Recovery.Gov Project Tracker

icarus · Post by **icarus** » Sun Oct 31, 2010 9:44 am

Can't imagine the incoming Tea Partiers will be impressed if they get the EMC2/Naval run-around when they start asking after the line item on a speculative fusion research project financed by bail-out funds.

The Recovery Act money has spawned more than its share of boondoggles, would hate to see PW end up on the black list

http://www.heartland.org/full/28161/Sum ... Blues.html
• $700,000 to study why monkeys respond negatively to inequity
• $193,956 to study voter perceptions of the economic stimulus
• $363,760 to help NIH promote the positive impacts of stimulus projects
• $456,663 to study the circulation of Neptune’s atmosphere

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35327297/Summ ... -the-Blues

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:48 pm

progress made on Theoretical modeling of the Polywell.

Heh.

I wonder what their simulations look like now. Cusp-plugging? Losses scaling at B^.25? I'd sure like to know what the WB-8 neutron counts look like.

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:50 pm

icarus,

Yes, that may a reason why it's being kept quiet. It's easy to imagine reading things like "Top DOE fusion scientists interviewed today said the concept had little chance of success."

I'm starting to like high oil prices...

bennmann · Post by **bennmann** » Sun Oct 31, 2010 7:37 pm

TallDave wrote:
progress made on Theoretical modeling of the Polywell.
Heh.

I wonder what their simulations look like now. Cusp-plugging? Losses scaling at B^.25? I'd sure like to know what the WB-8 neutron counts look like.

The part about theoretical modeling implies they have new data.

My guess is they did start getting plasmas in April. Nebel's reputation with me stays very good. Also, it says his salary is $160,000. I think it's safe to say he's earning all of it and hopefully more in his future.

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 4:15 am

That location is not far from General Atomics, SAIC, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific and UCSD. I wonder if they've arranged one or more research partnerships?

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 10:30 am

bennmann wrote: The part about theoretical modeling implies they have new data.

It would be nice if they did, but I would not be sure about that.
A theoretical model is just like the word says, theoretical, hence can also be developed without new experimental data but simply with a new hypothesis.

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:28 am

DeltaV wrote:That location is not far from General Atomics, SAIC, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific and UCSD. I wonder if they've arranged one or more research partnerships?

General Atomics does a lot of high-power electrical stuff. Maybe EMC2 is positioning itself for WB9? If they get the ~$200M bandied about for a 100MW reactor, I submit there may be doubts as to whether EMC2 would be in a real good position to handle that amount. GA gets contracts like that with regularity. Just a thought.

Aero · Post by **Aero** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 2:19 pm

For that matter, NASSCO is located in San Diego, too. If they are looking all the way down the road to installing a BFR in a ship, then San Diego is as good a place to locate as any, and the only option on the west coast.
http://wikimapia.org/5569450/National-S ... ing-NASSCO
(Is this topic drift?)

Ivy Matt · Post by **Ivy Matt** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 4:42 pm

Aero wrote:(Is this topic drift?)

I don't know. I had similar thoughts about why EMC2 might be relocating to San Diego, so I would vote "no".

By the way, does the phrase "fully under construction" strike anyone else as odd? I can understand "under construction" and "fully constructed", but what's "fully under construction" supposed to mean?

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:05 pm

Businesswise it means that all the construction contracts have been assigned but not yet completely delivered or assembled in situ.

Anyhow it might also be simply a wrong choice of words.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:23 pm

D Tibbets wrote:
ladajo wrote:Yes, but neither John Pazik nor Lynn Peterson commented on Polywell at the conference.
I assume you are countering the hearsay evidence originally presented. If you are countering this with authority, please provide your source.

Dan Tibbets

They said they did not.

Regarding the relocation to San Diego, it is probably related to navy infrastructure and ease of access, but also, recall that a significant amounnt of work was done there previously.

D Tibbets · Post by **D Tibbets** » Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:44 am

It occurs to me that some of the equipment that EMC2 transferred to Space Development Corp(?) in 2005 might still be available. In particular that large vacuum chamber. It might not be compatible with the WB8 assembly, but it may be useful for component testing, and other related projects that are too big for their 1 meter chamber.

Dan Tibbets

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Tue Nov 02, 2010 7:39 am

KitemanSA wrote:
DeltaV wrote:That location is not far from General Atomics, SAIC, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific and UCSD. I wonder if they've arranged one or more research partnerships?
General Atomics does a lot of high-power electrical stuff. Maybe EMC2 is positioning itself for WB9? If they get the ~$200M bandied about for a 100MW reactor, I submit there may be doubts as to whether EMC2 would be in a real good position to handle that amount. GA gets contracts like that with regularity. Just a thought.

Sounds reasonable, along with NASSCO for ship mods and Space Dev for the equipment/technicians Dr. Bussard gave them. SSCPac (formerly NOSC, Naval Ocean Systems Center) has a history with LENR, and might be brought to bear for radiation detection/shielding (it just wouldn't do to have a BFR powered ship broadcast its location via neutrons, gammas, x-rays,...). SAIC is into all sorts of leading edge DoD stuff. UCSD is the home of the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:56 pm

D Tibbets wrote:It occurs to me that some of the equipment that EMC2 transferred to Space Development Corp(?) in 2005 might still be available. In particular that large vacuum chamber. It might not be compatible with the WB8 assembly, but it may be useful for component testing, and other related projects that are too big for their 1 meter chamber.

Dan Tibbets

I always assumed they got all that stuff back for the WB-7 contract.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 3:25 pm

Seems like, but also the navy may have held some in storage for them. The inventory sheets we saw did not seem to include some of the larger hardware.

On a separate note, any guesses on how long it will take Rick to update the the EMC2 page to show they moved to San Diego?
My other question is if anyone credible is in San Diego and can go knock the new door? Unfortunately, I do not see myself getting out there until well after April. I will be hitting PA/DC, and then NY, and GA and FL before June. No chance to get to the other side in that.