Talk-Polywell.org

"What are we trying to do here?" Lowest reliable $/lb to LEO. Correct, so the issue is, would having a special, throw way core for the uniquely heavy loads be cheaper than maintaining an inventory of ONE reusable core and 1 reusable NBAT. You can have any color so long as its black. You can have an...

The rounded square magnet shape may be the best compromise, provided the corners abut against each other, not the long sides. This long side paralleling the next side provides to much surface area close to the cusps (within several gyroradii) so ExB losses may become dominate. This is in line with t...

"But, it did not work out for the Shuttle SYSTEM. " A meaningless data point to regard, I think. The STS was designed to be partly expendable and partly remanufacturable, to be refueled and reflown. SpaceX rockets were designed to be refueled and reflown. To take SpaceX at its word concerning the r...

Perhaps this information might be useful for comparison. Typical electrolytic capacitors and batteries are compared (about half way down page). http://www.johnhearfield.com/Physics/Capacitor_energy.htm Even with much improvement, capacitors such as claimed here, are only competing with regular batte...

Some extravagant claims (EEStore anyone?) I do not know the technical values well. What is a 2500 improvement? Compared to what? Batteries have various energy storage capacities. The same for capacitors (or condensers). 1000 units per unit of weight or volume may be good. What is the capacity in typ...

I think I know what KitemanSA is getting at. If you can lift the full core to a higher altitude and give it some downrange speed, you have an advantage. This is like the air launched Pegasus or Virgin Galactic Space Ship 2 (or is it 3?). He is separating the effort to get to that point and ignoring ...

Side note, the shuttle external tank was originally intend to be taken to orbit for industrial civilian use but due to a lot of factors this never panned out. http://www.permanent.com/ext-tank.htm I also am reminded. There was also a proposal to use a highly modified Shuttle as the basis for a new ...

Space is hard, space is harder to go fast. Reading the comments about the boosters and a strap on tanks I think we forget the original plan. Is not to get more weight to orbit but to get weight to orbit cheaply. If Elon musk succeeds just to recycle the rockets three times before he must throw them...

This was the model the STS used with the external tank feeding the SMEs. In addition, they added the solid core recoverable boosters to makeup for the added external tank/fuel weight. The math/cost worked out that the external tank was a throw-away. Shame, it was not cheap to build. The boosters we...

I'm thinking more of a Falcon 9 Enhanced. The returnable F9s have three landing legs, why not have three tuned F1s that are strapped on to, or between, the legs but transfer no thrust. They go along for the ride and are equiped to fly back. All they do is transfer fuel. Unless of course it is easie...

The only other alternative I know of is the tentative ULA proposal to separate the expensive rocket engine assembly from the rest of the first stage and snag it in the air as it is falling under parachutes. A single stage to orbit or Shuttle approach allows for a wide choice of landing sites, but i...

So, as impressive as it is to land the first stage on a moving, sea-borne platform, could other simpler alternatives be cheaper and easier that also satisfy the objective of preserving it and the engines in it? For example, lets say we had some kind of water tight, clam-shell shroud or some sort of...

First stage size, both length and diameter is limited if highway mobility is the limiting factor. If as said, high reusability is possible, then alternate transportation may minimize size concerns. Produce a 18 foot wide first stage in California, load it on a ship ant transport a batch through the ...

There ere are a number of insights presented by Dr Parks, and also some seeming contradictions. The ability to generate deep poetntial wells seems to be inversely proportional to the density. This may imply that there is a best size/ density to optimize useful fusion output. A larger less dense mach...

Well, the site is back. No new news though...

Dan Tibbets