Hi All

The problem with all non-Maxwellian distributions of plasma is brehmstrahlung losses from all those jiggling electrons - a factor Bussard discusses in the Google video and which he beleves he has overcome. The thermonuclear fusion guys believe they've nailed the lid on the coffin of non-thermo fusion thanks to the M.Sc and Ph.D work of Todd Rider (also available on those links to Wikipedia) but I think the devil is in the details and I'd like to see a couple of billion spent on experimentally proving or disproving his thesis before we waste another $30 billion or so mucking around with super-Tokamaks like ITER. Bussard has worked on his polywell for over 20 years and deserves at least that much before DoE blow more money on thermo-fusion.

Adam