Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

beautifulpublicdata.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 93 posts

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#51

Post by api »

cycomanic wrote: post #46
api wrote: post #3

This field is so underfunded, but progress is still being made. Check out Commonwealth Fusion and their progress with insanely powerful compact energy efficient magnets. They recently clocked a stable 20T magnetic field.

Calling fusion research underfunded is rich(no pun intended). Costs for ITER are estimated to 45 to 65 billion USD it's one of the most ambitious and costly science projects in the world to date. That's not even accounting for all the other fusion projects. There are many areas in science that receive significantly less funding. I would also argue that the prevelant perception that fusion would lead to to essentially…

The new Vogtle reactor in Georgia (the US state) cost about $17B. A single offshore oil platform can cost upwards of $1B and we build hundreds of these.

When weighed against the potential payoff fusion is very underfunded. If we make it work we basically have infinite clean energy until the heat death of the universe, not to mention a source of energy that could jet us around the solar system and beyond at speeds far beyond what anything we currently have can achieve.

The cost of ITER is not crazy for the energy industry in general. Huge energy projects are very expensive. We spend multiples of that on oil drilling every year.

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#52

Post by pfdietz »

nabla9 wrote: post #50
cycomanic wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling fusion research underfunded is rich(no pun intended). Costs for ITER are estimated to 45 to 65 billion USD it's one of the most ambitious and costly science projects in the world to date. That's not even accounting for all the other fusion projects. There are many areas in science that receive significantly less funding. I would also argue that the prevelant perception that fusion would lead to to essentially…

Let's read again what you just wrote and think: "ITER are estimated to 45 to 65 billion USD" That's not the most costly costly project, not even close (prices in current dollars and total costs) Apollo project: $257 billion ISS: $150 billion. STS: $196 billion. Fusion energy has been constantly underfunded.

None of those projects was worth the cost.

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#53

Post by selfmodruntime »

pfdietz wrote: post #52
nabla9 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's read again what you just wrote and think: "ITER are estimated to 45 to 65 billion USD" That's not the most costly costly project, not even close (prices in current dollars and total costs) Apollo project: $257 billion ISS: $150 billion. STS: $196 billion. Fusion energy has been constantly underfunded.

None of those projects was worth the cost.

the ISS was definitely worth the cost.

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#54

Post by baq »

cycomanic wrote: post #46
api wrote: post #3

This field is so underfunded, but progress is still being made. Check out Commonwealth Fusion and their progress with insanely powerful compact energy efficient magnets. They recently clocked a stable 20T magnetic field.

Calling fusion research underfunded is rich(no pun intended). Costs for ITER are estimated to 45 to 65 billion USD it's one of the most ambitious and costly science projects in the world to date. That's not even accounting for all the other fusion projects. There are many areas in science that receive significantly less funding. I would also argue that the prevelant perception that fusion would lead to to essentially…

Apple is buying back $110B of stock.

They could build an Apple iFusion Reactor instead and still buy back $50B.

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#55

Post by pfdietz »

selfmodruntime wrote: post #53
pfdietz wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of those projects was worth the cost.

the ISS was definitely worth the cost.

Really? What result did ISS deliver that justifies its construction? It's an exercise in orbital flagpole sitting.

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#56

Post by shepherdjerred »

pfdietz wrote: post #55
selfmodruntime wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the ISS was definitely worth the cost.

Really? What result did ISS deliver that justifies its construction? It's an exercise in orbital flagpole sitting.

What's the point of being alive without building monuments?

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#57

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

api wrote: post #45
doubloon wrote: post #20

"we must bring the deficit under control," that's funny because Reaganomics was the beginning of the "deficits dont matter" wing of the Republican party.

It was also the start of politically weaponized Keynesianism. When Republicans are in power they spend massively to stoke the economy while using deficit hawk rhetoric. When they lose power they blame the ensuing deficits on Democrats. Works incredibly well because people don’t look beneath the headlines.

The two Santas theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_Wanniski#The_Two_Santa_Cl...

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#58

Post by api »

pfdietz wrote: post #55
selfmodruntime wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the ISS was definitely worth the cost.

Really? What result did ISS deliver that justifies its construction? It's an exercise in orbital flagpole sitting.

It’s an engineering test platform for long duration space flight. Along with the development of reusable rockets we are now almost to the point of being ready to actually go somewhere and do more than just plant a flagpole.

Apollo was ridiculously ahead of its time and was not sustainable. The entire stack was disposable and it’s pure luck that we never lost a crew. We needed a project like the ISS to do the real work to figure out how to live in space and build long lasting space hardware.

The biggest shortcoming of the project is that we never tried centrifugal gravity. There were plans for a module but it never got there.

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#59

Post by willis936 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #57
api wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was also the start of politically weaponized Keynesianism. When Republicans are in power they spend massively to stoke the economy while using deficit hawk rhetoric. When they lose power they blame the ensuing deficits on Democrats. Works incredibly well because people don’t look beneath the headlines.

The two Santas theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_Wanniski#The_Two_Santa_Cl...

Not to be confused with the Futurama episode named after this theory, written by Bob Odenkirk, and that definitely lives rent free in my mind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Santas

Re: The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (2023)

#60

Post by willis936 »

baq wrote: post #54
cycomanic wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling fusion research underfunded is rich(no pun intended). Costs for ITER are estimated to 45 to 65 billion USD it's one of the most ambitious and costly science projects in the world to date. That's not even accounting for all the other fusion projects. There are many areas in science that receive significantly less funding. I would also argue that the prevelant perception that fusion would lead to to essentially…

Apple is buying back $110B of stock. They could build an Apple iFusion Reactor instead and still buy back $50B.

Arguably for much less than that. The current fusion startups are targeting burning plasma and altogether they've raised a tenth as much as ITER's (speculated) 6.5 Bn USD. Granted, very few companies are targeting burning plasma with their current level of funding.
Post reply on HN