EMC2 Reports

[zapkitty]

Crazy Fox wrote:
Next will come direct conversion applications in aerospace with airships using electrogravitics. .

While fusion would make for better airships, fusion by itself would not solve the problems of being a light but voluminous vehicle caught in the ground/air interface… something that waterborne vessels rarely have to cope with.

And electrogravitic propulsion remains a dream.

[Crazy Fox]

Electrogravitics is in use on the B-2 Bomber and other military craft. With regard to airships of the rigid frame heavier than air variety. Millenium airship designs are flying here and the skies around Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. Oldtimers need not become skeptical non players in this world if only they participate as you are doing with this post of yours. The fact remains we as “An advanced civilization” are being held back by greed and corruption. We should be in space by now with fusion power plants. Dr. Miley is working toward that goal of fusion powered space flight.

Shipping today raises the cost of transported commerce by a large amount due to the inflated price of carbon based fuels. How easy it would be to power those same ships with fusion power from cavitating salt water in oil. In the air and at sea tonnage is moved by high density power plants. Rail on land could become clean and cheap with fusion power. Icebreakers are almost exclusively nuclear powered for reason of high density cheap power.

Get the fusion out of the forums and academic institutions where goverment grants may or may not be forth coming based upon politically correct revelation of science that can’t be taught. One way to kill public acceptance of the fusion power is to do stupid bench top “Demonstrations” of half baked science that is only remotely related to what the professors know could be shown. All of this is being done in “Special Government Labs” like electrogravitics that you thought was just a future dream. The fact remains the public is a captive consumer and government intends to keep it that way. Being skeptical and a non player is tantamount to accepting slavery and belching ships, airplanes, cars, trains…..you name it.

[Ivy Matt]

EMC2’s latest report, for the first quarter of 2011, can be found here. The relevant part of the report is as follows:

As of 1Q/2011, the WB-8 device operates as designed and it is generating positive results. EMC2 is planning to conduct comprehensive experiments on WB-8 in the next 9-12 months based on the current contract funding schedule.

So, it appears the project is not dead, although there are questions regarding whether or not it is behind schedule. Apparently it will continue to be funded, and there will be further reports. The big question of whether the scaling has been found to agree with Dr. Bussard’s theoretical models does not appear to have been answered yet. Or maybe it has. It all depends on how you interpret “operates as designed” and “positive results”.

If the project is on schedule, testing with hydrogen-boron fuel will begin on or after October 31 this year. However, a possible interpretation of the above report is that testing with hydrogen-boron fuel will not begin for at least another 9 months to a year, as the WB-8 device was designed for testing with deuterium fuel.

[Aeronaut]

Ivy Matt wrote: EMC2’s latest report, for the first quarter of 2011, can be found here. The relevant part of the report is as follows:

As of 1Q/2011, the WB-8 device operates as designed and it is generating positive results. EMC2 is planning to conduct comprehensive experiments on WB-8 in the next 9-12 months based on the current contract funding schedule.

So, it appears the project is not dead, although there are questions regarding whether or not it is behind schedule. Apparently it will continue to be funded, and there will be further reports. The big question of whether the scaling has been found to agree with Dr. Bussard’s theoretical models does not appear to have been answered yet. Or maybe it has. It all depends on how you interpret “operates as designed” and “positive results”.

If the project is on schedule, testing with hydrogen-boron fuel will begin on or after October 31 this year. However, a possible interpretation of the above report is that testing with hydrogen-boron fuel will not begin for at least another 9 months to a year, as the WB-8 device was designed for testing with deuterium fuel.

Too bad P/W’s a political football. Reminds me of the Johnny Cash song “I got it one piece at a time…”. IOW, I’m expecting every check to specify precisely how little is expected.

[Ivy Matt]

MSimon at the Talk Polywell forums, who apparently has some inside knowledge, has confirmed that the WB-8 project is behind schedule, and has given the reason as procurement difficulties.

I’m not sure how being a political football is a problem, except for our ability to receive detailed reports from the folks at EMC2. I don’t doubt that, if anything comes of the Polywell, there will eventually be scholarly papers and patents for everyone to read. I guess the big question is what happens when EMC2’s current source of funding runs out. If the results are promising enough, however, I expect the Navy will fight hard for more funding, even if they have to go toe-to-toe with the DOE. They’re not funding the Polywell just because it makes them look good. They’re looking to put the things in their ships. The DPF might be a possible alternative, but ITER certainly won’t fit that bill.

[Ivy Matt]

Alan Boyle of the Cosmic Log on MSNBC.com has talked to Jaeyoung Park, acting chief executive officer of EMC2, and posted an entry with further details on their progress. The upshot is that EMC2 will keep working on the WB-8 experiment until funding for the current contract runs out, probably around the end of the year. By that time, EMC2 and the Navy hope to know whether it’s feasible to go on to the next step. Jaeyoung Park hopes WB-8 is “the last small-scale experimental machine EMC2 will have to build”. I interpret that to mean that he hopes the next device will be demonstration reactor, or at least a net-power device. A full-scale Polywell reactor is expected to cost $100 to $200 million. The Navy wants EMC2 to keep a lid on specific results until they have an actual product to deliver. They’re open to EMC2 commercializing the reactor at that point, as long as it remains a US-owned company and maintains control of the technology.

The entry also briefly mentions General Fusion and Tri Alpha, as well as ITER and NIF.

EDIT: Oh, and no mention of hydrogen-boron fuel, the WB-8.1 option permitted in their contract. It sounds to me like they’re hoping to get a working deuterium-deuterium reactor going first.

[Tulse]

Ivy Matt wrote: It sounds to me like they’re hoping to get a working deuterium-deuterium reactor going first.

That makes a lot of sense, as it would be a huge milestone for anyone to get reliable over-unity fusion, regardless of the fuel. I realize that their device isn’t configured to capture the energy of a D-D reaction, but even theoretical breakeven would still be enormously impressive, and be a huge validation of their approach. To be honest, I’m not at all clear why LPP isn’t also going this route first — is it because of the practical handling issues involving the neutron radiation produced?

[Ivy Matt]

Second quarter update here:

As of 2Q/2011, the WB-8 device has demonstrated excellent plasma confinement properties. EMC2 is conducting high power pulsed experiments on WB-8 to test the Wiffle-Ball plasma scaling law on plasma energy and confinement.

They also added one job: a microwave engineer. Of their $7,855,504 of funding they’ve used $3,382,826, compared with $3,216,826 as of the end of Q1 2011. At that rate it looks like they’ll be able to get to the end of the year without blowing their budget. Perhaps they could share the surplus with LPP. 😉

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