News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by rob74 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @04:33AM (#43100314)
Actually you don't want the transmission process to be 100% efficient. If you really captured all the fusion energy transmitted (or even just the small part of it reaching Earth), all sorts of people would complain, trust me! But fortunately that fusion reactor has more than enough power to go around...
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by nkrisc on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @05:38AM (#43100664)
If only it were smaller and closer. We could make it smaller by using a force other than gravity to compress the matter. Perhaps a very strong magnetic field? If it was strong enough you’d only need a fraction of the matter.
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by rob74 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @05:50AM (#43100747)
OTOH, the concept proposed by OP is already implemented and has been working reliably for billions of years with trillions of successful deployments, while this newfangled technology you are proposing still has to be demonstrated to work...
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by nkrisc on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @06:38AM (#43101006)
You’re not looking at the entire cost. What are the end of life procedures when fuel is exhausted?
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by rob74 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @07:06AM (#43101166)
That's another plus! If you ever get to the end of the fusion reactor's life (which is not very likely), it's literally end of life for you (and everyone else who might still be around) too, so no need to worry about exhausted fuel anymore...
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by brookst on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:13AM (#43102940)
I can say the same thing about my basement fission reactor.
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by lpwf on Thursday February 20, 2025 @12:44AM (#43111521)
YBGIBG, but not in a dickish way.
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by BoxOfRain on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:41AM (#43104157)
Unfortunately the original developers left long ago taking the source with them, and none of them are reachable to provide an explanation even through exotic means of communication.
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by Dylan16807 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @04:30PM (#43107975)
Trillions of deployments that are all subject to the inverse square law at a distance of 100 million miles. It's hard to comprehend how bad that efficiency is.
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by tehbeard on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @07:49AM (#43101507)
> But fortunately that fusion reactor has more than enough power to go around...

"All the energy we could ever use, forever and forever and forever."

"Not forever,"

Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by spiritplumber on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @02:40PM (#43106510)
Insufficient data for a meaningful answer.
Re:Nuclear fusion: WEST beats the world record for plasma du... by _Algernon_ on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @04:41AM (#43100358)
They wouldn't complain for long though