Talk-Polywell.org

It was Insurection. They used them to gather up some technobabble gas to release later, which caused an explosion somehow.

Phalanx is being replaced by RIM. Not sure just how effective it is, but it can engage at something like 20 miles, versus the Phalanx's two or three. I think a more poignant question with SM-3 is can it hit a target saying "I'm over here instead." Even something as small as a ballistic missile warhe...

If you need to SEE the target, ECM won't do much good. I was speaking metaphorically. Machine vision doesn't work very well, so you have to use something like a radar return that a computer can work with. ECM means you have to use a stronger or more complex system to get a solid "lock on" to shoot ...

You still need to see the target to shoot it though. ECM will keep some aircraft flying for a good while yet.

The Navy also has SM-3, which makes anything not sea-skimming irrelevant. And despite the Sunburn's long range, you still have to be able to see what you're aiming at. That means getting a ship or plane past the Aegis cruisers, which aren't obsolete yet, just Phalanx.

Star Trek has been using Bussard ramjet concepts for decades.

Probably hit the new topic button instead of the post reply button.

Interesting to know. I suppose then, a more compact neutrino detector would be quite useless, save for an alternative using a synthetic gravitic field rather than magnetic to contain plasma.

The mention of particle beams in another thread sparked a different idea. I'd imagine the normal method of creating a particle beam is to dump loads of power into an accelerator, which the polywell would make more practical. Some of what I'm hearing indicates that the alphas come out on the cusps. T...

Talking about particle beam weapons brings up an interesting point, I'll have to put it on another thread though.

How much current are you going to dump in to get the protons up to fusion velocity?

Some of our greatest machines grew out of war needs, whether directly or indirectly. The polywell will probably be similar. The Navy will fund development for its ships, and it will spread from there. Unlike many others, aside from power generators--which will be very handy in our information filled...

Overhead wires on the highways, and certain truck routes--I doubt large battery packs would be reasonable for big rigs. Much like satellite or cable TV, you buy prepaid power cards for power, instead of complex or invading schemes. Enforcement is a bit harder, but chances are there'd be enough hones...

I looked it up once, plain boron is about $5 a pound. Don't know how much it costs to extract the desired isotope, but something I read somewhere on here indicated it wasn't a whole lot more. A pound is probably several months of cruising for smaller ships, Maybe less for bigger ones, and your milea...

I'd imagine it'd be easier to reduce it on the micro scale than it would be on the macro scale. Alpha particles can penetrate a bit, but finding the right direction to make use of them would be a problem.