fusor

Mainstream Media Notices the Fusor!

This article in Today's Science section of the New York Times  might be the most prominent, mainstream mention of the Farnsworth Fusor that I have seen in the more than 30 years since I first learned of the device myself on a hillside in Santa Cruz, California.  Money quotes:

Other researchers already have working desktop fusion devices, including ones that are descendants of the Farnsworth Fusor invented four decades ago by Philo T. Farnsworth, the television pioneer.

Robert W. Bussard, an independent scientist, advocates a return to the Farnsworth Fusor, otherwise known as inertial confinement fusion. Farnsworth and Robert L. Hirsch, who later ran the Office of Fusion Energy for the Atomic Energy Commission, developed a fusor consisting of two electrically charged concentric spherical grids. They accelerated charged atoms, or ions, to the center.

“It’s like the electron guns in your TV tube,” Dr. Bussard said.

Well, yes, I suppose... if you still have electron guns in your TV tube.  Mine has a mega-mirrored micro chip and a spinning color wheel.  Don't anybody tell John Logie Baird...

Yeah, but... how are they gonna GET there?

Link: starbulletin.com | News | /2007/02/18/.

SAN FRANCISCO » In this city famous for the Gold Rush, a University of Hawaii researcher joined a former Apollo astronaut yesterday in touting the mining of a resource on the moon that holds the promise of cheap, clean abundant energy on Earth.

The resource is helium-3, a rare isotope on Earth that is plentiful on the lunar surface due to billions of years of exposure to the solar wind.

Does Tesla Know About This?

Link: Apple may turn to induction for iPod docking, charging.

Apple Inc. is attempting to develop a revolutionary dock connector for handheld consumer electronics gadgets that will allow the devices to be docked in any orientation and, in some cases, charged wirelessly.

Napa Valley Register | The Family Computer: Will streaming movies be next big thing?

Link: Napa Valley Register | The Family Computer: Will streaming movies be next big thing?.

It’s true the pace of change has accelerated, but this kind of  change is nothing new. Three big trends formed around Marconi’s invention of radio, Edison’s invention of motion pictures and Philo T. Farnsworth’s invention of the cathode ray tube, and they’ve been competing — and cooperating — ever since.

Fusion by Remote Control

Link: People's Daily Online -- China's "artificial sun" discharged in transnational experiment.

China recently conducted a transnational remote controlled plasma discharge experiment with its new generation "artificial sun" device, formally known as an Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), which has been built in Hefei, Anhui province. Through a dedicated data network, experts from General Atomics USA were easily able to start the nuclear fusion experimental installation from the other side of the globe with the click of a mouse.

Sono-fusion Mystery Persists

Link: The Strange Case of Dr. Rusi Taleyarkhan.

The Money Quote:

It would appear that Purdue University has done a thorough and careful investigation of claims of research misconduct in the case of Rusi Taleyarkhan, the scientist who claims to have used sonoluminescence of deuterated acetone to produce table-top-scale fusion. In the spirit of scientific openness and transparency, Purdue has decided to not make public the result of its investigation. So, either Taleyarkhan is legit, and Purdue is content to let his reputation suffer, or they think he's a fraud, but are content not to tell the scientific community, or some mysterious third alternative. What on earth is Purdue's administration thinking with this? Did they assume no one would notice?

Department of Energy Requests $24.3 Billion for FY 2008 Budget

You can't live on $428-million/yr, but it's a start...

Link: Department of Energy Requests $24.3 Billion for FY 2008 Budget.

DOE's Office of Science budget also incorporates $428 million in funding for basic research in nuclear fusion, including the international fusion energy experimental reactor agreement, known as ITER;

I Guess There's Not Enough Water Here...

....so the Chinese are thinking about going to the Moon. to get Helium-3 for their nuclear fusion experiments.

Today the Chinese are reaching for the moon. The first step, the launching of an unmanned lunar orbiter, is tentatively scheduled for April 17. A three-man mission will orbit the Earth later this year, and a spacewalk is planned for next year. Two years after that, the plan is to put down a lunar rover, followed in 2020 by a craft that will collect lunar samples and bring them home.

But why are the Chinese in such a hurry to get to the moon and bring samples back? What are they after? What they are after is a limitless source of clean energy to feed their voracious economy. The moon is rich on helium 3 (3He), which is a potential fuel for nuclear fusion.

 

Y'all be sure to say hello to Alice when you get there....

Bussard Fusion Papers

Link: Announcements - Inertial Electrostatic Fusion systems can now be built.

After re-posting a link to Dr. Robert Bussard's lecture at Google last fall, I received a blog-comment asking where in our forums Dr. Bussard's recent papers on the subject might be found.  I am posting the link above in answer to this post.  There are actually a couple of threads discussing Dr. Bussard's work in the forums.  Just enter his name in the "Google Site Search" box to the right, and the resulting page will lead you to all the entries here about Dr. Bussard.