What FUSION IGNITION Really Means for The Future of Energy Production
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 19. 06. 2024
- This week we got an announcement that a historical milestone was achieved. Fusion Ignition. But what it really means for the future of energy production, what most stories don't say and should you be excited after all?
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00:00 Intro
00:41 The IGNITION announcement
02:21 How fusion works on Earth
04:24 How the breakthrough was made
06:05 Problems with NIF's approach to fusion
08:38 Fusion applications in space
10:52 Should you be excited?
đ More Space News of the week:
âą Accident on ISS // JWS...
đ„ More about fusion ignition:
www.universetoday.com/159166/...
Host: Fraser Cain
Producer: Anton Pozdnyakov
Editing: Artem Pozdnyakov
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You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video. - VÄda a technologie
I would not call it a "discovery". I'd call it an achievement. It's something they managed to do, it's not something that was out there waiting to be uncovered. Let's hope it can be scaled up immensely. Wonder if someone could make a hybrid tokamak with laser ignition.
Had exactly the same thought .
I'd agree with this.
Look up the Australian company _HB11 Energy_
wonder what else lasers can do????
Mmm yes and no its been thought of impossible If you discover what once was thought impossible made possible then it have discovered its possible. Going on your line of thought yes our achievement in using weapons as apes was still us discovering a new path
Youre explanations are straight forward and answer all the questions most people are looking for. Im no astronomer nor am I a physicist but its nice to stay updated with your content. More single serving videos is good as long as you keep your weekly bite sized breakdown of it all in one video a week
every video on fusion and quantum computers starts by explaining all the basics, i lost count how many times i've had to sit through people explaining the basics again and again. thank you so much for adding timestamps!
Thank you for clearing that up for me! Iâm cautiously optimistic đ
Short single topic videos means that you'll have more videos throughout the week.
But it also means that you'll have a lot more work.
Deep dives on complicated topics are good.
They would be half the length if he didnt use SO many unnecessary words.
Awesome! Fusion is now 49 years away đ
The countdown is on.
Yes, I really like that you take this topic out in a special video. I have seen and heard the news several times for the past two days, but no body care to explain how much is still ahead, before we can call it a success and harvest the fusion energy. So: thanks!
Yeah they literally have to levitate whatever fuel they choose to use. A large enough amount to say, power a city, would be monumentally difficult to levitate to prevent it touching the walls of the tanks. If the levitation ever were to fail, kaboom.
I have seen many videos on this breakthrough, but you are the one who also explained the limitations. You are awesome.
Oh thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
In my busy world, sometimes the shorter videos are great. I also love the longer form episodes as well, just brilliant!
I love the single topic video about this topic because thereâs lots of conflicting news out there.
This is the only comprehensive breakdown of this story Iâve seen anywhere. Greatly appreciated
Also check out, John Michael Godier's channel for a similar review
I love all the videos you put out. No matter the length, the content is always excellent. Thank you and your team for the great work.
Hi Fraser, of course, I enjoyed this; and would enjoy any short video on a specific topic. It's reminiscent of the good ol' guide to space. But love everything you do, whatever it is.
I enjoyed this shorter, subject specific quick ish dive. It was a nice snippet that offered a summary, itâs potential, and info for further (personal) research. đđœ
This is awesome. I finally understand what that experiment was all about. Thank you for that. Please, do more of those specific topics.
I enjoyed this shorter show. I would appreciate more videos like this. Great work!
Really enjoyed the short video that focused on the one subject. Your explanation of the process etc, really help me understand what has been achieved. Excellent work thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
I've been hearing bits about this all week didn't really know what it meant until now thank you for making it easier to understand
Yeah, it's definitely going to be fun to follow this subject! đ
Thanks, Fraser!
Stay safe there with your family! đđ
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I do like these occasional short, specific stories. Bring them on!
As always, thanks much for sharing.
Steve
Very happy to see this short special edition. I'd been hoping ever since the announcement that you'd offer a more realistic perspective. I think the mainstream media have honorable intentions with regard to "breakthroughs" such as this, but almost without exception they over-simplify and lead a lot of readers/viewers to an unrealistic view of some tech/science developments. You can be pretty sure a large number of people think fusion power is almost on our doorstep.
Yep its a tiny step presented like Fusion is 2 years away, when in realty we are only a little bit closer.
When the sound of Fraserâs voice is musical enough and you canât deal with that background music
Guys!!! This is such an important moment in history!
It's a pretty big accomplishment.
Very informative and to the point. Much appreciated, many thanks from myself and my eight year old son who watched it with me. He loves his space news.
"Practical fusion power is always 50 years away."
I know this is true, having been a physics grad student 50 years ago, when that was being said.
Fred
My thoughts exactly! Perhaps you will also remember the other promise that was being made; "So cheap, you will not even need a meter on your house."
@@timothykieper That was a repeat of the same promise made in the 50's-early 60's about fission power: "It will be too cheap to meter!"
I still feel the best summary of this nuclear fusion result is found by googling the words: "Sabine Hossenfelder How close is nuclear fusion power" and listening to that to the end.
Nuclear Fusion researchers and much of the media that hypes this story is guilty of conflating Q-plasma with Q-total in order to make this seem bigger than it really is.
I loved it. This was an important enough story to make this explainer/recap and put it in its own video. Thank you.
đ„°
What about Helion's approach to fusion? That eliminates many of the caveats outlined here. I think this achievement is exciting in and of itself, but it's the larger effort of fusion that is really exciting. So many approaches... so much science / engineering! Really excited about the future!! :D
Helion and General Fusion are a lot more exciting to me than ITER and LLNL. It sort of feels like the engineering net positive is first going to come through a VC startup of that sort.
Enough of the science has been done that an iterative engineering approach is probably viable. People seem to forget that a lot of technology has historically gone through the engineering of "what works" before the science of how it works, or more precisely how it can be generalized, is done.
The bottom line is that Helion's design is revolutionary in multiple ways and far superior than NIF or ITER's designs.
Until they finish their 7th generation machine and actually capture the energy output, we wonât know for sure. But even if it doesnât pan out as an energy source, itâs a relatively easy way of making tritium and helium-3 for other reactors (such as this one) to use.
But helion still hasnât gained fusion ignition tho?
@@richardgonzales6289 My understanding is that depends on the exact definition of ignition used. Their method is a hybrid of inertial confinement and magnetic confinement and neither well accepted method of calculation cleanly applies to the design as far as I can tell.
"Fusion Ignition" is really more of marketing term than a useful benchmark.
Yes, Fraser, I would very much like to see videos of this sort. Short and focused on one topic.
such a great, yet simple breakdown.. thanks!
I definitely prefer videos like this. This was succinct and to the point and I knew what I was getting into when I started the video. 10/10
I really enjoyed the jump you made away from your normal schedule and genre of video. I would enjoy a monthly video from you somewhere close to the types of videos made by Isaac Arthur, but with your own style. Another caveat to that idea would be that the videos are base more on what could happen in the next 100 to 200 years as opposed to billions of years into the future or the end of the Universe. These videos could take the viewer from what we know today to some kind of more likely shorter term future scenarios that might seem more relatable than million or billion year scenarios.
Great synopsis and summary of the experiment. You always do a great job of distilling information! Keep it up. I would appreciate some shorter single topic vids. Much easier to watch/listen in my busy life.
I'm pleased that you're excited about this, too. As I said earlier, it's been a Promethean week. This achievement is a good sign that all the world is not slaving away in vain. It can be done...kinda. I wonder what happened when the first hominids tried to make and control fire. Hope they didn't take out a whole forest, lol. Mahalo for the needed clarity; we burned an island the first time we tried fusion, lol.
I like every video you do, and I think these shorter focused ones sometimes are really great.
Thanks!
i really like the "short single topic" videos. its what brought me to your channel in the rirst place
Good step. Cant wait for improvements. Fission will have to hold us for the near future. Anyway you look at it, advancements are good.
I'm a huge fan of these reasonable length deep dives.
Hi fraser, really enjoyed the fusion review, the 10 minute slot seemed the right depth for me to engage with the topic. More like this please ,. regards Ray R
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was great! Keep them coming!
This was great. I didnât understand what the excitement was about. Thank you.
I hope we get some decent fusion power plants sooner rather than later.
That would be amazing.
I like all your videos, so yeah.. go ahead and make more individualized ones like this!
Thank you, yes, liked the shorter format focused on one big news item!
Love this format!
I really like this style of videos, that are more focused on a single scientific concept or event, it's a bit like the "guide to space" videos that you used to make and don't anymore.
I enjoy the short(er) format; especially for things I haven't had the chance to read up on yet on special topics. But I never mind the longer and other news mixed in format
Thanks!
Yes. More short videos on a specific topic please!
Very interesting and informative, but even more important, realistic about the implementation timeframe. thank you for doing it,
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
The Sun cheats by being huge and using quantum tunneling. So, that makes this even more impressive. Hopefully, the Tokamaks will reach this level soon. Thanks, Fraser!
No the sun does not cheat, there is not cheating. The sun FUNCTIONS in reality and only produces energy due to its huge mass. Without this mass, fusion will never work to produce energy. This is very basic science.
Succinct single topic videos are most welcome when produced like this one. Thanks.
Yes, more please! Next one on Lagrange point đ
like the format and of course the content as usual
Nice selection of graphics to portray the topics at hand.
Thanks!
QUESTION SUBMISSION 3: Hi Fraser. If we were optimising for speed and using current technology and current orbital mechanics (12 months window), what would be the theoretical top speed that we could propel a Voyager sized craft into deep space? Are the Voyager craft close to the speed limit at around 17 km/s or can we go faster?
Thank you Fraser.
I enjoy this style of short, specific video
Proof of concept. A good start.
Thanks Fraser! This was indeed good news, now we just need some of our kids to go into STEM so they and we can reach that 49-year goal. Oh, and warp drive. đ
Very interesting video and well explained. Thank you
Thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Nice little Bitesized chunk of information, I personally like these smaller videos, a little easier to retain information.
Thanks again, #FraserCain
You should check the 7th generation reactor of Helion Energy being built now. Probably very close to real net power. And the 8th generation is actually planned to be a comercial prototype.
And with the 15th generation reactor the big breakthrough happens, that's when they finally understand why it's a lot harder than they thought. Then they diversify into solar panels and stuff and the next startup company comes along with their ambitious plans.
@@Kalumbatsch and fusion always still 30 years away
Hi Fraser
Thank you for at great channel. At the moment it's one of my favorits:-). I liked your short story very much.
Best regards Jacob
Never thought I'd live to see it
Once ignition is achieved, wouldn't the question be about building the chain reaction? I mean once you've poured a ton of energy into the system to produce ignition, I imagine the idea would be to channel that energy into the next reaction and have enough energy to keep power the next cycle while being able to extract enough energy to power something else.
Kinda like using Jumper cables to start a car with a dead battery. Once the engine is running, you can remove the jumper cables, and the system should power itself as long as there's fuel. I guess that's where the engineering comes in to find a way to insert fuel to keep it going.
Enjoyed the deep dive Fraser.
Please DO offer more of this length of presentation.
Thoroughly enjoying this new content direction and the news letter, but as a fellow grey beard, it was funny to see Fraser cite the use of this as a system for spacecraft, as I remember reading about similar fusion powered spacecraft at least twenty years in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy.
Good video. I like the potentially more practical use case for rockets.
You are ridiculously good at this
Let's get back to the fusion ASAP in 2023!
Helion (private company) has a variation in which they compress two plasma toruses inside a piston. They also have a solution to the starting deuterium and tritium issue.
Yeah, I saw the Real Engineering video about their work. I look forward to their upcoming trials.
We achieved fusion power, time to get the welcome mat ready for when the Vulcan's arrive and first contact.
8:00 ~ Perfect explanation.
Congratulations to the scientists envolved. Step one towards the nesxt stage of energy production complete!
It's still a long road ahead, but a promising first step.
@@frasercain Well, I know, but lots of people thought Fusion wasn't possible - know with this first step, theyve at least proved them wrong,. Things can only get better, to quote Brian Cox.
I think the fact that this happened is historic. Scientists managed a net gain of energy for the very first time, changing the question from if practical fusion energy could be achieved to when. This is massive. Now scientists finally have a pathway to practical fusion. This is certainly a baby step and we have kilometers to go before we reach our goal, but now it is finally something that has become a question of engineering and not one of plausibility.
Only 20 more Years AWAY !! YAYYY
I said 49 years away, but I guess you can be optimistic.
@@frasercain haa ... nice ;) well played
Proving something is possible is HUGE. Eventually we will find simple life on another planet that will prove what is POSSIBLE. Proving anything possible is HUGE
You said itâs now an engineering challenge, but do you have any idea what that might look like? Would it be some sort of automatic reload system that drops pellets in place every second or so?
Finely someone to to explaining the fusion breakthrough correctly. Itâs more political at the moment. We are still many decades away from fusion being useful if every. Still itâs great new and hopefully breakthroughs come a little quicker.
Yes! More topics like this, different (fusion) technologies for example,
and cold fusion, even if that doesn't work it is still interesting, and what about the Webb telescope that find bunches of new galaxies, what does that tell us?
There can be too many galaxies also, can it not?
Finally: Are both of these processes of creating the ignition and the possible energy gain at the end of the process (without the total facility energy input figured in) base on the Temperature/Pressure laws? You said they can only test once a day at this time to allow things to cool down ( I realize there must be other reasons for delay too) but I wonder if the cylinder that the pellet rests inside of is the main thing that needs to cool down. The metal cylinder has a name but I forget what it's called. Perhaps there are places along the laser beam path that also need quite awhile to cool down. I know you say your just a journalist, but if you know anything in those regards, please share. Thanks
I think you explained it very well you did a very good job so far all of the other videos that I've watched we're quite confusing you taking the confusion out a little bit thank you very much great job
Afternoon Fraser, you should have a look at what Helion is doing with their work on a clean energy. Watch "A New Way to Achieve Nuclear Fusion: Helion". You'll enjoy this and it answers some of your questions. Best wishes.
In simple words, fusion is 30 years away.
Thank you for putting it into context, explaining both the accomplishment and the limitations. But most of all thank you for making it clear that this technology will not be ready to help us decarbonize in time to fight climate change.
Love the newsletter and space bites! This was also a welcome addition for the gravity of the discovery (see what I did there?!? I know you love a good dad joke!)
It's a Star in a bottle, honestly at great insight to what we are chasing would be to watch the Keanu Reeves movie 'Chain Reaction'. As the controlling resonance thereby perpetuating the magnetic bottle that would contain and compress(fuse) the fuels and allow for the precipitates(heavy metal & exotic matter) to be extracted and controlled. Yes, I have some insight, as I have worked on this project for decades. It will occur suddenly as the technology keep progressing, time, always more time, hopefully in my lifetime so I may see it . . .
Stop and use your brain to think about what you just said. 'star in a bottle'....this is impossible. For a star to work, it must have a huge mass which will never work at a small scale. The idea of nuclear fusion as a energy producer on Earth will never happen, this is a fantasy not based on science used by capitalists to fool the public on one of the biggest problems of the capitalist system, unplanned fossil fuel abuse. Geo-thermal energy is the only sustainable energy source on Earth but capitalism will never be able to unleash it. This video is passively promoting some of the lies around this fusion fantasy. But at least he does criticize the fantasy on some levels. "one day it might be the case"......WRONG.
Fraser, have you seen Real Engineering's video at Helion? They're not using a tokamak or lasers. And their reactors are way smaller and use a different method which smashes two rings of plasma into each other. They're achieving ignition several times a day, apparently, unless I misunderstood the video. They also said they won't need to use steam. They'll be able to extract electricity from the system directly using electromagnetism. They're also not using rare fuel. They're using helium 4 and deuterium.
Enjoyed,very interesting.
loved it.
good vid, id like more of this
QUESTION SUBMISSION 2: Hi Fraser. Are there plans to put satellites into orbit around the moon to aid in communication and navigation, particularly when astronauts are on the far side of the moon? Why have we not yet set a dozen or so cube satellites into the moons orbit for this purpose - are there technical difficulties with this solution due to different gravitational forces?
This episode is good :)
I don't see this becoming feasible without hybridizing with another fusion technique.
If we can make a reliable and efficient muon source, could muon catalyzed fusion combined with cavitation be a possible solution?
Very informative
Glad you put it in this light, I've been very disappointed in the coverage so far. This was a major accomplishment to to sure, but it's NOT a huge breakthrough. This step is the "10 years away" from 50 years ago. We are finally making more progress though! Well done NIF!
It's both a huge breakthrough and the beginning of a long journey.
@@frasercain Fanboy đ The huge accomplishment will be when they are able to generate more energy than is required to create the reaction. 300MJ to generate 3MJ of energy isn't exactly earth shattering. Amazing feat of engineering in the form of the pellet construction and timing of the lasers to be sure, though.
Hey Fraser! Question for the Q&A. If planets on another systems are only detected by the shadow they create to their stars, how is it possible to see their composition? Happy holidays to all!
You measure the star, and then you measure the star when the planet is in front. Any additional chemicals you detect will be coming from the atmosphere of the planet.
Thank you
One of the methods employed by the pioneer of modern science, Johannes Kepler, who changed the world of
science in the early 17th Century, is a method he used in his book New Astronomy in which he begins with exploring the errors that have trapped astronomers for 17 centuries up to his time, into dead-end pursuit in the exploring the Universe, from Ptolemy to Copernicus. After his extensive refutation he presents how the Universe actually functions. With this method he set the stage for modern science, clearing away defective methods that had crippled science. In Kepler's case, the errors he exposed were based on false axiomatic assumption, typically derived from religious doctrines. In modern time cleverly crafted false axiomatic assumptions have been intentionally created by the masters of empire to achieve political objectives, such as driving science into the ground.
The policy for driving science into a dead-end pursuit, to disable its natural effectiveness, reflects the core
policy of Paolo Sarpi, the reformer of the Venetian Empire back in the 16th Century. Sarpi had recognized
that the nature of science is deadly to the objectives of empire, but is also a natural force of humanity that
it cannot be prevented. Thus he developed a policy to allow science to some degree, but to hinder it by all
possible means, thereby grinding it into the ground.
The policy of thus grinding society into the ground became later a core feature of the Fabian Society of the
new empire in the north that had appropriately named itself, according to its core policy direction, after the
Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus who gained his fame for his policy of not confronting a superior
enemy, but grinding it into the ground by subversive means. Fabious had defeated the vastly superior forces
of Hannibal that way. The famous author of the empire crowd, H. G. Wells, loved the Fabian's effort, except
he thought it was not radical enough.
The devolution of culture and science is still a key element in the political word that continues to be controlled by the masters of empire. Over the years the attempts to throttle scientific progress have become ever more exotic as means to hinder the natural unfolding of science. One of these pursuits is found in the arena of nuclear-fusion-power research. Nuclear fusion is an empty promise of a utopia in a power-starved world that can be used as a trap to prevent mankind from exploring the real nature of the Universe and mankind's power to develop with it according to its principles.
One of the most basic principles that we see reflected everywhere in the physical universe is the Principle of
Least Action. The physical universe (including the biological sphere and living processes) is organized in such a
fashion that the least amount of action is required to produce a certain result. Unnatural research is of a type that defies this principle, resulting in an effective method to 'guide' mankind into tying itself into knots, which is the evident hallmark of nuclear-fusion-power research.
Nuclear-fusion power has no role to play in a Universe that its self-expanding, self-powering, and self-developing. The nuclear-fusion powered Sun is a dream-construct located in the perception of a self-consuming, winding down, entropic Universe. The real Universe is anti-entropic, and electrically self-powered.
99.999% of the mass of the Universe exists in the plasma state that is electrically charged, facilitating vast electric currents in response to electromagnetic principles. Tons of evidence exists that shows plainly that vast electric currents flowing in plasma interconnect all the galaxies in the Universe -- in an Electric Universe -- and within the galaxies, power the stars -- on the Electric Sun principle -- and also power the galaxies themselves.
It is not possible to acknowledge the Universe as being anti-entropic in nature, while recognizing every sun
within it as a self-consuming nuclear-fusion furnace that is winding down its existence. This paradox does not
exist in the Electric Universe -- the real Universe -- which thereby renders the pursuit of nuclear-fusion power, for which no requirement exists in the natural world, an unnatural pursuit, because nuclear-fusion simply doesn't power anything in the Universe. This is also the reason why nuclear fusion is failing, and the further reason why it is being promoted by the masters of empire as it exhibits all the hallmarks of a dead end pursuit where huge efforts can be consumed for unusable effects.
Indeed why would nuclear-fusion-power be needed anyway, if the Universe itself is Power?
Because you need a way to extract that power.