Christmas has just passed. Merry Christmas to those I forget to wish. To ms. Karuna, i’m sorry i couldn’t come to ur open house. I wish i can get myself stuffed with the turkey. I dunno if got or not. Hehehe. New year is around the corner, so wishing to all my frens Happy New Year 2006! Make sure this upcoming year is better compare to the last. And to all muslims, Raya Aidil-Adha falls on the 11th January, so Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha. Till then, take care everyone !!

Happy New Year 2006




Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha

...Now they(the Americans) will tremble again
– at the sound of our(the Russians) silence…

-Captain Marko Ramius to his crewmen, just before the launch of the Red October’s Magnetohydrodynamic propulsion, played by Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October.

Magnetohydrodynamic propulsion. Sounds complex, huh?

The Hunt for Red October

The so-called application of magnet came to my knowledge when I watched a movie adapted from Tom Clancy’s novel called The Hunt for Red October. I have the DVD and still watch it till today again and again without boring. I was really fascinated the way of the submarine was maneuvered and the way of their attack using the torpedoes.

What pull my interest the most is that how a simple principle was put to apply in a submarine which has no moving parts at all and at the same time produce the sound of fully silence which indeed a need for a submarine. He wrote it in a way where the submarine Red October was finally in the hand of US according to that film. But the bottom line is the Russian have made it come true.

Is the submarine really exist?

In reality, MHD, which they take is as a short term, still haven’t develop yet to a submarine. Maybe they were already, but never come to know in the public. The F-117 Stealth Nighhawk already flew for 10 years before the public know its exsistence in 1980s. The torpedo Skval which uses the supercavitation effect[which i already wrote about it ] only known to US intelligence only after 15 years it was created. So, maybe or maybe not this kind of submarine may already created for military use. Only God knows.

How the Russian made it possible? Or perhaps the Americans or maybe the others?

I’m not gonna tell you how the MHD works. You can check it yourself down at the bottom for further readings. I’m just want to show you how the Russian had made MHD possible in a submarine. A brief of understanding can give you a concept on how they put the device in the submarine. Just like the yamato, the catterpiller are located in front of the submarine both on the starboard and port side. Sometimes it can be mistaken as the torpedo hull. Just refer to the picture below which I already did some simple sketch to sum up the explaination.

There was a scene in The Hunt for Red October where they show from the back both propeller were stop turning but the submarine continue to move forward! It was awesome! This happen when the caterpillar was turned on. Therefore, no moving parts produce no sound which are truly undetectable to sonar. Pretty cool huh?

Akula 941 or according to US Military classification, the Typhoon Class

So, what it the future of this technology?

As we all know, the fossil fuel are getting much limited. In this scenario, nuclear power take its place in many of the military submarines and ships [They didn’t put it for commercial ships due to safety reason]. In my humble opinion, the design of the caterpillar in Red October is consider illogic and makes no sense. Come and see me if you want the explaination. However the whole thing is plausible.

For further reading and better understanding, see article:

Article 1: MHD propulsion for the classroom by G. Font & S. Dudley, USAF Acedemy
Article 2: MHD Propulsion by Jimmy Nelson
Article 3: About MHD Drive
Article 4: MHD
Article 5: MagnetoHydroDynamic Thruster from RMCybernatics
Article 6: This article explain with simple equations on MHD
Article 7: About Prof Hannes Alfvén