OpenStar's race for fusion energy hots up

OpenStar's plasma test reaches millions of degrees Celsius. (Video still: OpenStar)

Wed, 13 Nov 2024

Wellington recorded the hottest temperatures in New Zealand, if not the entire solar system, this month.Nuclear fusion energy startup OpenStar Technology has generated plasma – super-hot ionised gas – for the first time. For a few seconds it reached temperatures in the low millions of degrees Celsius. The test was carried out in the central vacuum chamber at OpenStar’s base in the Ngauranga Gorge. It is a major prerequisite before any attempts to achieve nuclear fusion with hydrogen. OpenStar staff cheered and...

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