Oxford spinoff demonstrates world-first hypersonic “projectile fusion”.

First Light Fusion says it’s got another approach altogether, that doesn’t require expensive, powerful lasers or magnets to get the job done. Like the HB11 approach, First Light requires tremendous speed. Hypersonic speed, in fact, in the form of a projectile being fired from a railgun at a falling target, which is specifically designed to generate finely tuned, collapsing shockwaves that create momentary pressure levels nearly a billion times higher than atmospheric air pressure at sea level. Pressure levels high enough to cause small embedded deuterium fuel pellets to implode upon themselves at high enough speeds to overcome nuclear repulsion and start fusion reactions.

https://newatlas.com/energy/first-light-nuclear-fusion-projectile/

Spiny Norman said:

Oxford spinoff demonstrates world-first hypersonic “projectile fusion”.

First Light Fusion says it’s got another approach altogether, that doesn’t require expensive, powerful lasers or magnets to get the job done. Like the HB11 approach, First Light requires tremendous speed. Hypersonic speed, in fact, in the form of a projectile being fired from a railgun at a falling target, which is specifically designed to generate finely tuned, collapsing shockwaves that create momentary pressure levels nearly a billion times higher than atmospheric air pressure at sea level. Pressure levels high enough to cause small embedded deuterium fuel pellets to implode upon themselves at high enough speeds to overcome nuclear repulsion and start fusion reactions.

https://newatlas.com/energy/first-light-nuclear-fusion-projectile/

Will we give it the standard 30 years??

Spiny Norman said:

Oxford spinoff demonstrates world-first hypersonic “projectile fusion”.

First Light Fusion says it’s got another approach altogether, that doesn’t require expensive, powerful lasers or magnets to get the job done. Like the HB11 approach, First Light requires tremendous speed. Hypersonic speed, in fact, in the form of a projectile being fired from a railgun at a falling target, which is specifically designed to generate finely tuned, collapsing shockwaves that create momentary pressure levels nearly a billion times higher than atmospheric air pressure at sea level. Pressure levels high enough to cause small embedded deuterium fuel pellets to implode upon themselves at high enough speeds to overcome nuclear repulsion and start fusion reactions.

https://newatlas.com/energy/first-light-nuclear-fusion-projectile/

How many different methods does that make?

Let’s see. The four main ones are: H-bomb, Tokomak, Z-pinch and Laser-induced.
Then fringe possibilities: Sonofusion, Cold fusion.

——

Did we see this previous breakthrough report? February 9, 2022.

Nuclear-fusion reactor smashes energy record. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00391-1

“A 24-year-old nuclear-fusion record has crumbled. Scientists at the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, UK, announced on 9 February that they had generated the highest sustained energy pulse ever created by fusing together atoms, more than doubling their own record from experiments performed in 1997. To break the energy record, JET used a fuel made of equal parts tritium and deuterium — the same mixture that will power ITER, which is being built in southern France.”

The test. “Record-breaking 59 Megajoules of sustained fusion energy at world-leading UKAEA’s Joint European Torus (JET) facility. Video shows the record pulse in action.” The experiment ran for about five and a half seconds at an average of 11 Megajoules per second.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1491381459181248515