Picture of the Week: Finally Got a Plasma October 29, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Fusion Power, Helium-3, ITER, KSTAR, Picture of the Week, South Korea , trackback
That is an image from the Korea Times (by way of Gizmodo) of the first plasma generated by South Korea ‘s KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Reactor) fusion reactor.
The experiment back in June produced 2 1/2 times more plasma than anticipated, which was good news for the project and for other, similar projects, like the high-profile ~$7-14 billion ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) reactor being built in France.
Fusion power is considered a leading motivation for moon colonization, as a primary fuel for it (helium-3) is rare on Earth, but plentiful on the Moon. Seen as an ultimate power source, fusion power could be a solution to certain problems that may crop up in the next 50 years.
Last year, South Korea announced plans to launch a lunar orbiter in 2020 (similar to the craft just launched by India), so they could be getting ahead of the game with their early development of the fusion side of things.
Comments»
Here is an American fusion project that doesn’t get much press:
Fusion Report 29 August 2008
That’s pretty neat—I’ll have to keep an eye on that :)