Tom Swift's atomic airplane a reality?

[scooter]

Boeing's thermonuclear jet engine...with lasers!

I'd hate to work on it though, given the radioactive materials involved.

[PR19_Kit]

Hydrogen or helium are the exhaust by-products, which exit the back of the engine under high-pressure. Thrust is produced.   

Eh? They don't know which it will be??? 

What's more to the point, how do they guarantee that the hydrogen (or helium....) won't be radioactive as it exits to the atmosphere?

[scooter]

Hydrogen or helium are the exhaust by-products, which exit the back of the engine under high-pressure. Thrust is produced.   

Eh? They don't know which it will be??? 

What's more to the point, how do they guarantee that the hydrogen (or helium....) won't be radioactive as it exits to the atmosphere?

Or what happens if there's a coolant leak.

[Captain Canada]

Wow that is just crazy ! Cool, but crazy ! I don't think I'd want to sit behind the wing, if on the aeroplane at all lol

[Dizzyfugu]

Hydrogen or helium are the exhaust by-products, which exit the back of the engine under high-pressure. Thrust is produced.   

...and these are "by-products". Funny that none of the main products like radiation is mentioned, but I think that's just a minor issue.

Anyway, the concept of using a laser for propulsion is not as exotic as it seems, even though I wonder how the infrastructure could be integrated into a decebnt airframe. But there have been concepts and test with a laser-propelled "orbital lift" and free lifting devices, where the laser is fixed on the ground and high energy light pulses heat up air under the device, driving it upwards through almost continous small explosions:



That could make sense as a jet engine - not certain why the nuclear stuff has to be added?

[Steel Penguin]

so its a smaller version of the engines they were going to use to power the starship Daedalus,    ( my reprint by the British interplanetary society says they published it  originally in 1978) using lasers to fuse Deuterium / Tritium  has been around for a very long time. 

[Hobbes]

Hydrogen or helium are the exhaust by-products, which exit the back of the engine under high-pressure. Thrust is produced.  

Eh? They don't know which it will be???  

What's more to the point, how do they guarantee that the hydrogen (or helium....) won't be radioactive as it exits to the atmosphere?

They're talking about fusion products, so these would be hydrogen and helium nuclei (alpha particles). These can acquire electrons to become neutral hydrogen/helium atoms. If not, an alpha particle can travel only a few cm through air before it is absorbed.


I'll have to come back to this tomorrow as there's more to the story.

[kerick]

It will take one big battery to start the thing, that's for sure!

[zenrat]

Convair had some designs for nuclear powered aircraft.  I've just packed away my reference books for the duration of the builders visit but I know McColm has the Convair secret projects book and it's written about in that.
Over to you Mac.