HD209458 - 30/11/2006 4:43 PMBack on topic a little bit; it has always been my impression that IEC fusion like this was useful as a neutron source, but not for power generation (or propulsion). IIRC, Bussard's main claims about the power of his machine were denominated in neutron counts, which seemed to me to support this view of IEC as primarily a neutron source. Do the nuclear enginners here know if this is true? Or is Bussard et. al doing something different, that is causing his machine to generate power?
braddock - 1/12/2006 1:23 AMThis is a very interesting video. I'm skeptical of the potential, but regardless I just learned an awful lot about interesting fusion devices while watching.There is a fairly critical critique of the presentation here: http://futurepower.org/nuclear_energy_experiments.htmlDon't know how much credence to give the critique or the presentation, but I found both interesting.Does anyone have links to the "8 or 9 papers" he mentions that discuss using their fusion technique for space travel?Or the main lessons learned paper he mentioned that was to embody his lessons learned in the astronomical proceedings?
braddock - 1/12/2006 10:29 AMThe critique was sobering counter-balance, although I think it was a little too critical of him personally -- it's not like Robert Bussard isn't a world famous physicist already (Bussard Ram Jet, Asst Director of Atomic Energy Commission, etc).The problems I have with the presentation are:1) No energy accounting presented - the magnetic fields would presumably take much more energy than the old grid approach. Where is break-even?2) No cost proposal presented - in fact he mentioned that his cost slide was from 1994, complete with old crossed out prices and penciled in new ones!3) A quarter of a millisecond reading of unexpected peak neutron emissions just before the prototype blew up and they shut down the lab - not exactly good scientific proof there.4) He needs to publish everything. Anyone who fully funds him on a $200 million adventure without a few years of peer-review publication is crazy.By all means, someone give him $2 million to prove what he thinks he has achieved. That is all he says he wants to continue research for one year ($5 million to ramp up the scale more quickly). But he only mentions the $2 million in the Q&A afterwards...