This could be very good, or very bad, or both. Military apps too numerous to list. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #6 Getting it out of orbit ought to be interesting. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-12-24 16:29 |
| #5 On the 'very good' side, existing Rocket fuel contains some nasty stuff, e.g., ammonium perchlorate. The EPA has been threatening to restrict (or essentially shut down) rocket launches because of that. |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2010-12-24 13:38 |
| #4 Watch out for all the nut bags screaming DESTROYING OUR PLANET'S DELICATE BALANCE It's amazing just how little the Nut bags really know (Not to be confused by what they THINK they know) As a matter of fact the earth vacuums up several tons a day in Micro-meteoroids, and nobody notices but Astronomers. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-12-24 12:03 |
| #3 I'm with you there, 'moose, but don't forget to have a carload of ear protection ready when all of the usual suspects start to howl their "common heritage of all mankind" (aka "give us free stuff") bullcrap... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2010-12-24 10:59 |
| #2 Gorb: In this case, this could be "Bigger than Buckyballs" (I think I'm going to trademark that phrase), so trying to keep it proprietary isn't going to happen. Turned into a practical rocket fuel, this could create an industrial revolution for the private space industry, and open up the inner solar system. Asteroid 433 Eros is only 105 million miles from Earth at perihelion, and its orbit is just a little less than two years. We've already landed a probe on it. And it has far more precious metals (like platinum group) in it than the entire crust of the Earth. Not bad for only being 21 miles x 7 x 7 in size. We would be more than happy to land a robot ship on it to mine and concentrate ore into a big ball of mixed metal, then use the spin of 433 Eros to "throw" it vaguely in the direction of Earth. Moved into orbit, we could then carve off pieces of it to carry down to the surface. Rhodium is $2500/oz. Platinum is $1730/oz. Ruthenium about $1500/oz. And the other platinum groups are all about $750/oz. On Earth, a high grade platinum mine has 3 ppm concentration, and that is rare. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-12-24 08:34 |
| #1 Just make sure to tell the world about its existance and how to make it so they can use it against us, OK? |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-12-24 00:23 |