The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded a grant to HB11 Energy as part of its ‘Innovation Network for Fusion Energy’ (INFUSE) program with the objective, “to accelerate basic research to develop cost-effective, innovative fusion energy technologies in the private sector.” The program will provide access to world-leading expertise from the Laboratory for Laser …
General Fusion announced a new Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) machine that will fast-track the company’s technical progress. The planned fusion machines is to achieve fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celsius by 2025, and progress toward scientific breakeven by 2026. They completed the first close of its Series F raise for a combined $25 …
For the first time in the world, researchers (From Korea University, Sukbae Lee, Ji-Hoon Kim, Hyun-Tak Kim) have succeeded in synthesizing a room-temperature superconductor (Tc≥400 K, 127∘C) working at ambient pressure with a modified lead-apatite (LK-99) structure. The superconductivity of LK-99 is proved with the Critical temperature (Tc), Zero-resistivity, Critical current (Ic), Critical magnetic field …
Angry Astronaut provided more technical information about the development and plans of the Pulsar Fusion Rocket. Pulsar has their own operational chemical rockets and plasma drives. The 11 year old, UK company, Pulsar has been mainly focused on fusion research. Pulsar started developing products that could bring in revenue while that research continues: a Hall-effect …
Pulsar Fusion (UK) is working on a Direct Fusion Drive (DFD). It is a compact nuclear fusion engine which could provide both thrust and electrical power for spaceships. This technology opens unprecedented possibilities to explore the solar system in a limited amount of time and with a very high payload to propellant masses ratio. This …
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $46 million in funding to eight companies developing commercial fusion power plants. The companies funded by the DOE were: Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Cambridge, MA) Commonwealth Fusion is working on Tokomaks with higher power magnets. SPARC would be the size of existing mid-sized fusion devices but with a much …
Helion Energy has contractually committed to delivering fusion electricity energy to Microsoft in 2028. Helion Energy (based in Washington State near Microsofts head office) agreed to provide Microsoft with at least 50 megawatts of electricity from its planned first fusion power plant, starting in 2028. Fifty megawatts is enough electricity to power a data center …
Helion Energy will provide Microsoft (MSFT.O) with electricity from nuclear fusion in about five years. It is the first purchase power agreement for commercial nuclear fusion energy. Announcing Helion’s first customer: Microsoft. We expect to start producing electricity in the world’s first fusion power plant by 2028, dramatically shortening the timeline for commercially viable fusion …
Helion Energy has received over $570 million in funding and commitments for another $1.7 billion to develop commercial nuclear fusion. Helion has performed thousands of tests with their sixth prototype called Trenta. In 2021, Trenta reached 100 million degrees C, the temperature they could run a commercial reactor. Magnetic compression fields exceeded 10 T, ion …
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) using lasers would resemble the rapid-fire explosions of an internal combustion engine. The NIF’s (National Ignition Facility) shot had a one-off ignition event. An ICF-based power plant may need to fire up to 10 laser shots per second, consuming almost 1 million targets a day, and produce far more energy per …
Tokamak Energy’s roadmap is for commercial fusion power plants deployed in the mid-2030s. They plan to complete the ST80-HTS prototype reactor in 2026 “to demonstrate the full potential of high temperature superconducting magnets”. They will then design and build a fusion pilot plant, ST-E1, which is slated to demonstrate the capability to deliver electricity – …