[Aeronaut]

JimmyT wrote: Brian
Hey! Another space elevator fan. Another worthy project, albiet much less advanced and more complex, but also complimentary to this one.

And yet another one! Remember, the 69,000 mile tether is more than an elevator, it’s also an interplanetary launch system.

[Aeronaut]

Breakable wrote:

I think once one approach is successful, other approaches will have a lot of problems getting funding. Particularly if they are inherently more expensive to begin with. So the first technology to cross the finish line will have exclusivity for a long time.

I would expect the opposite, because if fusion is proven to work(or at least break-even).
without multi-billion investment, then a lot of investors will start crawling for this pie (which is not truth at the moment of speaking),

As usually happens not all of them will be accommodated by the original inventor, so its likely they will invest into alternative approaches, even if they are more expensive and/or more problematic.

If you see in industry there is always some options for each type of solution each with its advantages and disadvantages.
An example – how many types of persistent data storage do you know?

If FF fails to work, a lot of others will take the lead, but even if somebody else succeeds faster, FF can still cross the finish line successfully and find its own niche,

I agree with Breakable. Way back in the ’80s there was a buzzword among investing headlines called “High Tech”, whatever that means. Once somebody proves fusion above breakeven, there’s going to be a bandwagon that everybody has to get aboard (according to the headlines). These herds are driven by emotion, not real research. Practical fusion, in my opinion, is going to make the dot-com circus look like a one trick pony show.

[Aeronaut]

Jolly Roger wrote: From “DREAD Weapon System” thread:

The MagBeam System is a plasma-magnetic equivalent to the Laser/Solar Sail system above, but has the advantage of being self-aiming adjustable at the payload, and reversible (push or pull). All the components of the system need power, which Focus Fusion (FF) could provide.

An FF could also serve directly as a plasma source. However, it is probably more useful as the power source of the HPH. Even though FF has a high specific impulse (high velocity), it does not have the high mass throughput, hence Thrust, of an HPH.

BTW, 1 N thrust = ~ 0.1 g acceleration per kilogram of payload. A 100-ton craft would need about 1 million Newtons thrust for 1 g.

NB: M2P2 /PlasmaMagnet can brake at the destination by interacting with a planet’s magnetosphere or a star’s solar wind.

The MagBeam is new to me today, Jolly Roger. I’ve always been assuming that a ship would spend half the flight accelerating, then turn around and decelerate for about the same amount of time (distance). Now the question is how fast we can decelerate a “relativistic” ship without the paying passengers griping (too much) and without needing more mass in the ship’s frame.

Mass is the reason for not lugging a ton of decarbane around with us if we only need an ounce for redundant backup storage. Excess mass is penalized by the theory of relativity as well as lowering the delta-vee, hence our speed and manueverability maximums.

Therefore, if 10 N= 1G of acceleration, a 100-ton ship would require only 1kN for 1G. For clarity, that would be tons of mass, not earth weight. 100 metric tons of mass would still be a sizable (and hefty) 1,000 metric tons or 3,200 tons (US) weight.

I’m looking forward to learning more about this runway to orbit FF Jet engine, also.

Cheers

Matt

[Aeronaut]

Thanx for the link, Rezwan. Stupendous promotional tool.

[Aeronaut]

Thanx for the links, Jolly Roger. I’d been under the impression that ion thrusters wouldn’t work in the atmosphere. Think such an engine could do runway to escape velocity?

Thanx

Matt

[Aeronaut]

DaveMart wrote:

Well it looks like this one is another great fit. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5368602.stm

Sir Richard Branson’s announcement that he is to donate the next 10 years’ profits from his Virgin travel businesses to the fight against global warming is the latest – and most significant – act of philanthropy from one of the world’s best known businessmen.

Virgin Fuels…How do we tap that?

Well, doesn’t look like Virgin Fuels is set up yet, but “Virgin Unite,” their charity arm, is. I shall email them and report back.

For aircraft travel a practicable Focus fusion power supply would greatly reduce the fuel weight, and also eliminate the substantial fire risk and most of the terrorism threat, together with eliminating most of the issues of exhaust pollution from the aircraft affecting climate, and so is hugely relevant to the Air industry’s needs.
A possible way of pitching it would be that alternatives have not all been properly explored, and that Focus fusion is one of a number of alternatives which could be looked at for relatively modest costs.
My guess is that Richard Branson, who is accustomed to risky ventures, might be attracted to financing a variety of possible solutions, each individually high risk, to try to ensure that one or the other won.
That does not hinder pointing out the unique attractions of FF, of course!
Regards,
DaveMart
Nothing succeeds like Success. Especially in Sir Richard’s world. Here’s some quick specs on electric motors:
125 HP requires 93.125 kW of three phase 460 volt electric delivered in 2.5 inch diam conduits.
This type of motor weighs 1,370 pounds, turns at 1,760 RPM, and is 94.5% efficient.

The real question is how to market propeller-driven airliners over faster jets in less crowded skies and airports.

[Aeronaut]

Rezwan wrote: Ah. Some cynicism appears. This Mother Jones Article says the BBC suggests that:

Branson’s move to invest $3bn in renewable energy technologies is “more than green philanthropy.” Could he also be “making a canny attempt to get in on the ground floor of a fast growing and innovative global industry” and “fulfill his mission to turn Virgin Fuels into a power giant in the same class as Shell or Exxon Mobil”? (Where have all the saints gone?)

There’s big money to be made in renewable fuels–at least that’s the general assumption–and many US biofuel firms are small-scale oufits. An unsentimental venture capitalist (not that there’s any other kind) tells the BBC, “Sir Richard wants to make money in a field where returns are being made right now.” Should we care that there’s a commercial logic to Branson’s decision? Of course not–the guy’s a businessman.

This gives me pause, as focus fusion is a direct competitor to all the renewable fuels. Will the Virgin Fuel folks embrace our fusion pitch or are they strict hydro-solar-wind-biogas types? Big money can be made with focus fusion as the renewable fuel of choice. Wish I could express this in clear economic terms.

Pleased to be of assistance, Rezwan. FF is not currently seen as renewable fuels, but as a something for nothing that’s underpriced. The VC crowd is after the residual income of selling fuels for decades to come so they can sell these companies for big bucks.

The FF business model is about truly affordable local power plants that run essentially on water and maybe cost a million in quantity. There is no reason for the renewable energy or VC communities to get fired up about FF and all of the carbon credits that owners of FF reactors in fleets of ships, trains, trucks, factories, office buildings, and subdivisions could sell to those with (pardon the pun) a burning need for combustion energy sources and fuels. Fuelish? You betcha!

[Aeronaut]

There’s strength in numbers, my friends.

Until enough average people and influential people make it politically risky to defend the status quo, we’re going to be stuck with our “fair share” of every tokamak ever built and yet to be built. Promoting this site by bookmarking it in Digg, StumbleUpon, FaceBook, MySpace, blogging, writing articles, and more is how we as a team can magnify our individual efforts thousands, perhaps millions of times over.

Well written and presented video is the most persuasive selling medium available, and YouTube puts the potential to reach over a million viewers within the reach of anybody with a truly compelling message of Hope and Inspiration.

Make no mistake, lobbying is selling, and selling is all about leadership. To make Focus Fusion HAPPEN we must lead tens of millions of people to make the decisions they really want to make: lower electric costs from locally generated power, electric ships, trains, trucks, cars, perhaps even aircraft when electric motors are light enough; the greenhouse gas and thermal pollution reductions from electrifying shipping and transportation alone should be enough to inspire most people on the logical level.

The only thing remaining is how to tell that story in such a way as to inspire at the gut level. People love to buy. They hate to be sold to. People always buy on emotion and then justify the purchase with logic.

Let’s do some persuasive story telling. After all, we’re only trying to raise six million, right?

[Author]

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