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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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Trump leaves space nuclear policy executive order for Biden team
A hot fire test of the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was not completed as planned. The SLS is the vehicle meant to propel a crewed mission to the moon in 2024. Source: NASA Television
Among the executive orders President Trump issued during his last weeks in office was “Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration,” which builds on the Space Policy Directives published during his term. The order, issued on January 12, calls for actions within the next six months by NASA and the Department of Defense (DOD), together with the Department of Energy and other federal entities. Whether the Biden administration will retain some, all, or none of the specific goals of the Trump administration’s space nuclear policy remains to be seen, but one thing is very clear: If deep space exploration remains a priority, nuclear-powered and -propelled spacecraft will be needed.
The prospects for near-term deployment of nuclear propulsion and power systems in space improved during Trump’s presidency. However, Trump left office days after a hot fire test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket did not go as planned. The SLS rocket is meant to propel crewed missions to the moon in 2024 and to enable a series of long-duration lunar missions that could be powered by small lunar reactor installations. The test on January 16 of four engines that were supposed to fire for over eight minutes was automatically aborted after one minute, casting some doubt that a planned November 2021 Artemis I mission can go ahead on schedule.
B. Weyssow
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 57 | Number 2 | February 2010 | Pages 323-329
Transport Theory | Proceedings of the Ninth Carolus Magnus Summer School on Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A9423
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An ideal plasma of electrons and a single species of ions in the low collisionality limit subject to an almost straight magnetic field is considered. In such conditions, the linear theory of transport determines the 3 × 1 matrix of dissipative fluxes [J with circumflex above]r namely, the electric current, the electronic heat flux and the ionic heat flux, in terms of a 3 × 1 matrix of thermodynamic forces [X with circumflex above] combining the electric field with the gradients of the densities and of the temperatures. The classical transport coefficients are the components of the 3 × 3 matrix of tensors [L with circumflex above]rs of the linear flux-force relations [J with circumflex above]r = [summation from s=1 to 9][L with circumflex above]rs[X with circumflex above]. The theory is developed in the framework of the statistical mechanics of charged particles starting from the Landau kinetic equation.