As opposed to mechanical television? We had the technology, though it was packet-switched instead of broadcast (you could broadcast to all medium endpoints) and had a really, really low frame rate:
Posted on 06/12/2009 1:19:59 AM PDT by Scanian
There are a lot of fusion experiments going on in the world that don't get much publicity. Among these is Polywell Fusion. All you see in the papers is the billions spent on ITER or the billions spent on Laser Fusion. Small projects like Polywell where the spending is in millions and where the prospects for viability are near near term (years vs decades) don't seem to attract much attention from the giants of the media.
I have been studying the Polywell Fusion Reactor intensively since November of 2006 when I first saw a video of Robert Bussard, the inventor of the Polywell Fusion Reactor, giving a talk to Google. The talk is about an hour and a half long and is full of physics, engineering technical details, and prospects for the future if the device works. However, there is a much shorter video done by Daily Kos poster Roger Fox which gives a good overview of the technology. The video is not technically correct in every detail but it does give a good look for those of you short on physics, math, and engineering. As you can see this project transcends politics. I'm from the right side of the political spectrum with a rather libertarian orientation. Roger of course is from the left. Roger and I may disagree on many things but Polywell is not one of them.
There are also other resources out there. Tom Ligon, a noted science fiction author, who worked with Dr. Bussard wrote a piece for Analog Science Fiction magazine on the Polywell reactor which you can access here. Tom also did a series of videos about Polywell and his work with Dr. Bussard. You can also visit my IEC Fusion Technology blog which has news, technical discussions, and numerous useful links
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
That book, “Sun In A Bottle”, does not seem to cover this technology called electrostatic confinement fusion.
That’s surprising, considering that polywells are based on the electronic tube engineering of Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of electronic television. Mister Farnsworth, a prolific inventor, and a genius of the first rank, was achieving fusion in a bottle in the late 1950s.
The Farnsworth Fusor was limited by its standard vacuum tube electronic grid. Fusion works better when no physical objects intrude into the fusion space.
Dr. Robert Bussard’s leap consisted of replacing the physical electronic grid with a magnetic one, a Magrid.
Had this research been funded and supported at the levels used for Tokamac style magnetic confinement, we might possible have been enjoying the fruits of fusion energy already.
Fortunately, this particular cat is no longer in confinement, and it seems ready to show that it is more than only half alive!
As opposed to mechanical television? We had the technology, though it was packet-switched instead of broadcast (you could broadcast to all medium endpoints) and had a really, really low frame rate:
I’ve even heard of artillery shell television.
An artillery round with a photo-sensor modulating a radio signal sends a stream of data that can be reconstructed into an image of the terrain below. (Be aware that the round is rotating! Sky-Earth/Sky-Earth/Sky-Earth/ ...)
Actually, mechanical display devices with spinning mirrors may yet make a comeback.
They're a good way to produce a three-dimensional image that can be viewed without special glasses.
bump
I hope AST (artillery-shell television) comes fully equipped with a steady stream of barf-bags... *\;-)
Reconstructing an image is usually based on a repetition of a key indicator, such as the beginning of the brightness of the sky. It then proceeds to lining up these indicators and all that follows until the indicator repeats.
Television being such a basic concept, presumably familiar to all developing species, a computer algorithm should be available on all space traveling vessels to enable a quick reconstruction ability to any discovery of a “video signal”, indicated by the structure of the signal, (Sky-Earth/Sky-Earth/Sky-Earth/ ...)
I always wondered about that on Star Trek. “Captain, I’ve got a visual ...”
There’s a chapter on the Farnsworth work and the spinoffs.
Establishing a scale, in other words. "Sky" is a poor reference -- especially at night but consider dusk or dawn where it's in the middle of range of light-to-dark.
My experience of digital camera photos (esp. "RAW" photos, similar to film negatives) often starts with the range the camera acquired. THEN you process to full bright, full black, and the treatment of the range between. (I'm not going into HDR here...)
And yes, "I have a visual" indicates a preference for a traditional pixel-by-pixel (or equivalent analog) signal wth scan-line and frame delimiters. Not sure how that works under compression schemes...
Dr. Bussard was very skeptical of any ultimate success for magnetic confinement, regardless of how many billions were spent, basically because the problems scale along with the other dimensions.
His Google presentation, about an hour long, was riveting. He showed both eagerness and frustration. Clearly he knew he was running out of time.
One of the main advantages of electrostatic confinement is that the target positive ions are drawn directly into the fusion area by its electric potential. In fact, they oscillate back and forth repeatedly until they collide. If they can collide at the correct angle and with enough energy, you will get fusion.
I'm confident that the problems can be worked out, or acceptable compromises developed. Remember, break-even may be the energy goal, but any production of heat can be useful.
Even a pulse design, using standard magnetic coils for brief periods, rather than superconductors, could potentially provide sufficient energy for some applications, though such would not be suitable for community electrical production.
More advanced compression schemes might eventually prevent signal recognition, not because of signal strength, but because of a lack of recognizable repetition.
It would be as if a modern computer screen image were being transmitted to an old black and white Emerson with a mineral screen.
If the signal is intended to be received by others, then it should be decipherable. You can see some of this displayed in some science fiction shows as a highly pixelated image becomes sharper as more information fills in the decompression algorithm.
Thorium is a good idea, and it’s abundant in friendly countries.
Speaking of predictions about Fusion...
Check out the contract at Intrade for Cold Fusion. I’m putting my money where my mouth is and have bid 500 contracts at $5.50, so if anyone thinks I’m a fool they can make a bunch of money from me. Just buy the contracts.
Dr Yoshiaki Arata’s Cold Fusion Experiment
ARATA.COLD.FUSION.DEC09
Dr Arata’s experiment to be replicated in peer-reviewed scientific journal on/before 31 Dec 2009 M Trade
Bid Ask Last Vol Chge
5.5 98.5 23.0 139 0
http://www.intrade.com/jsp/intrade/common/c_cd.jsp?conDetailID=615448&z=1243606969756
The Suppression of Inconvenient Facts in Physics
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2266921/posts
Sunday, June 07, 2009 7:50:26 PM · by Kevmo · 76 replies · 854+ views
Suppressed Science.Net ^ | 12/06/08 | http://www.suppressedscience.net/
The End of Snide Remarks Against Cold Fusion
Friday, June 05, 2009 5:56:08 PM · by Kevmo · 69 replies · 926+ views
Free Republic, Gravitronics.net and Intrade ^ | 6/5/09 | kevmo, et al
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2265914/posts
Fusion is nuclear? That question was put to Rep. Henry Waxman during his committee hearings. He said nuclear produced waste and did not qualify as "renewables" or green for the purposes of stimulus $.
yitbos
He said nuclear produced waste and did not qualify as “renewables” or green for the purposes of stimulus $.
But “solar panels” reqirubg as energy to build as they produce from the sun during their (relatively short) lifespan, “don’t” produce any waste - of ocurse. And the batteries that last only 3-5 years also are waste free, have no toxic chemicals, and don’t require any energy or resources to make.
can these people - AND THE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THESE LIARS - be any more stupid?
Interesting!
Ah - But you have been deluded, dear sir!
Why do you think that the Zero's administration “wants” to solve the US energy problems that they created? They are NOT interested in any solution.
Been there, done that, read the book!
Guy “really” doubts traditional big-physics fusion will work.
Bussard really doubted it too, as he made fairly clear in his Google presentation.
But he was quite enthusiastic about electrostatic confinement, as am I, ever since reading the Analog article too many ages ago.
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