RE: starship-design: Bussard design

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

Kelly,

All fusion research money in the US is currently being focused on toroidial
designs that originate from the Russian Tokamak design. Even though there are
SEVERAL other designs that promise better LONG TERM returns, the lure of the
near term success of Tokamak designs created by a 20 year head start results 
in an institutional resistance on the part of the federal government to fund
any other research.

The problem with the other ideas is that they would take twenty years of 
research to get to the point that toroidal is today. The powers that be view 
that as unacceptable.

Lee