[Dean's World] Dave Price: Polywell Funding Confirmed By Major Media

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Posted by Dave Price:
Polywell Funding Confirmed By Major Media
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1194451454.shtml


   Most of those interested already know that [1]Bussard's fusion project
   was funded in August, but this is the first published report from a
   major media organization that I've seen, and seems worth linking given
   the conflicting reports in the past:

     Bussard received nearly $2 million under a U.S. Navy contract in
     August to continue work on an inertial electrostatic confinement
     reactor he had developed. The reactor uses magnetic fields to
     confine electrons, whose negative charge causes protons and Boron
     11 atoms to fuse. The fusion sets off a chain of reactions that
     produces electricity.

   Should the current project produce the expected results, Bussard had
   indicated funding might be available for a major project in the $100M
   - $200M range to attempt the building of a 100MW net power Polywell
   fusion reactor. I'm actually now studying [2]Forth, a computer
   language that might be used for the critical control software, in
   addition to some remedial physics/engineering, in hopes of perhaps
   being relevant enought to work on the project myself, though that
   might be problematic in terms of my career/financial goals.
   [3]Discussion of Polywell [4]continues in several [5]forums.

References

   1. http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3139619&C=america
   2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_%28programming_language%29
   3. http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5367&mid=136500#M136500
   4. http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/index.php
   5. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IEC_Fusion/