With all the talk about NASA and an LENR powered airplane, it would seem that all that one needs now for the near-term reality - is to apply a HotCat with a direct conversion scheme - to this design for the E-plane.
It is quite beautiful - and appeared recently at the Paris Air Show, but more of a powered glider. http://cleantechnica.com/2013/06/21/new-electric-airplane-shown-off-at-paris -air-show-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29 We have thrown out ideas for direct conversion before. At the high temperature of the HotCat, they become far more feasible. The most obvious one - if there is IR resonance as part of the operational parameters, is a photocell designed exactly for the emission spectrum. These have actually been fabricated http://cearl.ee.psu.edu/Projects/Assets/Project2/Project2_3_1/DualbandIRfilt ersDrupp0904.pdf Notice the wavelength captured is very specific to the geometry of the fractal which is etched. This favors high efficiency at say 20 terahertz - with efficiency possibly above the range of broad-band solar photocells. An optimist could imagine 6 HotCats in a hexagonal array, surrounded by these fractal antenna powering the EADS glider, manned (or more likely unmanned as a drone) for a very long time. "Around the World" in two weeks by 2015? In your dreams, maybe. Jones
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