China’s quest for Fusion energy might become a reality in 2020

The country is expecting its “Artificial Sun” to be operational within the year

Our Sun is one of the most sustainable sources of energy. As the World moves towards more renewable sources of energy, we are finding more ways to harness its limitless potential. The Sun produces this energy by a process called Nuclear Fusion, where hydrogen nuclei combine to form helium, producing vast swaths of solar energy.

The fission reaction that we currently use to produce nuclear energy here on Earth produces a much lower amount and can have devastating consequences if there is a radiation leak — case in point the Chernobyl (Ukraine, 1986) & Fukushima (Japan, 2011) meltdowns.

This begs the question then why have we not opted for the safer alternative of Nuclear Fusion. The simple answer is that the naturally occurring process on our star is not easy to replicate. The process of joining two lighter atomic nuclei to form a heavier nucleus releases massive amounts of energy and the process is unstable and difficult to control.

Scientists have been taking a stab at it for a while now. Earlier this summer, Physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison created a “Mini Sun” to better understand the processes going on on our…