> “We wouldn’t enter into this agreement if we were not optimistic that engineering advances are gaining momentum,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith.
Why not? What's the downside for Microsoft, even if they think this probably won't happen by 2028? They even get paid "penalties" if Helion doesn't deliver.
Absolutely not! They’re also trying to look cutting edge.
Whether by incentive or by coercion, it feels like the DOD and the DOE would want to have first access to any breakthroughs and also guard knowledge transfers (ie protect any program - commerical or government - from foreign state espionage).
The DOE is basically an entire national security organization centered around nuclear security, it seems unlikely they would be standing by watching R&D in fusion occur without a seat at the table.
The US may want cheap energy to spread world wide. That doesn't necessarily mean the US wants fusion tech to spread world wide.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_...
There is expertise in DOE and DOD, but there is an also a lot of private capital being invested in companies that don’t need to talk themselves up much. People in the industry generally know who most of the players are; that’s how you or your technical peers/friends get a job after all.
I don’t see a particular need for there to have been a top secret breakthrough to explain this deal.
From what I can gather a lot of Improbable Matter's critisism is based on misunderstandings or flawed understanding of Helion's specific approach. But yes, it's a good watch if you don't blindly trust his conclusions.
We know we can achieve fusion, but as far as I'm informed we still don't know that we can take more energy out than we put in.
"Bet" implies a potential for loss. This is a couch-cushion spare change level "bet". Microsoft probably spends more on printer ink every month than they stand to lose on this bet.
They're going to get ~$50M worth of power. Either they're going to overpay for Fusion or overpay for energy from some other source if Helion can't deliver and has to pay for it via penalty.
It's not really much of a risk for MSFT.
But it's a great headline for Helion to pass on to clueless people.
> Helion’s deal with Microsoft is to get 50 megawatts online,
Looking at solar costs https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/capital-costs... 50MW in solar would cost 50-100M and I can't imagine this could be much more expensive or it wouldn't be competitive at all. Microsoft annual operating expenses for 2022 were $114.887B so about a 1-2000 times more.
If Helion actually pulls off productive fusion, Microsoft will buy the power regardless. Same with Boom, if their jet really is efficient, United would buy one no matter what because it makes business sense. Signaling like this feels more like a marketing campaign to investors rather than a signal of potential.
https://www.helionenergy.com/articles/ending-trenta-operatio...
Here is some raw video of plasma in a Safire chamber vaporizing a tungsten rod https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y46wMAHnsI
Workers already feel priced out of the housing market, just add it to the pile.
Two unique properties of energy density like Fusion.
1. The ability to hit 10% of the speed of light in space 2. The ability to create fundamental elements like gold, silver etc.
Another good example of the fact that there are no scarcity of resources only scarcity of knowledge. Resources are created not found.
Edit: Why am I being downvoted?
