I think a useful fact to contextualize how much more intense we're hoping to make fusion, is that the volumetric power density (watts per cubic meter) of sol's

I think a useful fact to contextualize how much more intense we're hoping to make fusion, is that the volumetric power density (watts per cubic meter) of sol's core (276 watts/m^3) is on the scale of a well run compost pile (50~200)[0]. Since we don't want to make an object as big as the sun's core, we need to make something far, far, far more intense than the sun's core, which is understandably quite hard. [0]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010021001104 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266701002...