dgoodell

9 ms·

61.
by dgoodell 4y ago
The world is going to be a much better place once FAANG is no longer the path to big money and programmers will have to be content with solving real problems for normal amounts of money like the rest of us.
62.
by dgoodell 5y ago
When you compare the energy density of nuclear to chemical materials, it sorta makes sense. It’s almost mind-boggling in its potential. In the early days of atomic energy it’s easy to see why people (or at least sci-fi)l authors) imagined
63.
by dgoodell 5y ago
I’m involved in the development of the free piston Stirling engines for space power production. Ideally, we would like to replace the current solid-state thermoelectric energy conversion system used on the MMRTG and its precursors with a pi
64.
by dgoodell 5y ago
I’m an engineer at NASA working with nuclear space power systems. I ignore most of the more trite software / internet / money making bullshit. Some of that stuff is legit but most of it feels like “advances in advertising technolo
65.
by dgoodell 7y ago
I cut my index finger pretty bad, it must have been all the way through the skin as there was a big flap. It definitely needed stitches. I used superglue to hold it together until it stayed stuck on its own. I couldn’t use the finger for li
66.
by dgoodell 7y ago
A government shutdown is a basically surprise paid vacation, as long as you have enough cash to skip a couple paychecks.
67.
by dgoodell 7y ago
I am traveling in Eastern Europe right now and I have definitely seen instances in airports where both the airport personnel and the the traveler were obviously not native English speakers however English was the only way they could communi
68.
by dgoodell 7y ago
I don’t think the first one is true because the US government doesn’t have to pay a license to use US patents. It can even allow a private company to use another company’s patents for work being done on behalf of the US government.
69.
by dgoodell 7y ago
The dangerous part, and the part that is discussed in the article, is CS-137, which has a half-life of about 30 years. The longer the half-life of something the less radioactive it is.
70.
by dgoodell 8y ago
The linked pdf copy has kinda mediocre quality. Google’s scanned copy looks a lot better. I wonder if it would be possible to get google’s pdf to share instead since there is legal permission?
71.
by dgoodell 8y ago
The free piston stirling engines required also operate via magic and few people understand them well enough to make one suitable for this purpose. The engines required for a reactor like this haven’t been designed yet and it would take year
72.
by dgoodell 9y ago
One of the primary uses are deep space probes. The stirling engine has exactly two moving parts and uses non contact seals. In theory the lifetime should be limited by the deformation of the piston at elevated temperatures. Still, you’re ri
73.
by dgoodell 9y ago
I saw a full scale prototype/model in the Stirling lab. I think a strong person could have lifted it up. It’s just several lbs of uranium with several heat pipes coming out of it connected to Stirling engines. I don’t think they have e
74.
by dgoodell 9y ago
Do you perhaps have some examples of some more modern resources or examples we can consult? I would appreciate it.