[icegreentea2]

They've tested that their plasma injectors work well when combined with their actual test chamber.

They haven't attempted compressing the plasma in the test chamber yet (their press releases indicate that they've tested the mechanical compression earlier).

The machine under test is a prototype. Instead of a liquid lithium liner being compressed by pistons, they're using a solid lithium liner that's being compressed magnetically (z-pinch basically I think). This means that this prototype has basically no power generation potential.

What this prototype does derisk is I guess.. exactly the plasma injection process, and probably a bunch of aspects of their compression/fusion modelling. If this round of prototyping goes well (up to and including fusion and fusion breakeven), then they have to figure out their entire liquid lithium recirculation and compression systems, and then their energy capture systems.

I understand that the plasma injection process is non-trivial. They're basically trying to inject plasma smoke rings. Except these are smoke rings that magnetically self interact with themselves.

[waldothedog]

Thank you!