Thursday, April 16, 1998
A star is born
RESEARCH: Scientists anticipate devoting their energies to
nebular projects in the new research facilities
By Chauntelle Tibbals
Daily Bruin Contributor
The next mission to Mars will be something of a hometown
affair.
The next phase of the Mars Lander project – set to launch in
December of 1999 – is just one of many massive projects that will
come out of a new research facility in Westwood. The Science and
Technology Research Building (STRB), covertly located in Westwood,
will also form a "miniature star," and recreate the conditions of
deep space.
When it opens next May, the $26-million facility will advance
UCLA’s standing in nationwide physical-science research.
The department of physics and astronomy will be conducting
research in the STRB in addition to researching in Knudsen, Boelter
and the Plasma Physics Building.
The STRB will be a strictly research facility with projects
including an electric tokamak, a mission to Mars and an attempt to
replicate deep-space gas activity.
These types of projects are very expensive; therefore, some
researchers find funding an issue.
Professor Robert Taylor, who said the aesthetics of the STRB
"reminded (him) of Paris," will be heading UCLA’s innovative
electric tokamak project, which will be housed in the STRB.
UCLA’s tokamak is a toroidal shell that electrically and
magnetically confines plasma gas and releases nuclear energy.
Different from other tokamaks, Taylor’s project will attempt to
safely harness the energy of controlled fusion by creating a
"miniature star" in the laboratory.
The components of the new tokamak are currently be stored in the
basement of Boelter Hall and will be assembled when the building is
complete.
Taylor’s research will attempt to liberate energy from the heavy
nuclei of electrically conductive plasma gas. The gas must be
heated to approximately 50 million degrees Celsius.
"Essentially, we are attempting to make the sun’s temperature on
earth," Taylor said.
Although the electric tokamak has yet to be turned on, the
capabilities for its future production of clean energy are endless,
Taylor said.
Magnetic confinement of the gas within a tokamak has not worked
in previous research, but theoretically, electric tokamaks
should.
"Math and physics guarantee the electric tokamak will
successfully make clean, safe, neutron free energy," Taylor
said.
The public will not be ready for this "dangerous" type of power
until more long-term research has been done, Taylor explained.
Some people are concerned about potential adverse health effects
related to strong magnetic fields in a tokamak.
When researchers looked at the effects of magnetic fields on
cancer growth and intracellular interaction, their conclusions were
mixed. While cancer development was not affected, cellular
interactions were altered.
As of 1993, the effects of the cyclic alterations in cellular
movement had not been determined, according to the Environmental
Impact Report.
Credit cards and people with pace makers cannot enter the
facility because of the magnet fields.
News of UCLA’s new tokamak and facility has caused excitement in
the scientific community across the country.
Mike Beer, a researcher at Princeton University’s Plasma Physics
Laboratory, said he felt that "trying to explore this new regime
with tokamaks will be very long term. People will only begin to see
the benefits halfway through the next century."
Another of the STRB’s projects is the Mars Lander project led by
David Paige.
Described by Paige as "the next mission to Mars," the project
has constructed a "lander" that will be sent to Mars. The
instruments on the lander will be controlled from the STRB.
This project has been a cooperative effort among UCLA, the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
"The lander will be sent to Mars via an unmanned NASA rocket,"
Paige said.
The mission is scheduled for December of 1999 through March of
2000. The lander will send data and will not return to earth.
Paige added that the STRB’s original purpose of plasma research
did not include the Mars Lander project.
"Our project happened to come along at the right time," he
said.
A third project that will be housed in the STRB is the Large
Plasma Device (LA.P.D.) led by Walter Gekelman.
Gekelman’s work involves heated plasma gas. The project will
analyze processes in outer space.
The device is 18 feet long and will run on four million watts of
electricity. It took two years to construct the LA.P.D. and to
recreate conditions in deep space.
Gekelman approved of the site at Weyburn and Midvale. "The STRB
is too big and requires too much energy to be located on campus,"
he said.
"(The STRB) is the best facility in the world. There is nothing
else like it. Scientists everywhere are interested in this place,"
Gekelman said.
The amount of money going toward further advancement of the
physical sciences is a concern for many researchers in the
field.
In the 1970s, the American government was supportive of nuclear
research. Today, this is not entirely the case.
Oil and gas are cheap sources of energy, and there is no
shortage pressing on the American public. The Cold War is over.
Thus, there is no great demand for this type of research
Taylor commented on the lack of interest that long-term research
of this nature gets from the American public.
"Because there is no emergency, it is felt that these
investigations do not need to be done in a hurry," he said.
Beer also commented on the general lack of support there is
toward this type of study. The government decides "the right amount
(of money) to allocate" to this research. Recently he has also
observed a noticeable decline in funding, especially considering
the support of the 1970s.
"Four years ago, the powers that be felt $350 million was the
right amount (of money). Today, the U.S. program is down to $250
million," Beer said.
Funding has also been an issue for Gekelman.
"This project was originally paid for by the U.S. Navy. A grant
from the National Science Foundation has enabled us to double the
size of the project though," Gekelman said.
Some say that the opening of the STRB could possibly revive the
government’s interest in physical science research.
"The facility will enhance research and will provide a
substantial increase in federal research funding," said Jim
Kolonko, the academic coordinator of the physics and astronomy
department.
"It is an all around good thing for the campus," Kolonko added.
"More money will go to the school."
MICHAEL ROSS WACHT/Daily Bruin
Professor Robert Taylor’s electric tokamak project will be
housed in the Science and Technology Research Building in
Westwood.