Talk-Polywell.org

in the IEF dirrectory of the peswiki website Mr. Bussard comments(about halway down the page under "NEC comments" section),

"We are looking for private money, not government."

...why is that? Is it because the govt takes too darn long to accomplish anything? ...or what?

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory: ... ion_Device

zbarlici wrote:in the IEF dirrectory of the peswiki website Mr. Bussard comments(about halway down the page under "NEC comments" section),

"We are looking for private money, not government."

...why is that? Is it because the govt takes too darn long to accomplish anything? ...or what?

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory: ... ion_Device

I'd say it was a matter of speed. And a matter of getting a lot of BFRs made.

This is not at all unusual. Nuclear (fission) technology was developed in partnership with private industry.

For the last 70 years (since the run up to WW2) Government has done the science (with exceptions like Bell Labs), some of it by contract, and industry has built the products developed out of that research.

It is not a bad model. It seems to be working tolerably well. Government handles fundamental research and industry handles applied research.

It bears repeating that Bussard himself was in favor of a prize model for government-assisted fusion development. He saw the "big science" model as a significant problem. Judging by the way funding has been allocated, he was right.

The Fusion technology Institute of the University of Wisconsin at Madison publishes Pr Harrison Schmitt's (hats off!) course "Resources from Space". Among the documents available on the web, the lecture entitled Starting Up a Space Business presents his views on the pros and cons of several sources of financing. It is worth reading, even the scope is not exactly fusion R&D.

Indeed it is worth reading, and I would welcome any other related documents you know of. This is just the sort of thing I'm committed to.

aha-

http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/neep533.html