Yahoo News Nuclear-powered airliner ‘could go from London to New York in three hours’
A breathtaking new aircraft concept could fly from London to New York in just three hours – and emit no pollution.
The HSP ‘Magnavem’ – it means ‘Big Bird’ – would be capable of hitting 1,150mph, and be powered by electricity.
There’s just one tiny snag before it can go into production: not only is it powered by a nuclear reactor, it’s powered by a kind that doesn’t currently exist.
Designer Oscar Vinals, 40, from Barcelona, Spain says the aircraft would be powered by a ‘Compact Fusion Reactor’.
Every nuclear reactor currently operating on Earth is a fission reactor – using energy released when heavy atoms such as uranium decay into smaller atoms, a process similar to the one used in the first nuclear weapons.
A fusion reactor works in the opposite way, harvesting the energy released when two smaller atoms join together, releasing tiny, fast-moving particles smaller than atoms.
This reaction is used in hydrogen bombs – but in a fusion reactor, scientists will ignite a smaller, controlled version.
Vinals said, ‘The response has been totally positive. I am very happy with this.
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‘I am most excited about the possibility to use a CFR (compact fusion reactor) with the benefits of inexhaustible power and great amounts of energy production.
‘There’s also the plasma energy to control the airplane’s flight or the use of AI system.
‘We must not forget the possibility of using the plane like a efficient tool to “clean” the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere.’
