"The Senate Appropriations Committee lopped $8.1 billion off the 2011 defense budget Sept. 16,
........
... An extra $450 million is allocated for Stryker double-V hull modifications,
and $125 million is to go to alternative energy research."
"The Senate Appropriations Committee lopped $8.1 billion off the 2011 defense budget Sept. 16,
........
... An extra $450 million is allocated for Stryker double-V hull modifications,
and $125 million is to go to alternative energy research."
Dan Tibbets
Hard to say. It might be multiple projects. Although, it can't be *too* many projects - $10 Million here, $100 Million there, and $125M disappears pretty fast.
It's kind of sad - when I was young, a MILLION DOLLARS seemed like SO MUCH MONEY. All the money in the world, all the money you could ever want or need. Oh how times have changed lol.
Interesting. On brief reflection, it seems unlikely to be PW-related. If I understand correctly, WB-8/8.1 is funded through ARRA. I don't think we'd expect to see WB-100/D in the budget till FY2012, since they don't officially report WB-8 results until April 2011.
n*kBolt*Te = B**2/(2*mu0) and B^.25 loss scaling? Or not so much? Hopefully we'll know soon...
TallDave wrote:Interesting. On brief reflection, it seems unlikely to be PW-related. If I understand correctly, WB-8/8.1 is funded through ARRA. I don't think we'd expect to see WB-100/D in the budget till FY2012, since they don't officially report WB-8 results until April 2011.
I suspect that if they pick up the pB11 option (8.1), they will simultaneously be shopping around for the $200M for WB??. After all, why go on with pB11 if D-D didn't work. And if it DID work...
icarus wrote:Maybe they are going to bring back clippper class vessels? Green power for the Navy.
Seems a number of tankers and cargo ships may already have done. See http://www.skysails.info/ . Pretty sure the navy won't follow suit. They are trying for stealth and nothing gives you away like a great big sail!
I suppose it has crossed everyone's mind that the work the Navy is really interested in is being done in parallel well away from Nebel geographically, whose group is at most doing research for the larger scale builders--all data and designs being CC'ed to a black project group? There's nothing so physically large or distinct about Polywell that one hanger at Groom Lake or the like couldn't house the who kit and kaboodle. Or for that matter a warehouse in Richmond.
Or Rockford.
molon labe
montani semper liberi
para fides paternae patria
This is supposed to be the last warship designed for sail propulsion to actively fight. The ship was used as a commerce raider, and captured 15 ships. Originally a cargo ship, her innocuous appearance allowed her to approach her victims openly. Who in the 20th century would expect to be captured by a 19th century sailing ship?
This would not work if you had a 500-ship navy of square-riggers, of course.
On the other hand, if your navy is composed of guided missile frigates that serve only as missile platforms, and can fire over the horizon without ever seeing the enemy, maybe ...
Sorry about the off-topic, but we are speculating about other PW locations...
Since the stakes for the Polywell are high, I hope the EMC2 facilities are well secured, I mean physically, from all varieties of intrusion.
During the great FOIA debate, I mused about other methods of obtaining PW 7 data. Then I came to my senses and had the epiphany moving the test location might have something to do with security.
rjaypeters wrote:Sorry about the off-topic, but we are speculating about other PW locations...
Since the stakes for the Polywell are high, I hope the EMC2 facilities are well secured, I mean physically, from all varieties of intrusion.
Valid points. We came this close ' ' to losing Polywell all together with Dr. Bussard's passing. I hope the navy is taking precautions against such thing this time. I'm sure they are, and a good configuration control system with off site data duplication is typical. It may be that the brains currently reside at EMC2, but don't under estimate the brains of the Naval personnel charged with technical oversight. They, at least, have access the the current data and probably talk with the EMC2 crew on a weekly, if not daily basis.
By the way, was WB-7 or WB-7.1 to be delivered to the Navy? Of course, the Navy is perfectly capable of building their own BFR in parallel with Nebel's efforts and data if it is in their interest to do so.
Aero,
I wish I shared your confidence in the modern USN. With the exception of paying for Dr. Bussard's and Dr. Nebel's work, I find few recent examples of good decisions.
More important, I hope Dr. Nebel and crew are watched over. I also hope never to find out if they are...
rjaypeters wrote:Aero,
I wish I shared your confidence in the modern USN. With the exception of paying for Dr. Bussard's and Dr. Nebel's work, I find few recent examples of good decisions.
More important, I hope Dr. Nebel and crew are watched over. I also hope never to find out if they are...
I'm talking about the technical people who monitor the technical performance of R&D. Those people can be pretty sharp, and if they need help they can hire contractors (technical help). They usually stick with a program for the duration, but we know that no navy techies (individuals) have been with the Polywell effort since the first contract. Its been to long. Still, they have low turnover and are generally officers with the appropriate technical education (near as can be found). They are few in number but they end up being as near expert on the tech as exists with good knowledge of the science. I do admit however that my experience is with Air Force people. I expect the Navy folks are at least as good.
I believe the folks "in the <actual> know" are a very small circle. And potentially even some that do know, are not admitting or even possibly denying that they do.
This project really is kept close hold (for now).
It is fun to speculate that over a hundred million has been earmarked for Polywell research and engineering, but I have to admit that such things as fuel cells, efficient solar cells, etc for remote operations like radios, could also be easily included in the bag of 'alternate energy research'.
As far as security being the reason for moving to China Lake, it is a is possibility. I prefer the optimistic guess that they are anticipating that their D-D research may produce too many neutrons for for an industrial park in Santa Fe. Facilities at China lake may have more power and infrastructure support, along with a lot more space for isolating hot reactors.
