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You may have heard of the Moonshot, when President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon within a decade. We weren’t sure it could be done, but eight years later, we succeeded.
Well, many people doubted we could achieve fusion, but sixty years later, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved ignition.
Fusion is the reaction that powers the sun. Chemically, two hydrogen atoms fuse in helium. For decades we have tried to reproduce it on Earth, as it can theoretically produce endless energy and zero harmful waste. On December 5th, local scientists finally got their sunshot. For the first time, a fusion reaction outside our closest star generated power.
Now the true challenge begins. We are maybe a decade away from a fusion power plant, if we mobilize behind that technology like we did in the Space Race. In the 1960s, we were competing against the Soviet Union. This time, humanity must stand together against a common threat of the climate crisis, and there’s not a moment to lose.
Speaking of reaching for the stars, NASA has been trying to drum up excitement for the Artemis Generation. The trouble is, billionaires have given space travel a bad name. If you say we’re going to the moon again and then Mars, the average response is going to react with, “Okay.” It’s hard to generate enthusiasm for outer space when on Earth we’re being pulverized between late-stage capitalism and the climate crisis.
To max out our excitement for fusion, all you have to say is, “Infinite clean energy.” The Fusion Generation will be ready to rise to that challenge.
Though I’ve been comparing two branches of science, they’re not in competition. Let’s avoid false dichotomies. We can fund fusion and space exploration, while at the same time advancing solar and other green energy to sustain us in the short-term. “But how will we pay for it?” That’s a bad-faith question.
However, if money were the true sticking point, we could always slap billionaires with a wealth tax and or fractionally reduce the dollars we throw at the military-industrial complex. When our top national security threat is the climate crisis, the last thing we need is a new stealth bomber.
What we need is hope. Right now even our science-fiction offers mostly apocalypse. A smaller sub-genre is emerging, solarpunk, which imagines futures where we not only survive but thrive. Fusion goes hand in hand with that optimism.
I wish to thank the worldwide scientific community while extending my deepest gratitude to everyone who worked in the Lawrence Livermore National Lab.
This includes my father, who isolated deuterium with lasers before I was born. Many citizens of Livermore have ties to science. Though I look forward to more advances in fusion worldwide, I will always think of Livermore as the Home of Fusion. Our city was the first to flicker with starshine.
Someday, I hope fusion will light up the world.
Editor's note: Send your opinions on Livermore topics to editor@livermorevine.com. All submissions will undergo editorial review and must include author's full name.
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