Peter Lobner, 22 July 2026 In a 30 June 2026 press release, Realta Fusion announced that their direct energy conversion fusion machine had demonstrated that it could generate electric power and deliver that power to a connected load, in this case a series of electric light bulbs. You can read the press release here. There’s more information on Continue reading First generation of electric power…
Peter Lobner, 19 March 2025 The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), is a microwave wavelength telescope located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, at an altitude of 5,190 meters (17,030 ft), making it one of the highest ground-based telescopes in the world. ACT took its final data in 2022 and has since been decommissioned. The Atacama Continue reading Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) data provides an…
Peter Lobner, updated 30 October 2024 The UUM-44 SUBROC (SUBmarine-launched anti-submarine ROCket) was a 22 ft (6.7 m) long, inertially-guided, long-range weapon that consisted of a solid fuel booster rocket with a W55 thermonuclear depth charge warhead. As shown in the following diagram, SUBROC was launched horizontally from a standard submarine 21 in (533 mm) Continue reading SUBROC and the FLIP
Peter Lobner Seventy years ago, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) conducted a series of tests at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS, now Idaho National Laboratory) with the Boiling Reactor Experiment (BORAX)-series of reactors. These small test reactors established the engineering foundation for commercial light water-cooled, boiling water reactors (BWRs), which are operating today…
Peter Lobner 1. Introduction This article is an update to a similar article I wrote in mid-2015. At that time, California was experiencing a persistent drought and surface water resources and aquifers were being strained by high demand. At that time, there were only five desalination plants operating in California: At that time, several other Continue reading Status of Desalination Plants in…
Peter Lobner, updated 26 September 2023 Thanks to Lyncean member Mike Spaeth for sending me the article “What would the Earth look like if all the ice melted. The answer is terrifying,” which discusses the worst-case scenario of sea level rise after all the ice and snow currently locked away in glaciers, ice sheets and Continue reading If all the ice on Earth melted, would your house be…
Peter Lobner, 10 May 2023 1. Introduction On 9 May 2023, Lockheed Martin announced that its hybrid airship business, including intellectual property and related assets, had been transitioned to a newly formed, commercial company called AT2 Aerospace. The Lockheed Martin press release reported, “AT2 Aerospace, based in Santa Clarita, California, is extending our work to bring hybrid Continue…
Peter Lobner Craig Breedlove is best known as the first person to set land speed records above 400 mph (643.7 kph), 500 mph (804.7 kph) and 600 mph (965.6 kph) in the mid-1960s with his turbojet-powered Spirit of America and its successor, the Spirit of America Sonic 1. He later achieved a peak speed of Continue reading Farewell, Craig Breedlove! Thanks for the Inspiration and the Memories.
Peter Lobner In February 2021, I posted the article “The Fork in the Road to Electric Power From Fusion,” with links to a set of supporting articles that provide details on 18 fusion power reactor development projects, mostly at private firms. In March 2023, the United States Government Accountability Office issued their report GAO-23-105813, “Technology Continue reading Fusion Update
Peter Lobner 1. Introduction National Submarine Day, which occurs each year on 11 April, honors the anniversary of the day in 1900 when the U.S. Navy acquired the Holland VI submarine, which has been generally recognized as the world’s first modern submarine. Similar, though slightly larger variants of the original Holland VI design also were acquired by the UK Continue reading A Brief Look Back…