Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Avalanche Energy was co-founded by ex-Blue Origin engineers Riordan and Robin Langtry. It entered the fusion race in 2018. It has patented a new lunchbox-sized fusion reactor that they call the “Orbitron.”
The device combines two existing instruments in a vacuum chamber called an “orbitrap”. The device harnesses positively charged ions in a small orbit around a negatively charged cathode, and a “magnetron”, which generates a stream of electrons. Injecting electrons into the reaction neutralizes the positive charges and permits a greater number of ions to enter the space. Packing more ions into that small a space exponentially increases the chance for the fusion reaction to occur.
The Avalanche team is refining the first prototype and plans to scale up to a bigger version in August. The main engineering challenge will be to shrink the high-voltage conductor so it can fit into the desired package but still supply enough energy to the cathodes so that the ions orbit fast enough to fuse together.
Eventually, the finished product should produce between five and fifteen kilowatts. It will be possible to combine multiple units to produce more energy. The size of the Orbitron makes it suitable for use in space travel. Weed at the DIU said that this really set it apart from the other submissions in the Pentagon contract selection process.
While Avalanche is trying to develop small-scale fusion, Ultra Safe is working on a new and improved “nuclear battery they call EmberCore. These devices contain hot, radioactive rocks that steadily release energy as they decay.
Adam Schilffarth is the director of strategy for Ultra Safe's advanced technologies division. He said, “You can use the hot rock as a hot rock, or you can wrap power conversion technology around it to turn that heat into electricity.”
NASA has traditionally used plutonium for radioactive batteries, like the ones that power the Curiosity rover on Mars and the Voyager 1 and 2 deep space probes. However. Plutonium is an expensive, rare and dangerous material. Ultra Safe has been exploring different isotopes like cobalt-60 and thulium which can be scaled to produce ten times the energy of traditional plutonium system while being safer and more cost effective.
The first EmberCore product that Ultra Safe brought to market is the size of an apple. It operates like a “hand warmer” for lunar landers so they can survive a fourteen-day lunar night according to Chris Morrison who is the chief engineer for the EmberCore project. The final prototype which will be delivered to the Pentagon will be the size of a small filing cabinet.
Weed said that EmberCore and Orbitron might allow spacecraft to travel farther and eliminate reliance on solar panels. With such large power capacities, these devices could also spawn a new generation of spacecraft that can easily move between Earth orbit levels. This could open the door to all manner of commercial space travel, tourism and trade.
Weed said, “These new propulsion systems will enable us to have known new missions, and so it'll affect how we employ space power. It'll definitely be a game changer.”