48 seconds. I predict a glut of helium. balloons for everyone

    • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      31
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      7 months ago

      Like it has been for the past 30 years (which, I assume, was the joke here.)

      If fusion research was funded adequately we’d probably have it by now, but I don’t know if it’s the energy lobby or what that means that it’s chronically underfunded. An actually working fusion reactor design would bring about such an upheaval in the energy markets that I wouldn’t be surprised if plutocrats had a hand in making sure the research receives orders of magnitude less money than it should.

      • malloc@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        7 months ago

        Existing energy conglomerates (ie, oil and gas) probably send their army of lobbyists around the world to spread FUD about fusion. Thus minimal funding. 🪦

        • TheWoozy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          7 months ago

          Not while fusion is 30 years away. They’ll wait until it’s closer to 2 years.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        7 months ago

        Maybe. We all (here) wish fusion power was funded better and understand how useful it could be for humanity if we can make it happen, but ….

        • yesterday I read about the Stellerator using 3D printed parts
        • in this thread, someone commented on using ai to drive containment
        • I’m sure teams must be using the latest materials.

        It’s quite possible that we would have always needed the rest of the world to catch up

    • ours@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      Breakthroughs will bring in investment and then things can accelerate if it ends up viable.

    • zaphod@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      7 months ago

      It’s not limitless, you still need fuel. Especially tritium doesn’t really occur naturally because of its extremely short half-life, current plans for ITER involve breeding tritium from lithium in the fusion reactor. The closest to limitless power we have is PV.

      • Gabu@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        Tritium is a convenience, not a necessity. If researchers manage to build a functional fusion reactor which captures the energy, we can find substitutes.

      • TheWoozy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        A reactor that produces enough of its own fuel… It’s starting to sound like a perpetual motion machine.

      • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        7 months ago

        The advancements in magnetic field manipulation will be of great value to the ferrite-infused prostate medicine field! Also: better selfie camera’s!