The Future of Fusion

A conception of a compact fusion power plant,
developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -Alexander Creely

As we start a new year (& here in the United States a new Presidential administration), it is a good time to look forward and plan how we are going to advance as a civilization.

For Christmas I received the game No Man's Sky Beyond, which I think is awesome, & is based on interstellar space travel and futuristic technology.

This game, & also imagining the future of my son Paul Giuseppe have got me thinking a lot recently about what we as a human species should be striving to achieve.

As I've said here many times before, I think space travel is one of the most important priorities of humanity. Traveling & living off-planet is crucial to our long-term survival as a species, and we need to take it much more seriously.

To be able to reach this goal of thriving in outer space, we need to first make advances in technology that will allow us to do so. One of the main obstacles to long-distance space travel is adequate power sources. 

I have been seeing a lot of articles and information lately about the development of nuclear fusion power. Breakthroughs in this field are going to revolutionize our lives, in ways we cannot currently imagine.

Here is a video explaining some of the basics behind fusion-generated energy: 

I was reading this encouraging article about American scientists developing fusion technology, which led me to write this post.

Science Magazine:
U.S. physicists Rally Around Ambitious Plan
to Build Fusion Power Plant

This is a video (slowed down) of just a couple seconds of a reaction inside a fusion reactor. The plasma torus is a thing of sublime beauty, and is the first glimpse at a future of unlimited energy.

Fusion power is one of those technologies that always seems to be "...just a few decades away". However, with enough money and dedication to the process, we can achieve anything we can put our collective minds to work to solve.