Comment on China’s ‘artificial sun’ breaks nuclear fusion limit thought to be impossible

• Nalivai@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Fusion was achieved decades ago. But right now it takes more energy than it produces. The theoretical possibility of energy-positive reaction is more or less established. The problem right now is engineering and a little bit of material science. And when (and if) it will be solved there will be whole another set of economical problems, how to make it a commercial product.
  All of that hinges less on science and more on whatever intersection of politics, economics, and psychology occupies this space. It was always 15 years away, and it was always correct estimation, it’s just it’s supposed to be 15 years of founded research and development, not 15 years of begging for funding, trying to navigate political situation, and restarting everything from scratch because previous two were unsuccessful

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• drapermache@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  It’s been that way for over 40 years lol.

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• Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  That is what they said. Twenty years ago.

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  • suicidaleggroll@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Yes, because the argument was never “we’ll have fusion in 20 years”, it’s always been “we COULD have fusion in 20 years IF research was properly funded”. It’s never been properly funded, hence it’s always 20 years away.

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    • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Fusion would really hurt oil companies, so not going to get funded.

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  • ji59@hilariouschaos.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Not only 20 years ago.

    Researchers’ expectations on fusion realization over the past 40 years.

    Source: Takeda, S., Keeley, A.R. & Managi, S. How Many Years Away is Fusion Energy? A Review. J Fusion Energ 42, 16 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-023-00361-z

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    • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I know. They have been saying twenty years since a was very young.

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