Please, MFMP, Stay Focused on the E-Cat (Hank Mills)

In their Project Dogbone, the Martin Fleichman Memorial Project has been towards the goal of making tests on fueled reactors to try to achieve a reaction similiar to that of Industrial Heat’s Hot Cat. Not only have they been acquiring the hardware needed – alumina tubes, alumina cement, heating elements, and power supplies – they have also been working out deals to obtain the thermal cameras and pyrometers needed to measure the output of their reactors.

In January, if their schedule stays on track, there should be tests of Lugano style E-Cats. They should be commended for their efforts on project Dog Bone. However, they have also announced plans to work with other researchers such as Francesco Piantelli on other cold fusion or LENR projects. I sincerely hope they will stay focused on their goal of replicating the E-Cat rather than be distracted by other systems that have not proven to be capable of self sustaining while producing kilowatts of power at high temperatures.

Hot cat reactors in a very high powered mode can produce up to a megawatt of power for seconds before self destructing. In self sustain mode, they can operate at 1,400 degrees Celsius or higher for up to two hours with zero input power. This is the holy grail of cold fusion. Once you reach such temperatures, anything more is overkill for producing electrical power. The only reason for higher temperatures would be for using the technology in certain refining or heat treating applications.

What still excites me is that we have more or less a formula for the hot cat. We have the Lugano report which tells us the composition of the powder, the isotopic ratios, and some information on the percentages of different elements. Also, we have scanning electron microscope images of the fuel grains. This tells us the size and shape of the nickel and other particles. With all this information, I think replicating the ultimate cold fusion device is within our grasp. Of course there will probably need to be a series of tests; it is unlikely for the first combination of fuel powder to produce a self sustain reactor at high temperatures. But even if hundreds of tests are required (varying the sizes of particles, composition of fuel, processing of the fuel) we are far closer to building a working E-Cat than we were months ago.

I have said this all before, but I think it bares repeating. We have basically been given most of the recipe for the best LENR device that could be hoped for: one that doesn’t use expensive palladium, one that doesn’t produce penetrating radiation, one that can self sustain without input, and one that can reach extremely high temperatures.

So I hope that the MFMP will focus as exclusively on the Dog Bone project as possible. Performing dozens or hundreds of tests will take time, money, and resources – all of which are limited for the MFMP. But their best bang for their buck will be investing in replicating the E-Cat. Although it’s possible other researchers and companies have impressive devices that they have been keeping secret, I don’t think any of them have a technology that compares to what Rossi has produced.

Many people claim that it is good for the MFMP to attempt replication of low powered, low COP devices. They say that if teams around the world could replicate a device with even a COP of 3 or less with a couple watts of output it would validate LENR. However, I’ve learned a few things over the past several years about how difficult it is for the skeptics to accept cold fusion as real.

First, if there is any possible chance of error whatsoever the hard core skeptics and naysayers will claim a test is invalid. With low powered devices producing a low COP, this will almost always be the case. Although we have the ability to accurately measure small amounts of input and output, skeptics will always say that the excess power was measurement error. This means when the excess power is not obvious and large, the test is totally meaningless towards validating LENR in the eyes of the skeptics.

Secondly, even if a test produces a high COP and fairly high temperatures, if only one party is testing, the skeptics and naysayers will still deny the test proves that LENR is real. They will try to come up with every hole they can to attack the equipment and the methodology. They will also attack the character of those conducting the test.

Third, even if a test is conducted very well and shows large amounts of excess power with little input power, skeptics and cynics will say, “Why didn’t they show it running with no input power whatsoever?”

Fourth, the mainstream media will avoid positively reporting on LENR like the plague because they are terrified of a skeptic or cynic criticizing them for covering “pseudoscience”. If they feel there is even a chance of their reputation being harmed, they will not positively report on cold fusion. They would rather miss the story of the century than have a chance of being mocked.

Fifth, most mainstream scientists will not speak up in support of LENR until the media is speaking positively about it. They are more concerned with their reputation and career than helping cold fusion emerge.

This all means that until we prove to the majority of skeptics that LENR is absolutely real, the mainstream media will not report on LENR and the scientific community will ignore it. The good news is that with some trial and error testing we have the ability to build a high temperature E-Cat that will be capable of convincing the skeptics and cynics the technology works. No one can deny the excess power of a device that operates for even an hour at fourteen hundred degrees Celsius with no input. Once the final recipe is posted online and hundreds of teams are posting pictures and videos of their E-Cat’s staying at 1,400 degrees, the skeptics will be forced to relent. At that moment the mainstream media will jump on the story.

Please MFMP, stay focused on the E-Cat.

Hank Mills