Building an Open Source Bussard Reactor

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

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MSimon
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Re: reprap

Post by MSimon »

FAMULUS wrote:I think the reprap will be useful for making parts for the coil winder, and various jigs. I see it as a platform for computer controlled action in the physical space. Once you master the basics, you can reassemble the pieces to any end.

Also, it's a good warmup project.
Good to have you aboard!

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

IntLibber
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Propulsion: Easier achievement?

Post by IntLibber »

It appears to me that building a stable operating power generating system for planetary use is a far more technically complex project than building a polywell that can be used for space propulsion purposes, or even launch vehicles. There would not be nearly as much a need for fine tuning a cooling system, for instance, if your coolant is LH2 you are dumping into a rocket nozzle to provide thrust...

Comments?

spaccemonkey
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Donations

Post by spaccemonkey »

http://prometheusfusionperfection.wordpress.com/ is accepting donations to help pay for his experiments.

zbarlici
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Re: Donations

Post by zbarlici »

spaccemonkey wrote:http://prometheusfusionperfection.wordpress.com/ is accepting donations to help pay for his experiments.
he has to set up an NPO(is that expensive to do?)

... it would probably make a difference to the bottom line of donations to be received.

KitemanSA
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Re: Donations

Post by KitemanSA »

zbarlici wrote: he has to set up an NPO(is that expensive to do?)
It wasn't when I did it a while back. There were two parts to my activity. First, setting up the corporation (a state attorney's office activity. Second, the IRS. If you are actually a NPO, this is fairly easy.

FAMULUS
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NPO

Post by FAMULUS »

zbarlici:

Prometheus Fusion Perfection is currently a for-profit C corporation. I'm not opposed to establishing an NPO. But there may be advantages to being a for-profit, such as accepting private capital. Establishing a NPO would also require some paper pushing.

However, I'm definitely opensourcing all the IP. And realistically it's a long way from turning a profit!

I understand the symbolic importance, but for now there is little practical difference.

Betruger
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Post by Betruger »

I'd donate a few bills but for some reason paypal refuses to work with my bank.. I'll see about it this week..

kraisee
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Post by kraisee »

Just FYI, one of the large Apollo-era vacuum chambers from the Operations & Checkout building is currently sitting in Kennedy Space Center's disposal yard. It used to be used to create a vacuum for testing the pressurization of the old Apollo CSM and Lander's before they were stacked on their launchers.

It looks like slightly larger than a typical gas delivery truck's container. I guess it will be going for scrap. Maybe someone could find it a new home though.

No clue where the vacuum pumps are for it, but I'd guess they are in the same yard. Whether they are functional or not is a pure guess too.

Ross.

FAMULUS
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giant vacuum

Post by FAMULUS »

kraisee: got a link for that mega chamber?

kraisee
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Re: giant vacuum

Post by kraisee »

FAMULUS wrote:kraisee: got a link for that mega chamber?
I haven't got any specific contact info. If I were trying myself, I'd probably start off contacting the Office of Procurement:

http://procurement.ksc.nasa.gov/

--Ross.

neutron starr
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Post by neutron starr »

is this about making a phisical reactor or making a vertual reactor if this project is about the latter could the problem of to many calculations be solved by someone writing a distributed computing cliant like seti online or folding at home that could be downloaded to idle computers if this is not about a vertual reactor could one be made and the same busyness with distributed computing be used so that we could get real numbers for the polywell that anyone can have not just the navy
The measure of (mental) health is flexibility (not comparison to some ‘norm’), the freedom to learn from experience…The essence of illness is the freezing of behavior into unalterable and insatiable patterns.
Lawrence Kubie

Art Carlson
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Post by Art Carlson »

neutron starr wrote:is this about making a phisical reactor or making a vertual reactor if this project is about the latter could the problem of to many calculations be solved by someone writing a distributed computing cliant like seti online or folding at home that could be downloaded to idle computers if this is not about a vertual reactor could one be made and the same busyness with distributed computing be used so that we could get real numbers for the polywell that anyone can have not just the navy
I believe the factor limiting simulations of polywells is not computer power but the time of the few people who know how to use the codes properly.

FAMULUS
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Physical Reactor

Post by FAMULUS »

neutron starr:

My goal is to build a working physical reactor. Nothing informs like actually doing it (not to say that computer simulations are not valuable).

Also worth a note: I received the YBCO superconducting cable today:

http://prometheusfusionperfection.wordpress.com/

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