[rektide]

I was going to say it looks like a Bussard IEC (Inertial Electrostatic Containment) with a VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) tacked on the back, but there's a dozen things about the IEC that they're talking that seem different, and they spent little enough time detailing the thruster that comparisons v.s. VASIMR are a little tricky.

Lol, wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VASIMR

[misterfusion]

There are a lot of key differences. Bussard IEC can be characterized by recirculation of electrons, virtual cathode, "wiffleball" magnetic compression. VASIMR can be characterized by helicon antenna, single phase instead of multiphase.

[misterfusion]

Almost all fusion approaches have some similarities between them. For example, Polywell looks like the "Magnetic Well for Plasma Confinement". http://www.google.com/patents/US4007392?printsec=drawing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell Multicusp plasma containment was already previously widely used. http://www.google.com/patents?id=A9wyAAAAEBAJ