The Lockheed Martin (LMT) Skunk Works® team is working on a new compact fusion reactor (CFR) that can be developed and deployed in as little as ten years. Currently, there are several patents pending that cover their approach.
While fusion itself is not new, the Skunk Works has built on more than 60 years of fusion research and investment to develop an approach that offers a significant reduction in size compared to mainstream efforts.
“Our compact fusion concept combines several alternative magnetic confinement approaches, taking the best parts of each, and offers a 90 percent size reduction over previous concepts,” said Tom McGuire, compact fusion lead for the Skunk Works’ Revolutionary Technology Programs. “The smaller size will allow us to design, build and test the CFR in less than a year.”
Lockheed Martin Pursuing Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Concept Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin Scores Success With Landing Technology Tests For A Future Astronaut Crew Exploration Vehicle Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has successfully performed a series of drop tests at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona, to validate soft landing technology that can be used for astronaut crew capsules upon return to Earth. The technology makes use of an array of dual airbags that, upon ground impact, releases air from the outer bags of the system, allowing the capsule to settle softly to the ground on its inner airbags.
Mars Global Surveyor Completes Over 25,000 Orbits And Continues To Rewrite The History Books On Mars Lockheed Martin
The venerable Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, completed its 25,000th orbit around Mars recently and is still going strong. Built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in partnership with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA’s Mars exploration program, MGS achieved this major milestone May 26, demonstrating its yeoman’s performance as the “big brother” of orbiters circling Mars and mapping the planet’s surface since 1997, as no other Mars exploration spacecraft has done before. The Mars Global Surveyor is approaching the beginning of its eighth year of mission operations in orbit around Mars and continues its record of collecting more information about the red planet than all previous missions combined.