Method for Enhancement of Surface Plasmon Polarities to Initiate & Sustain LENR (NASA)

Youtube ^ | Jan 11, 2012 | NASA

[Johnny B.]

NASA then, months later, makes an announcement that implies...

Please see the post just above yours. Based on the Patent application date, you have the timeline reversed.

[Johnny B.]

using a Nickel/Hydrogen LENR reaction, something not previously discussed in any cold fusion literature, AFAIK.

This is not true. H-Ni research has been in the literature for at least the last few years. Rossi did not "invent" it.

[PapaBear3625]

Note that NASA filed this patent back in March 2011 (LINK) , which means they were working on it well before that; presumably before Rossi "went public".

Note that in Rossi's blog archives from Feb 2010 he makes note of his international patent application filed in August 2008

[Johnny B.]

Note that in Rossi's blog archives from Feb 2010 he makes note of his international patent application filed in August 2008

HERE is an article from 2001 that describes Nickel/H₂O cold fusion, which sounds substantially the same.

Also, Rossi's patent application doesn't contain any details of how his process is supposed to work. NASA certainly didn't get any "secrets" from it, because it doesn't contain any.

[PapaBear3625]

HERE is an article from 2001 that describes Nickel/H2O cold fusion, which sounds substantially the same.

You're right. Ni/H cold fusion was being worked on earlier. Guess what, though? One of the earliest researchers on Ni/H fusion was Rossi's associate, Sergio Focardi, whose paper on the subject was published in 1994: "Anomalous Heat Production in Ni-H Systems".

[Johnny B.]

One of the earliest researchers on Ni/H fusion was Rossi's associate, Sergio Focardi, whose paper on the subject was published in 1994: "Anomalous Heat Production in Ni-H Systems".

True, and Focardi was getting small and inconsistent results throughout the last 15 years.

Then, Rossi shows up and suddenly they are (allegedly) getting large and reliable results (except when NASA is there to watch).

There are some inconstancies in this story, however. According to THIS video interview, Focardi's primary contribution was "safety issues" (8:00). At (11:00), Rossi mentions that Focardi doesn't know how the reactor is built.

I also documented earlier how much of his support from other LENR researchers is based on personal friendships and 2nd- or 3rd-hand stories. LINK and LINK

There's also the fact that the predictions from the Rossi/Focardi paper (LINK) fails to match the results of the analysis of the "ash" supposedly produced in a Rossi E-Cat (LINK). Although Kullander conditionally suggests that the copper in the sample could be the result of nuclear fusion, he notes (on "page 2") that:

Provided that copper is not one of the additives used as catalyst, the copper isotopes 63 and 65 can only have been formed during the process. Their presence is therefore a proof that nuclear reactions took place in the process. However, it’s remarkable that nickel-58 and hydrogen can form copper-63 (70%) and copper-65 (30%). This means that in the process, the original nickel-58 should have grown by five and seven atomic mass-units, respectively, during the nuclear transmutation. However, there are two stable isotopes of nickel with low concentration, nickel-62 and nickel-64, which could conceivably contribute to copper production. According to Rossi copper is not among the additives. 100 grams of nickel had been used during 2.5 months of continuous heating with 10 kW output power. A straightforward calculation shows that a large proportion of the nickel must have been consumed if it was ‘burned’ in a nuclear process. It’s then somewhat strange that the isotopic composition doesn’t differ from the natural.

Note the "confusion" about the results. He finds it "remarkable" and "strange" to find that the Copper that was supposedly produced in a nuclear reaction has identical isotope ratios to naturally-occuring Copper. This is inconsistent with the theory from the Rossi/Focardi paper and it is inconsistent with every other LENR experiment that has actually produced transmuted isotopes. But it is consistent with Rossi "spiking" the sample with common Copper powder.

Also note that Kullander claimed that there would be a full analysis of the "ash" from a Rossi E-Cat, which would confirm or deny that Rossi's E-Cat is actually undergoing some sort of LENR process, available by Christmas (LINK).

We're still waiting.