Another Article metioned "200 KW" for the entire compression - my guess is that they need 200KW of continuous power which is stored in capacitors. Iirc the "Liners" (i guess a couple of hundred in the final version) are stored on the rocket and get reloaded. The
animation does seem to support that.
As for the skepticism: I included the article here because there were 2 reliable sources Nasa and Washington U. Still, as i said, the numbers sound off but stranger things happened. Another thing is that many of the pre-requisite techs like the compression of the liners are tested according to those article. Quote:
Slough and his colleagues at MSNW think so. They have demonstrated successful lab tests of all portions of the process
If i understood the function of this thing right, one could see the Rocketmotor as giant spark-plug. The magnets are strong enough to initiate compression and fusion. They are not strong enough to contain and stabilize the reaction for a longer time which is done in an actual reactor like a tocamac or stellerator. Those (Multi GW) generator types also keep a much bigger amount of plasma contained and heated via some serious Microwaves for a continuous fusion.
Other types of Fusion reactors are much smaller and do work pulsed. Take for example the Fansworth-Hirsch Fusor - this type is used as pulsed neutron source and these Fusors are the size of my washing machine
. So a pulsed fusion motor doesnt sound to outlandish to me.
Well we can keep an Eye on it and maybe we see a Demonstration of this thing at soon as the W.U. article indicates:
Now, the team is working to bring it all together by using the technology to compress the plasma and create nuclear fusion. Slough hopes to have everything ready for a first test at the end of the summer.