But this is in the context of having to show enough promising results to receive more funding. It could very well be that EMC2 already knows enough to build a WB100 that's functional enough to produce power (even if still with a lot of unresolved bugs), if it had the funds to. Or at least figure out a lot of the nuances they're stuck with because they were restricted to "merely" WB7 and 7.1, instead of WB100 which could (as far as I know anyway) leap over most of today's nuances and unknowns on how to make it a power producer, and leave only unknowns on how to make it even more profitable.Chuck Connors wrote: even if it was all laid bare- How much time would someone need to comprehend it fully. A day? Month? Year? When you still have EMC interpreting their own 'nuanced' results....I would wager that it is darn complex stuff.
WB7.1 Contract Awarded March 3, 2009
Is there anything stopping EMC2 from selling turnkey units once those're viable?
Please remember that the first two steps in DrB's $150M-$200M project were to build two more units of the same scale as WB6 (and now the mis-named WB7), both true polyhedra, one rectified cube and one rectified dodec. DrB knew that the choices made on some fundamental engineering issues could be improved by these two small models.
I think it's hard to say. Depends partly on what those answers are, as well as funding climate, etc.Will WB-7.1 answer enough questions that funders will want to go to WB-100?
The thing to take away from the WB-7.1 extension is this: Bussard wasn't crazy, incompetent, or a fraud, there really is a wiffleball effect and it really has some promise.
As I said before, I found it very heartening the Navy was asking about the interconnects because we all knew that was an issue that had to be solved for WB-100.
Well, I am losing heart.
I, for one, welcome our Oil overlords and will prove useful in rounding up the populace to work in the oil pits. Wait, that was Kent Brockman. Oh, never mind.
http://www.videosift.com/video/I-for-on ... -overlords
I, for one, welcome our Oil overlords and will prove useful in rounding up the populace to work in the oil pits. Wait, that was Kent Brockman. Oh, never mind.
http://www.videosift.com/video/I-for-on ... -overlords
Patience and perspective. Polywell was always a long shot.
We should feel very good that real progress is being made, no showstoppers have yet been found, and there is real interest in moving forward, albeit not as fast as we'd like.
Consider, too, that fusion research funding is historically closely tied to oil prices. In a recession, Polywell looks a lot better than ITER for a whole slew of reasons, not least of which are the possibility of developing into something of economic value and being orders of magnitude cheaper.
We should feel very good that real progress is being made, no showstoppers have yet been found, and there is real interest in moving forward, albeit not as fast as we'd like.
Consider, too, that fusion research funding is historically closely tied to oil prices. In a recession, Polywell looks a lot better than ITER for a whole slew of reasons, not least of which are the possibility of developing into something of economic value and being orders of magnitude cheaper.
Unimportant, Polywell is open source, I'm betting China has one, and India is not far behind, as well as Japan. In this environment the Navys "agenda", as you say, is not really a factor in the equation.alexjrgreen wrote: Their agenda may not be the same as ours...
I like the p-B11 resonance peak at 50 KV acceleration. In2 years we'll know.
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alexjrgreen
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If the Navy's not just pursuing fusion, they don't have to publish yet...Roger wrote:Unimportant, Polywell is open source, I'm betting China has one, and India is not far behind, as well as Japan. In this environment the Navys "agenda", as you say, is not really a factor in the equation.alexjrgreen wrote: Their agenda may not be the same as ours...
Ars artis est celare artem.
True, in retrospect the Navy dropped the ball when they did not maintain the contract with the information embargo, and let Dr Bussard go public- at least with the ideas and conclusions, if not with all the details of over 20 years of research. I've heard (from here) that there is certainly intrest outside the US. For instance, a group in Indea is appearently persueing it. Weather this consists of a small group of amatures following internet discussions, a small group of University types that are scratching thier heads and wrestling with theory, or a dedicated group striving to build Polywell type machines and generate thier own data is an open question.alexjrgreen wrote:If the Navy's not just pursuing fusion, they don't have to publish yet...Roger wrote:Unimportant, Polywell is open source, I'm betting China has one, and India is not far behind, as well as Japan. In this environment the Navys "agenda", as you say, is not really a factor in the equation.alexjrgreen wrote: Their agenda may not be the same as ours...
Certainly, with the information that Dr. Bussard has provided, and the hints of confirmation from Dr. Nebel, it would not take much effort to catch up. This all assumes that there is something worthwile to catch up to, not just another interesting way to produce neutrons.
Dan Tibbets
To error is human... and I'm very human.
For the folks in India, "another interesting way to produce neutrons" is VERY interesting indeed. They have been pursuing a Thorium reactor for decades. Using a Polywell as a neutron source in a hybrid Polywell, fission reactor would be marvelous for them. They have Thorium out the ying...D Tibbets wrote: Certainly, with the information that Dr. Bussard has provided, and the hints of confirmation from Dr. Nebel, it would not take much effort to catch up. This all assumes that there is something worthwile to catch up to, not just another interesting way to produce neutrons.
Dan Tibbets
I'd be very surprised if Polywell has moved anywhere beyond being translated into their respective languages to the attention of a local functionary who could make funding decision. It's a tricky beast, very technical, and there are a lot of people here in the West saying it won't work.Unimportant, Polywell is open source, I'm betting China has one, and India is not far behind, as well as Japan.
Methinks that anyone interested in this level of technology is probably fluent in English---the current "linqua franca" (if you'll excuse the pun) of science.TallDave wrote:I'd be very surprised if Polywell has moved anywhere beyond being translated into their respective languages to the attention of a local functionary who could make funding decision. It's a tricky beast, very technical, and there are a lot of people here in the West saying it won't work.Unimportant, Polywell is open source, I'm betting China has one, and India is not far behind, as well as Japan.
But once the show starts I fear that it will be vaudeville comedy rather than beat-all-the-odds feel-good blockbuster movie.TallDave wrote:no showstoppers have yet been found,
I think this comment about 'no show-stoppers' really should wait until we know what the show is going to look like, as very few are going to bother buying tickets until they have some small idea of what they are going to see. The Military need to turn up to make sure it is not one of those political plays that might create national security issues. In the meantime, the producers really need to get some publicity going - clear fliers and a precis of the plot. Maybe if they could just name the actors then it might get some proper interest!! So far it doesn't really look like they've filmed any scenes - let's have some 'making of' back-stage documentaries on the progress, eh!?
'no showstoppers' is so vacuous when there is no significant evidence either way.