More: The $8 million award

[TallDave]

IMHO the size of the Polywell isn't the main concern, the main concern is the giagantic quantity of heating power ( 100s of MW) it will take to heat a high density beta=1 lossy line cusp machine, even one of modest size.

So you still don't believe in WB trapping?

Or electrostatic acceleration?

[chrismb]

Los Alamos beat that a long, long time ago.

Really? I suppose you mean the H-bomb, do you? Not exactly the 'controlled' fusion that is sought today...

[KitemanSA]

It seems we are hanging our hat on projected benefits of scaling up in size. A question.
"How big is a reactor still small enough to benefit the Navy?"
I guess I'm asking, "How far up can we scale the polywell radius and still hope for support from the current sponsor, the Navy?" I'd guess no more than five meters radius but that is a guess.

Seems to me that a CVF (Carrier Vessel Fusion) would have a significantly different answer than an SSF (Submersible Ship Fusion); and a CGF (left as an exersize) would be somwhere in between.

[David_Jay]

CVF

I like the sound of that

[kurt9]

Now that EMC2 has the money to determine if polywell will work or not, it would be nice for John Slough to get some money for his FRC concept, in the event that polywell does not work out.

[Skipjack]

Now that EMC2 has the money to determine if polywell will work or not, it would be nice for John Slough to get some money for his FRC concept, in the event that polywell does not work out.

True that would be nice, but lets not get greedy here. It is already a small miracle to me that this much funding got spent on Polywell. That requires more brains than I would usually attribute to beaurocrats.

[MSimon]

Now that EMC2 has the money to determine if polywell will work or not, it would be nice for John Slough to get some money for his FRC concept, in the event that polywell does not work out.

True that would be nice, but lets not get greedy here. It is already a small miracle to me that this much funding got spent on Polywell. That requires more brains than I would usually attribute to beaurocrats.

They respond to political pressure. Rick thanked Tall Dave and others in that regard.

What these other methods lack is a rabid fan club.

I am SO HAPPY that Dr. B. got the gift of resumed experiments before he died.

[cuddihy]

IMHO the size of the Polywell isn't the main concern, the main concern is the giagantic quantity of heating power ( 100s of MW) it will take to heat a high density beta=1 lossy line cusp machine, even one of modest size.

assumption 1: Polywells are lossy. Are you assuming for electrons? And if so, in what way does that constitute a "polywell?"
assumption 2: Polywells at beta=1 cannot maintain their heating without ever growing amounts of input power. I guess your cite here would be Todd Rider?

Come to think of it, your post boils down to
1. You think a Polywell is orders of magniture lossier than Bussard EMC2, or now the Navy will admit,
2. You think even a polywell that was less lossy would still be subject to Todd Rider's conclusions about "maintaining heating." Guess you missed the Rostoker points on Rider's collision operator math and assumptions.

Either way, you'll know in two years!

[jmc]

IMHO the size of the Polywell isn't the main concern, the main concern is the giagantic quantity of heating power ( 100s of MW) it will take to heat a high density beta=1 lossy line cusp machine, even one of modest size.

So you still don't believe in WB trapping?

Or electrostatic acceleration?

Exactly. I'm willing to keep an open mind until I see experimental data, at the end of the day good experimental data trumps theoretical criticism. But I can't see any reason why there won't be line cusp losses (although I have seen a convincing simulation by Joel showing no suchj losses)

On electrostatic acceleration, as the density goes up the plasma will become more and more quasineutral and also more collissional and maxwellian, so I'm very skeptical on electrostatic acceleration. But we'll have to wait and see whether the experiment says otherwise.

[jnaujok]

Now that EMC2 has the money to determine if polywell will work or not, it would be nice for John Slough to get some money for his FRC concept, in the event that polywell does not work out.

True that would be nice, but lets not get greedy here. It is already a small miracle to me that this much funding got spent on Polywell. That requires more brains than I would usually attribute to beaurocrats.

Tying their shoes requires more brains than I would usually attribute to bureaucrats...

[Skipjack]

Tying their shoes requires more brains than I would usually attribute to bureaucrats...

That would be funny if it was not so true.

[KitemanSA]

Tying their shoes requires more brains than I would usually attribute to bureaucrats...

That would be funny if it was not so true.

Come on gents, you know this isn't true. Such folks wear loafers!

[TallDave]

jmc,

Well, fair enough. I'm willing to be skeptical, though I'm considerably less skeptical now that Nebel has confirmed Bussard's findings and the reviewers have implicitly affirmed those results by funding this concept to the next level.

OTOH, it's not clear when, if ever, we'll see that data...

Exciting times ahead, at any rate. Bx8!

[KitemanSA]

CVF

I like the sound of that

I'm kind of partial to CRF (Cruiser, Railgun, Fusion) myself, but I always was a mavrick at NAVSEA.

[David_Jay]

Speaking of railguns, have you seen the EMALS system on the Bush (CVN78) ?

http://atg.ga.com/EM/defense/emals/index.php