Of "Wiffle Balls" and Fusion Futures...

Image Credit: Cosmic Log

"A Navy-funded effort to harness nuclear fusion power reports that its unconventional plasma device is operating as designed and generating 'positive results' more than halfway through the project."

The company is EMC2 (from E=mc²). It uses what's called a Polywell device, using inertial electrostatic confinement: retaining a plasma using a magnetic field (see link). It was developed by the late Dr. Robert W. Bussard. I remember him for the Bussard Ramjet, a space drive he theorized powered by hydrogen fusion, a device that found its way in a lot of science fiction I've read.

With gas approaching $5.00/gallon, and Wall Street speculators using unrest in Libya and the flooding of the Mississippi to drive up oil and gas, this is a "holy grail" we can all support (and pray is successful).

Link: Fusion goes forward from the fringe