'Low Energy Nuclear Reaction Aircraft' Presentation at NASA — Feb 25, 2014

Another great find by Mr Moho:

The NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) is putting on what they refer to as a ‘Seedling Seminar’ during the last week of February this year in which NASA researchers present about ‘potentionally revolutionary’ innovative ideas in aviation topics that tie in with NASA’s mission. The research projects presented have been funded by ‘seedling’ grants from NASA.

One of the presentations this year is by Doug Wells, who works at the Aeronautics Systems Analysis Branch, NASA Langley Research Center, and the title of his presentation on Thursday, February 25th is ‘Low Energy Nuclear Reaction Aircraft’.

An abstract of his presentation explains the purpose of his presentation:

The purpose of this research is to investigate the potential vehicle performance impact of applying the emergent Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) technology to aircraft propulsion systems. LENR potentially has over 4,000 times the density of chemical energy with zero greenhouse gas or hydrocarbon emissions. This technology could enable the use of an abundance of inexpensive energy to remove active design constraints, leading to new aircraft designs with very low fuel consumption, low noise, and no emissions. The objectives of this project are to: (1) gather as many perspectives as possible on how and where to use LENR for aircraft including the benefits arising from its application, (2) explore the performance, safety, and operational impacts to individual aircraft and the fleet, (3) evaluate potential propulsion system concepts, and (4) foster multi- disciplinary interaction within NASA.

Mr. Wells seems to be quite young — having graduated with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering in 2007, and he is still working on his MS degree — and it’s good to see younger researchers in this are. I imagine his presentation will be getting quite a lot of attention from people following LENR, and having it presented at a NASA event might build LENR awareness among an influential audience.

The NASA web site states that the presentations (each 40 minutes long) will be recorded and be made available for future playback.