Venture Capital in Silicon Valley is contemplating nuclear fusion:
Link: RED HERRING | Startup Chases Nuclear Fusion.
Even with all the hullabaloo about clean energy, few scenarios are as pie-in-the-sky as nuclear fusion power. The sun and stars are powered by fusion reactions, and scientists have been working for more than half a century in hopes of harnessing the phenomenon to develop a clean and abundant source of energy here on Earth.
Enter Tri Alpha Energy. The Foothill Ranch, California-based startup last month raised $40 million in venture capital to do just that, seemingly upending all Silicon Valley logic. “Our primary application is to build an alternative energy platform for power generation,” says Dale Prouty, CEO of Tri Alpha, which is so publicity-shy it doesn’t have a web site. “But we’re a long way from knowing if this is going to work or not.”
I hope they’re doing their homework before they start spending that $40-Million, or they’re gonna wind up like Jimmy Olsen, burning their cash just to contact Superman…
Why do you always pick the most pessimistic articles?
Probably because I find these articles so entertaining. Do you really think they’re pessimistic? Or are you referring to my sarcastic sidebars?
Both.
Aren’t there positive news about anything related to fusion? “Second Race to the moon” movie that is viewable on youtube or that JT-60 archived confinement time nearly half a minute?
This might have something to do with this patent, which was issued to Norman Rostoker and the University of California, mentioned in the full article:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=gUqAAAAAEBAJ&dq=%22direct+conversion%22+fusion+magnetic+mirror
While not a fusor, it does contain some fusor like concepts, and is full of direct energy conversion ideas, and such. In particular, a deep energy well is used to contain the electrons, an idea similar to Bussard’s ideas.