re: Are we getting closer to Fusion energy?

We've been making those pressures for upwards of 70 years now, maybe a little crude by using fission to create fusion(hydrogen bomb), but the conditions are very much obtainable. The whole issue of fusion is creating it without the expendature of an atomic bomb of energy, and controlling the fusion reaction. Right now, lasers can create fusion conditions and our advancements in magnetic containment is close behind. I am kind of being broad when I say containment, though. There are multiple designs underway right now that utilize various forms of containment in order to keep the input energy needed for ignition as efficient as possible. Not only that, but once fusion starts, there are methods of containment that help to confine high energy being released and reflect much of it. This single process can determine the level of energy output to a huge degree. I believe a similar situation occurred in the 50's when the US was first designing and testing different styles of h-bombs. My grandfather was Q-cleared at an AEC/SAC base and I remember him mentioning how the relative strength of the bombs increased immensely when they figured out how to contain some of the blast energy and use it for more compression/higher yield with just a small change in material geometry. As you can tell, this topic has always been very cool to my family. So the question is which technology advances far enough first to give net gains of energy, the ignition method or the containment?

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joshnorris14

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Try again.


The atomic bomb is the gofish version of the world series of poker in energy terms.

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Are we getting closer to Fusion

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Yes, and LOCK HER UP!

Did you say Cold Fusion?

It will be when Aliens will really visit us like in Star Trek: First Contact.

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which technology advances far enough first to give net gains of energy, the ignition method or the containment?

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Neither, ICE-9 will render all liquids as solids. We will all be statues.

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Lockheed claimed to be on the verge of this a few years ago. It turned out to be yet another pipe dream, and if Lockheed Martin can't get it to work, I doubt we're 15 years away from it.

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Lockheed was recently granted a patent for parts of their fusion reactor.

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Lockheed Martin has quietly obtained a patent associated with its design for a potentially revolutionary compact fusion reactor, or CFR. If this project has been progressing on schedule, the company could debut a prototype system that size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.

The patent, for a portion of the confinement system, or embodiment, is dated Feb. 15, 2018. The Maryland-headquartered defense contractor had filed a provisional claim on April 3, 2013 and a formal application nearly a year later. Our good friend Stephen Trimble, chief of Flightglobal's Americas Bureau, subsequently spotted it and Tweeted out its basic details.

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LINK

There's a lot more detail at the link on the goals of their program, but not much detail on recent developments. Getting a patent doesn't mean you're close to a prototype, but thought it was worth noting.