Projectile fusion is a new approach to inertial fusion that is simpler, more energy efficient, and has lower physics risk. The key enabler is First Light’s unique new target technology.
First Light’s approach compresses the fuel inside a target using a projectile travelling at tremendous speed. The key technology in First Light’s approach is the target design, which focuses the energy of the projectile, imploding the fuel to the temperatures and densities needed to make fusion happen.
To deliver this fusion result, First Light used its large two-stage hyper-velocity gas gun to launch a projectile at a target, containing the fusion fuel. The projectile reached a speed of 6.5 km per second before impact. First Light’s highly sophisticated target focuses this impact, with the fuel accelerated to over 70 km per second as it implodes, an increase in velocity achieved through our proprietary advanced target design, making it the fastest moving object on earth at that point.
Not the fusion I was hoping to see but better than nothing. Its still not the final version and I think they stabilize the method over time and improve the injection process.
Not the fusion I was hoping to see but better than nothing. Its still not the final version and I think they stabilize the method over time and improve the injection process.