September 2010

Out in the the desert of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory at EBR1 National Historic Landmark sit two remnants of cold war aviation research.

These giant metal structures are test stands containing atomic jet engines.  They are remnants of a joint US Air Force and Atomic Energy Commission program to build a nuclear powered airplane.

When the program began in the early 1950s, no one knew for sure whether a nuclear reactor could power an airplane engine.  Engineers designed a series of three Heat Transfer Reactor Experiments to prove the principle. 

The experiments took place on these test stands. HTRE-1 was later converted to HTRE-2.

The next step would have been tests using an actual aircraft.  But many leading scientist and officials opposed it.

 “Heater 3” components included reactor shield, single chemical combustor mounted behind the reactor shield assembly, two modified J-47 turbojet engines and interconnecting ducting.

On March 28, 1961, President John F. Kennedy cancelled the entire nuclear bomber program “effective immediately.” The development of intercontinental ballistic missiles had made the bomber obsolete before it was developed and reports that the Soviets had an operating nuclear aircraft proved to be false.

The atom-powered bomber was expensive, impractical, and obsolete almost before it was conceived.  Missiles and conventional jet bombers would soon be able to do the same job – long-distance delivery of nuclear weapons – more cheap;y and efficiently.  Despite the fact the plane was never built, the research done advanced the state-of-the-art in many respects.  For example, the experiments tested the behavior of metals and materials at very high levels.

“Most of today’s high temperature metals and materials technology we learned from the work on aircraft engines.” Richard Meservey, Nuclear physicist.

Heater 1 / 2 and Heater 3 are on display at the EBR1 National Historic Landmark east of Arco, Idaho at the Idaho National Laboratory.

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To keep wildlife from getting habituated to human garbage, many locations in western states of the US have been using critter proof trash receptacles for many years.

Sometimes they can be a little difficult to figure out, especially if the graphical instruction is missing.

We came across one at Craters of the Moon where someone obviously got more than just a little frustrated – and irate – when they were unable to open the lid.

We thought that perhaps the lid was broken, but, nope, it worked just fine for us.

To be fair, the receptacle with the note was missing the instructions on how to use it.  On the other hand, we didn’t even realize they came with instructions until after we came across one just down the road that had one.

Craters of the Moon to be continued…

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I’m just going to show pictures, not try to identify each plant at this point.

The lava fields are a stark and, sometimes, seemingly barren landscape.  However, there is a wide variety of plant and – even though we didn’t see any of it – animal life in the monument and preserve.

Craters of the Moon to be continued…

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Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, July 24, 201o.

From Wikipedia:

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a national monument and national preserve located in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho, U.S.A. It is along US 20 (concurrent with US 93 & US 26), between the small cities of Arco and Carey, at an average elevation of 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above sea level. The protected area’s features are volcanic and represent one of the best preserved flood basalt areas in the continental United States.

The Monument was established on May 2, 1924.[1] In November 2000, a presidential proclamation by President Clinton greatly expanded the Monument area. The National Park Service portions of the expanded Monument were designated as Craters of the Moon National Preserve in August 2002. It lies in parts of Blaine, Butte, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Power counties. The area is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).[2]

The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles (1,036 km2) of sagebrush steppe grasslands to cover a total area of 1,117 square miles (2,893 km2). All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet (240 m). There are excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava as well as tree molds (cavities left by lava-incinerated trees), lava tubes (a type of cave), and many other volcanic features.

Craters of the Moon to be continued…

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Near Arco, a town we lived in over 30 years ago in Idaho, is Craters of the Moon National Monument.  Though we visited there many times and explored the mountains near by, we couldn’t remember having seen this showy wildflower, which we saw in the monument and elsewhere this trip.

From the USDA website:

Mentzelia laevicaulis – smoothstem blazingstar

From Double Cone Quarterly:

… perennial herbs of sandy and/or rocky areas, summer-dry flood plains, washes and sometimes road cuts. What first catches the eye are the large five petaled flowers, which are light yellow. and range from about 6 to 16 cm (2.5-6.5″) wide when fully expanded. The flowers are further adorned by a wide fountain-like display of numerous long stamens. The five innermost stamens, which alternate with the petals, have widened, petal-like filaments. The plants begin to produce flowers around June and continue to do so until about October. Another striking feature of this species are the whitish-shining stems. Although Mentzelia laevicaulis translates as “smooth-stemmed Mentzelia,” this is in comparison to other Mentzelia species, for at least the upper stems are rough to the touch due to a light coat of short and stiff barbed hairs.

Mentzelia laevicaulis is widely distributed in temperate western North America, where it is occurs suitable habitats in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. It is found in diverse regions, ranging from lowland deserts to mountainous areas up to about 2700 m. (8,000′).

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