US Air Force Wants a Laser for the Spectre by 2020

a reply to: punkinworks10

Bussard knew his stuff, and he was confident enough in his design that before he died, he was suggesting that the USN skip straight to his full-scale design, because he was simply that confident it would work. By all indications, the WB tests supported his confidence.

The way I see it, is that Farnsworth fusor have been achieving fusion products for decades now, even relatively low-power ones that you could practically build with Home Depot parts alone(now think of the Tokamak or laser facility you'd need to achieve the same results...). The Polywell was simply a Farnsworth fusor with a magnetic booster, making it almost startling in terms of its relative simplicity compared to more "mainstream" fusion efforts, but that simplicity could well make it just that more feasible than the larger routes.

a reply to: Bedlam

Though would it be wrong to suggest that as far as fusion propulsion goes, we're still at Peenemünde, and if that Boeing patent could be seen as their version of Von Brain's early Ferry Rocket concepts, then anything that might power the Green Lady is somewhere between the A1 and the A4?

originally posted by: Barnalby
a reply to: punkinworks10

Bussard knew his stuff, and he was confident enough in his design that before he died, he was suggesting that the USN skip straight to his full-scale design, because he was simply that confident it would work. By all indications, the WB tests supported his confidence.

The way I see it, is that Farnsworth fusor have been achieving fusion products for decades now, even relatively low-power ones that you could practically build with Home Depot parts alone(now think of the Tokamak or laser facility you'd need to achieve the same results...). The Polywell was simply a Farnsworth fusor with a magnetic booster, making it almost startling in terms of its relative simplicity compared to more "mainstream" fusion efforts, but that simplicity could well make it just that more feasible than the larger routes.

Too feasable makes it too dangerous in their eyes though. its a catch 22. SO that swhy it went black for so long till lcokheed got a hold of it.

I was actually offered to bid on doing final machine work on a batch of laser cabinets for the NIF.
The job initially went to a shop in a nearby city, but the dumb ass bidder didn't thoroughly read the 46 page machining spec sheet and missed the section on washing and packaging the cabinets.
They were to be washed in descending grades of crazy solvents, then tripple washed in de ionized water , then hermetically sealed in individual shipping containers
Instead the dumbasses just loaded them on the shop truck and drove them over to Livermore, they didn't even make to receiving before they were rejected. The shop was also on the hook for replacing that batch of cabinets, to the tune of several million dollars.
When the lawyers for nif showed up at the shop , because they weren't answering the phone, they found the shop empty, except for the big machines ,
They guy moved out over a weekend and disappeared.

The UK is doing flywheel power for thier naval lasers.

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