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ItsAConspiracy t1_j0z55ki wrote

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

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.

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BlueSkyToday t1_j102p4q wrote

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?

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ItsAConspiracy t1_j10c0r2 wrote

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.

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BlueSkyToday t1_j1p4nop wrote

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.

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