Vivien Diniz reports that American defense and advanced technology company Lockheed Martin announced last week that it has taken a revolutionary step forward in the field of nuclear fusion. The breakthrough, the company claims, could solve the world energy crisis. To test its theory, Lockheed will be building and testing a compact fusion reactor in less than a year. Checking in at about 10 times smaller than current reactors, Lockheed hopes to develop and deploy new compact fusion reactors in as little as 10 years. Still in the experimental phase, nuclear fusion happens when two kinds of hydrogen atoms (deuterium and tritium) come together at high speeds, forming new atomic molecules known as ion plasma.
Lockheed is working on magnetic confinement techniques to reduce the size of nuclear fusion reactors. With its compact design, the company has found a way to constrain the plasma within a specifically shaped magnetic field. The magnetic field works to contain the expanding plasma, effectively making it so that the plasma works to contain itself.
If successful, the Lockheed Martin compact fusion reactor could change the energy landscape as we know it. As CNET explains, one of the most interesting features of the Lockheed announcement is the size of the reactor. At the size of a large truck, the company has said its reactor could be built in a factory and shipped around the world.
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