Guest guest Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 Star Trek Technology Available Today "Production of Highly Charged Xe Ions from Liquid He Free Super Conducting Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source provide clues to dimensional science.Scientis have successfully produced an intense beam of highly charged xenon ions using a liquid He free superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source. The best results of 10 eµA for Xe30+ ions was obtained at an injected microwave power of 650 W and an extraction voltage of 15 kV." According to CNet News, "Only time and money separate the current state of rocket propulsion science from the engine rooms of Star Trek's Starfleet, according to a university professor." Cal State - Fullerton history professor, Dr. James Woodward, presented research on Wednesday, at the Future in Review conference in Coronado, CA, on Mach-Lorentz thrusters (MLT). Based on Mach's Principle and work by Hendrik Lorentz, these thrusters, similar to Star Trek impulse engines, provides thrust without emissions. Woodward has created about a dozen of the engines in his lab and they actually work, though they tend to produce a lot of heat which must somehow be dissipated in order to make practical use of the technology. Once that problem is handled and the engines are "scaled up," the possibilities for future use could be incredible. NASA has done some previous work on "impulse engines" for its Deep Space 1 project, building an Ion engine, pictured above. Ion propulsion is a technology that involves ionizing a gas to propel a craft. Instead of a spacecraft being propelled with standard chemicals, the gas xenon (which is like neon or helium, but heavier) is given an electrical charge, or ionized. It is then electrically accelerated to a speed of about 30 km/second. When xenon ions are emitted at such high speed as exhaust from a spacecraft, they push the spacecraft in the opposite direction. While it's theorized that Dr. Woodward's MLT engines could some day propel cargo at speeds approaching warp, unfortunately, we're still a long way from developing an actual Star Trek Warp Drive. I'm still waiting for the Star trek Transporter to beam me to and from work. http://space.about.com/b/a/256697.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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