Talk-Polywell.org

I've been contacted by Dr. Jaeyoung Park of EMC2. He expresses his appreciation for the Talk-Polywell community. As a token of appreciation, and considering that they no longer work for the Navy and thus no longer have to keep mum, he is inviting the community to come up with a "Top 10 Questions" list for him, and he will provide answers!

Here's how it will work. We'll take the next week, through the weekend, to discuss what might be good questions to ask. Propose and discuss your questions here. If we have more than 10 good candidate questions towards the end of the week, we'll take an informal vote and try to reach consensus over the weekend.

I'll send Dr. Park our list on Monday, and post his replies when I get them.

So! What do you think, everyone? Here's your chance. What are the most important questions you would like to know the answers to with regard to polywell fusion?

What is the target $30M machine, and why not just put the required hardware on WB-8 instead of a new machine.

Can results be obtained quicker than 3 years if expediting funds are obtained?

Thanks Joe! This is great!
And thanks to Dr Park for the opportunity to ask him questions. This is very exciting!
Here are my first few questions:
I hear target fuel for the first reactor is D+T. Is that to play it safe? What are the prospects for D+D, Tritium catalyzed D+D or even He3 catalyzed D+D (with Tritium or He3 bred from fusing D+D).
What scaling laws do you expect (if it is not too early to ask that)?
Why did the Navy end its involvement?
I am sure, I will be able to think of more until Monday.

Somebody needs to figure out how to contact Art Carlson!

Focus fusion is using Indiegogo as a scientific platform.

Have you considered starting a polywell indiegogo for funding?

How does Lockheed Martins fusion project stack up to the Polywell fusor, in so far as available information allows for comparison?

What is Fusion One http://www.fusionone.co/ ? Will the $30 M Polywell research be done by Fusion One or is it unrelated to EMC2?

ladajo wrote:Somebody needs to figure out how to contact Art Carlson!

He's currently a Staff Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry.

I haven't tried to message him, as I am not sure if the email tied to messaging is still monitored by him.
Another ghost from the past to find would be Chris Bradley in England.

I am sure either of them would be able to frame a good question.

For my take: What is the primary mechanism impacting electron injection efficiency, and how does this scale in projections to a viable machine?

acarlson@biochem.mpg.de

http://www.biochem.mpg.de/4803054/people

Anyone want to give it a shot to bring Art back into the mix?

I sent him an email

Dr. Park,

Thank you for taking questions. Here are mine:

1. What are the prospects for operating Polywell in a steady-state vs. a pulsed mode?

2. Does the use of p-11B make steady-state operation easier or harder?

3. The Lockheed patent suggests that they are exploring dynamic compression effects by cyclically varying fields. Would "dynamic compression" (including perhaps LANL's POPS) be worth investigating for Polywell?

4. What is your best guess for the acheivable, time-averaged, usable power density for p-11B over time spans of, say, 10 minutes (ascent time to LEO)?

5. With p-11B, do you expect any significant gamma emissions?

Dr. Park,

The Next Big Future article says you "estimate that a $30 million/ 3 year EMC2 effort could remove the remaining scientific concerns of successfully developing commercial fusion power technology." What are your remaining scientific concerns and which one concerns you the most? Why?