Reply To: Great News!

[zapkitty]

MSNW seems to have shifted things a bit. That’s not exactly what Helion used to be. Helion used colliding FRCs with the resultant FRC clamped by superconducting coils for the final push.

This is a compromise… a blend of the Helion concept with the MSNW space drive concept. The space drive collapses multiple foil Al liners on an FRC for that final push and thus introduces all the consequent issues of replacement and alignment of precision-machined disposable metal parts for each individual shot.

… shouldn’t be a showstopper but not the best outcome for a power plant

Is this an intermediate step to the proposed Helion design? Do they still regard a Helion sans metal drivers as an achievable goal?

It does bring to mind the rumors that Tri-Alpha has had to scale back from aneutronic to neutronic fusion.

Of course any credible claim at breakeven would start breaking up the interest/funding logjam.

… and I do note that in the pdf linked MSNW takes a deliberate swipe at boron fusion by listing it as not “based on currently accepted principles of physics and reasonable technology extrapolation” alongside cold fusion, matter-antimatter and wormholes.

Oh?

Perhaps the published successes of LPPX since then will be treading closely upon a few heels right about now… 🙂