cstmoore t1_j0nfxhl wrote on December 18, 2022 at 12:16 AM

Reply to comment by Gari_305 in Nuclear fusion breakthrough: What does it mean for space exploration? by Gari_305

"Heavy components…"

The NIF reactor currently is the size of a large building. Barring another major breakthrough, it's going to take a long time to achieve the orders of magnitude size reduction required for a flight ready fusion reactor.

We built and mothballed flight ready fission reactors and engines (SNAP, NERVA) in the 60s. Perhaps we should be revisiting those while we wait for fusion reactor technology to catch up?

FreddoMac5 t1_j0oyn9p wrote on December 18, 2022 at 9:09 AM

>while we wait for fusion reactor technology to catch up?

Anybody who understands how fusion reactor technology works understands its unlikely we ever see fusion reactor technology in flight.

ForAFriendAsking t1_j0t8g62 wrote on December 19, 2022 at 5:58 AM

I know little to nothing about how fusion reactor technology works, but I know "ever" is a long time. Elaborate, if you please.

ItsAConspiracy t1_j0z55ki wrote on December 20, 2022 at 2:27 PM

I saw a fusion guy mention that if you ever get a tour of NIF, they have a small room with a full-scale model of modern lasers that do the same thing as the huge, old lasers they use.

BlueSkyToday t1_j102p4q wrote on December 20, 2022 at 6:12 PM

I find that hard to believe.

Why in the world would they be using the enormous old system if they have one that fits in a small room?

ItsAConspiracy t1_j10c0r2 wrote on December 20, 2022 at 7:12 PM

Because the entire facility is old. They broke ground in 1997.

They don't need to replace the laser, because they're not trying to build a power plant. They're doing experiments. It costs money to replace the lasers, and it wouldn't give them any scientific advantage.

BlueSkyToday t1_j1p4nop wrote on December 26, 2022 at 6:37 AM

1997? I was getting power from Ed's CVLs back in 1982 and that was an upgraded incarnation of the previous Laser Fusion facility.

I understand the need to show Physics Breakeven before Engineering breakeven, but there needs to be a lot of parallelism in those two efforts. I think that we all remember how Ed was promising to a working laser fusion facility online in a decade.

Ed is a fantastic guy. I have huge respect for him, but Ed's long gone from the NIF (and from the Great Magellanic Telescope), and NIF is nowhere near Engineering Breakeven, let alone a working fusion facility.