Cars That Think
FEBRUARY 6, 2024
The dream of fusion power inched closer to reality in December 2022, when researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) revealed that a fusion reaction had produced more energy than what was required to kick-start it. It showed there’s nothing fundamentally limiting us from being able to harness fusion in the laboratory.”
Cars That Think
JUNE 29, 2023
But here, and in an even more anonymous office park nearby, startup Zap Energy is trialing a prototype reactor that is already producing high-energy neutrons from nuclear fusion—if not yet enough to send power back into the grid. Zap isn’t the only fusion company fishing in aviation’s talent pool.
Cars That Think
JULY 15, 2023
Brandon Sorbom , the scientific director of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) , leads me toward the center of the building’s cross-shaped footprint, weaving among scaffolding, forklifts, and teams of welders and painters. On the site of a former U.S. Army Reserve base near Boston, an unusual structure is rising from the rolling hills.
Cars That Think
FEBRUARY 27, 2022
And scientists and engineers have continued to study the sun’s fusion process in hopes of one day using nuclear fusion to generate heat or electricity. Consequently, governments, universities, and companies have long looked to fusion to remedy these ills. But the prospect of meeting our energy needs this way remains elusive.
Cars That Think
AUGUST 27, 2021
If it had ever left the spotlight, nuclear fusion is certainly now back. There have recently been new books , big announcements from small fusion companies , and the widely-shared news of a new record for energy produced at the National Ignition Facility , at the U.S. As the joke goes, fusion is always 40 years away.
Green Car Congress
APRIL 11, 2016
As part of its LiDAR sensor development, Ford has tested Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicles in complete darkness without headlights on desert roads, demonstrating the capability to perform beyond the limits of human drivers. In fact, LiDAR allows autonomous cars to drive just as well in the dark as they do in the light of day.
Cars That Think
DECEMBER 31, 2023
Energy storage and nuclear fusion—two reliable crowd pleasers when the crowd you’re talking about is readers of IEEE Spectrum —are well represented among our most widely read energy stories of 2023. Welcome to Fusion City, USA At Helion Energy, workers build a section of the company’s Polaris fusion reactor. Number one?
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