63 ms·

> Helion CEO David Kirtley says that his company can do it in three. Three... years? Decades? Days? Millennia?

dkirtley 12y ago
We are hoping three years, three decades is just too late to matter. Part of what was not mentioned are the years that we have put into this already. Fusion is definitely a tough problem, but one that is worth it to solve.
- cwal37 12y ago
  Forgive me if this is forward, but are you guys hiring? I'm in no way a physicist, but I do know a few with strong experimental backgrounds (mostly in nuclear), and I try to keep my ear to the ground for intriguing job opportunities for my friends.
  - dkirtley 12y ago
    We are hiring for Redmond, WA, but only people that are excited and forward! Our Contact page http://www.helionenergy.com/ http://www.helionenergy.com/ has the link.
    - cwal37 12y ago
      Thanks!
- jhartmann 12y ago
  Best of luck to you and your team, I really think that alternative paths to Fusion should have been explored since Farnsworth. Instead we have the crazy massive superconducting cathedral's that are literally trying to blow themselves apart when you turn them on. Your team and the teams investigating other approaches (General Fusion, Tri-alpha, the late Bussard's Polywell, Lerner's Focus Fusion) all should get several tens of millions to investigate and do hard science and try for the big payoff. Congrats on getting some more initial funding, I wish you the best of luck.
gamegoblin 12y ago
Later in the article it mentions three years. So I assume that first mention was a case of forgetting to type a word.
jschulenklopper 12y ago
Well, there is a kind-of-joke that commercially-available fusion energy is perpetually described as "30 years away". It always appears to be stuck at least a generation away... hopefully someone finds a breakthrough. To put this in context, even the international ITER project is 'experimental' (with a budget of € 15 billion, expected to be switched on in 2019), and is expected to be followed up with a demonstration plant in 2040...

We are hoping three years, three decades is just too late to matter. Part of what was not mentioned are the years that we have put into this already. Fusion is definitely a tough problem, but one that is worth it to solve.

cwal37 12y ago
Forgive me if this is forward, but are you guys hiring? I'm in no way a physicist, but I do know a few with strong experimental backgrounds (mostly in nuclear), and I try to keep my ear to the ground for intriguing job opportunities for my friends.
- dkirtley 12y ago
  We are hiring for Redmond, WA, but only people that are excited and forward! Our Contact page http://www.helionenergy.com/ http://www.helionenergy.com/ has the link.
  - cwal37 12y ago
    Thanks!
jhartmann 12y ago
Best of luck to you and your team, I really think that alternative paths to Fusion should have been explored since Farnsworth. Instead we have the crazy massive superconducting cathedral's that are literally trying to blow themselves apart when you turn them on. Your team and the teams investigating other approaches (General Fusion, Tri-alpha, the late Bussard's Polywell, Lerner's Focus Fusion) all should get several tens of millions to investigate and do hard science and try for the big payoff. Congrats on getting some more initial funding, I wish you the best of luck.

gamegoblin 12y ago

Later in the article it mentions three years. So I assume that first mention was a case of forgetting to type a word.

jschulenklopper 12y ago

Well, there is a kind-of-joke that commercially-available fusion energy is perpetually described as "30 years away". It always appears to be stuck at least a generation away... hopefully someone finds a breakthrough. To put this in context, even the international ITER project is 'experimental' (with a budget of € 15 billion, expected to be switched on in 2019), and is expected to be followed up with a demonstration plant in 2040...