Dr Bussard's Final Invention by NefariousDrO
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Dr. Robert W. Bussard is perhaps best known for the idea of the "Interstellar Ramjet", a large magnetic ramscoop that sweeps up interstellar hydrogen, and uses it to fuel a fusion-propulsion for interstellar travel. Science Fiction nerds the world over have dreamed of this and fusion power for over a generation.
Dr. Bussard continued to research, throughout his life, and over the last 10 years developed a totally new approach to fusion power, one that comes closer to really working than anyone has ever done before.
In essence, he's abandoned the "Heat/Pressure" approach that so many are trying, and returned to an idea first put forward in the early 1960's. He build a device that uses magnets to create an electron-trap, which causes a huge positive/negative well, and then injected boron-11 into the container. What you get is the boron gets ionized, and then falls inward, causing it to collide with a proton, and you get virtually radiation-free fusion! It sounds almost too good to be true, but he's built this device, and for a fraction of the energy used in the "Tokomak" approach, come closer to break-even than anybody.
Sadly, Dr Bussard died last October, so he didn't live to see his research completed. However, the company he founded continues, and with renewed funding from the US Dept. of Navy, they are going to repeat his final experiment to see if they can duplicate his results. His prediction was, that for a mere $200 million, (less than what the U.S. military spends in a year in Iraq) he believed he could build a true fusion-power generator that would actually work, and wouldn't pose a radiation danger to the world.
Science Ficiton may yet become reality:
http://www.science.edu/TechoftheYear/TechoftheYear.htm
This is my stylized version of the device: the rings contain magnets, which drives the entire process. The background was made by me in Photoshop, the device was built in Bryce 5.
Comments (24)
This colors are splendid and such creativite ... fabulous my friend!
Wow this is excellent and amazing creation - hugs Jane xx
Your comment "less than what the U.S. military spends in a year in Iraq" is very true, in fact, here is a quote from www.rethinkingschools.org: "On the third day, for our early morning activity I had students figure out how much money had been spent in the last three days. Then, by doing a long division problem, we figured out that the United States spends about $265,000,000 per day on the Iraq War. We checked out other parts of the costofwar site and found, for example, that the amount spent on the war thus far is equivalent to 14 million four-year college scholarships. "That's a lot!" exclaimed several students, but the number was so large that it was essentially meaningless to my students." As for Dr. Robert W. Bussard, you are also correct, he may yet play a huge role in our energy independence in the future. I hope his work carries on. Funny how magnetism is the answer to so many things... Great image! You can really feel the power!!!
Superb sci-fi!!!
It's too bad that we didn't use that technology with our development of nuclear power plants....creating energy by constantly reusing the spent energy, thus leaving nothing to dispose of. Very well done render.
Superb model and textures! Excellent colours too!
Wonderful construct!!! Excellent work!!!
Wow, a weird and wonderful object, great modelling. Tony :-)
Excellent image...especially like the model and lighting in this piece, as well as your background information for the piece.Very well done!!!
Intriguing piece, I liked that, a mystery sensation and power.
Excellent graphics. Wonderful piece of realization.
Like the halo effect surrounding the mechanism. Original sci-fi!
I could swear, I read somewhere (in my SF collection) about the Bussard drive, can't tell where ;-) excellent creation again!
Really cool!!! Love the story that goes with it too!!! Very interesting!!!
Simple But Gorgeous!
Excellent picture. Todd
Stunning. And I get a lesson with it.
Call Area 51! The devise has been perfected in Bryce. Great model. Even greater info in narrative.
Superbe composition, vraiment un excellent travail.
What a fitting tribute to a tremendous genius!!! David W
hope it works and your image is a great one for him
Ooooh, Dr. Bussard...one of my heroes! Him and Carl Sagan, Fred Hoyle, Buckmeister Fuller...and the list goes on. This is a fantastic render, all the more stunning by the attention to detail you've put into this. I love the entire composition and the background is just as interesting and inviting as the device itself. Fantastic work on both a science fictional level and real-world scientific level. Awesome!
I enjoyed reading your words and will check out the link. This image works very well and is quite mysterious in a way. Most of all I like the colour.
very cool work. Thank you for your comment.