Alex McColgan

Huge pulses of electricity are needed each time the reactor fires to generate fusion conditions, which puts immense strain on electricity supplies and reactor components.

It's a considerable engineering hurdle for helium to overcome as the company embarks on building its first commercial-scale reactor.

But CEO David Kirtley claims this plant will be online and supplying power to Microsoft data centers by 2028.

Now, whether or not this comes to pass, only time will tell.

However, even if none of these private ventures hit their well-publicized milestones, the fact that this investment exists at all reflects the moment the fusion sector finds itself in.

With new algorithmic and AI tools now at their disposal, for many in the field, it does feel like fusion is finally inching closer to reality.

And though unsolved scientific and engineering problems exist, regardless of the approach used, the diversity of fusion technologies that now exist is a huge bonus.

So, while we'll never be able to recreate a star on Earth, it is very possible that the one or even several of the approximations we are trying to build will play a pivotal role in the energy landscape of the future.

I'll end by returning to Eddington and his 1920 musings on the energy-powering stars.

A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy, by means unknown to us.

This reservoir can scarcely be other than the subatomic energy, which, it is known, exists abundantly in all matter.

We sometimes dream that man will one day learn how to release it and use it for his service.

The store is well nigh inexhaustible.

If only it can be tapped.

Maybe finally, it won't be another 30 years until we find out if it can.

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