Sigma Think-Tank

Point out news stories, on the net or in mainstream media, related to polywell fusion.

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Tom Ligon
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Sigma Think-Tank

Post by Tom Ligon »

There is a "think-tank" of science fiction authors that has been working behind the scenes since the early 90's. They adopted a more public profile a year or two back. I recently learned my name was "in the hat" for consideration. Evidently it is now official ...

http://www.sigmaforum.org/members.php

Not long after they were formed, one of the original members and I were asked to speak to a group of up and coming military officers. I had no idea Sigma existed at the time, but I've evidently been "in the groove" on this line of activity. This puts me in a good position to offer my $0.02 on fusion (as if anybody could stop me one way or another).

dnavas
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Re: Sigma Think-Tank

Post by dnavas »

Tom Ligon wrote:There is a "think-tank" of science fiction authors that has been working behind the scenes since the early 90's. They adopted a more public profile a year or two back. I recently learned my name was "in the hat" for consideration. Evidently it is now official ...

http://www.sigmaforum.org/members.php
Congrats. You need to get your pic up there :)
You're in the company of an awful lot of phds.... And I didn't know Catherine had one! I am clearly not paying attention.

Anyway, congratulations!

-Dave

energyfan
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Post by energyfan »

congrats ..

Tom Ligon
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Post by Tom Ligon »

dnavas,

As a matter of fact, I just got back from the photo studio with my CD of professional head-n'-shoulders shots!

I've known Dr. Asaro for, um, a while. My first sight of her was at a convention where she was wearing a stunning white dress ... quite the dish back then. I bought her book, and was also surprised to learn of the PhD.

The link below has a couple of pictures from "Analog MAFIA" panels at conventions. I believe one shows Catharine in that white outfit. Six panelists (of eight) in the top photo are Sigma members, all in the bottom row are or were (Dr. Sheffield, on the left, passed away last year).

http://www.angelfire.com/va2/TomLigon/mafia.htm
Last edited by Tom Ligon on Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

drmike
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Post by drmike »

Congratulations! I know my brother would be really jealous - he's been writing sci-fi and not getting published for years.

But let's work on making it real instead of fiction!

classicpenny
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Post by classicpenny »

Hey Tom -

This wouldn't be that group that was convened to save the planet in Larry Niven's "Footfall" would it?

Just kidding! Congratulations - now, save the planet!

Bill Flint

scareduck
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Post by scareduck »

I've known Larry Niven for some time but as an acquaintance. Interesting company he keeps, but I'm not surprised.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

Outstanding!
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

seedload
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Post by seedload »

I think saving the world is a good thing. Good luck with that.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

Tom,

I finally got a post up:

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/200 ... sigma.html

Cross Posted at Classical Values.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

pbelter
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Post by pbelter »

Tom,

Congrats on being accepted to the inner circle :)
If you could throw even $0.01 into the military minds that could create some serious interest down the line. The Navy currently owns the project and they decide whether and how quickly it can move forward. To move it they need to see some military benefits, something inspirational like the presentation that you gave during one of the conferences where costs of a Titan and Mars bases were listed and they looked cheaper than the ISS.

I have been thinking what kind of benefits Navy could have from a project like that. There was some talk about building larger ships as fuel costs should not be such important factor in the maintenance but I don’t think that sounds very inspiring.
What is the new generation of Navy ships powered by clusters ob BFR engines could vertically take off and land? There will be no need for maintaining separate Atlantic and Pacific fleets since the ships could fly anywhere. The increased mobility could result in a smaller force being needed to do the same job. The fleets would land only to extract the fuel form the ocean water. They could be even parked in orbit and deploy kinetic weapons from there. Kinetic weapons would be cheaper in manufacture and maintenance, while having similar effect to nukes without the radioactive and political fallout. How would the world dictators feel knowing they may be vaporized from orbit without even knowing whet hit them?

This may sound far fetched but maybe it is not. A Sci-fi forum would be a good platform to bring it up. What I gather from the ‘Google go nuclear’ talk Dr Bussard’s primary motivation for developing the Polywell was spaceflight not energy efficiency. If this really works the possibilities may be endless.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

pbelter wrote:Tom,

Congrats on being accepted to the inner circle :)
If you could throw even $0.01 into the military minds that could create some serious interest down the line. The Navy currently owns the project and they decide whether and how quickly it can move forward. To move it they need to see some military benefits, something inspirational like the presentation that you gave during one of the conferences where costs of a Titan and Mars bases were listed and they looked cheaper than the ISS.

I have been thinking what kind of benefits Navy could have from a project like that. There was some talk about building larger ships as fuel costs should not be such important factor in the maintenance but I don’t think that sounds very inspiring.
What is the new generation of Navy ships powered by clusters ob BFR engines could vertically take off and land? There will be no need for maintaining separate Atlantic and Pacific fleets since the ships could fly anywhere. The increased mobility could result in a smaller force being needed to do the same job. The fleets would land only to extract the fuel form the ocean water. They could be even parked in orbit and deploy kinetic weapons from there. Kinetic weapons would be cheaper in manufacture and maintenance, while having similar effect to nukes without the radioactive and political fallout. How would the world dictators feel knowing they may be vaporized from orbit without even knowing whet hit them?

This may sound far fetched but maybe it is not. A Sci-fi forum would be a good platform to bring it up. What I gather from the ‘Google go nuclear’ talk Dr Bussard’s primary motivation for developing the Polywell was spaceflight not energy efficiency. If this really works the possibilities may be endless.
100 knots might be enough. That puts you 5 days from anywhere to 1/2 way around the world.

Even 30 knots if all the ships could go that fast (including logistics) gives you 15 days access to anywhere. Reasonable basing gives you 2 to 3 days travel time. The key is not having to slow down for the DDs.

BTW the Navy doesn't have to be sold. Logistics has been a Naval specialty for a very long time (millenia). Steam vessel logistics have been in the mix in a big way since the 1860s.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

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