That’s one big step for fusion energy — one giant leap for humankind.
Step 1: Manufacture and test record-setting 20 Tesla high-temperature superconducting magnet… ✅
Step 2: Assemble 18 magnets in a Tokamak ring to build the SPARC reactor with record-setting 10x energy generation.
Step 3 Build 10,000 ARC reactors to replace coal plants in place with the carbon-free future.
Step 4 Accelerate humanity’s relinquishment of fossil fuels, the inevitable endpoint we’d like to engineer.
As investors, Maryanna and I have been cheering Commonwealth Fusion on as they achieved this major milestone over the weekend, removing the last major engineering risk factor — an insanely powerful magnet. Prior published work by the scientific community of fusion experts agrees, if they can build it, fusion will come.
Today’s news and overview from MIT and Commonwealth Fusion.
“Fusion in a lot of ways is the ultimate clean energy source,” says Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research and E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics. “The amount of power that is available is really game-changing.” The fuel used to create fusion energy comes from water, and “the Earth is full of water — it’s an inexhaustible, carbon-free source of energy that you can deploy anywhere and at any time.”
And compared to their prior copper magnet: “The difference in terms of energy consumption is rather stunning. This magnet was 30 watts, so a factor of 10 million decrease in the amount of energy that was needed to provide the confining magnetic field.” — Ars Technica.
“Its a big deal,” Andrew Holland, Chief Executive Officer of the Fusion Industry Association, told CNBC. “This is not hype, this is reality.”
“This magnet will change the trajectory of both fusion science and energy, and we think eventually the world’s energy landscape.”
This large-bore, full-scale high-temperature superconducting magnet has demonstrated a record-breaking 20 Tesla magnetic field. It is the strongest fusion magnet in the world.
Research, construction and testing of this magnet has been the single largest activity for the SPARC team, which has grown to 270 people.
We were all watching this dashboard eagerly as they pumped more and more current into the superconducting rings, boosting the magnetic field.
Leave a Reply to jurvetson Cancel reply