> Then we need to find another way to generate fusion power, or admit that it's impossible to do on this planet.
Yes. Here are the currently known alternatives off the top of my head:
* Fusion bomb
* Inertial electrostatic confinement (14 year olds have done this for highschool science fair projects)
* Virtual cathodes (Polywell, technically also an IEC variant)
* Magnetic confinement (Tokamaks: the big expensive doughnuts)
* Field-reversed configuration (technically also magnetic, but these are magnetic "smoke rings", Helion Energy does this)
* Z-pinch (again magnetic, but different)
* Laser confinement (NIF)
* Muon-catalyzed fusion (no chance of this becoming mainstream unless we can convince muons to stop decaying)
IIRC all of these have demonstrated that it's physically possible; some even show promise.
(I've been wanting to write a plasma physics simulation to see if I can improve on the Fusor design since I was at university; now chatGPT writes acceptable code, I keep asking myself why I've not yet made this happen…)
Yes. Here are the currently known alternatives off the top of my head:
* Fusion bomb
* Inertial electrostatic confinement (14 year olds have done this for highschool science fair projects)
* Virtual cathodes (Polywell, technically also an IEC variant)
* Magnetic confinement (Tokamaks: the big expensive doughnuts)
* Field-reversed configuration (technically also magnetic, but these are magnetic "smoke rings", Helion Energy does this)
* Z-pinch (again magnetic, but different)
* Laser confinement (NIF)
* Muon-catalyzed fusion (no chance of this becoming mainstream unless we can convince muons to stop decaying)
IIRC all of these have demonstrated that it's physically possible; some even show promise.
(I've been wanting to write a plasma physics simulation to see if I can improve on the Fusor design since I was at university; now chatGPT writes acceptable code, I keep asking myself why I've not yet made this happen…)