I know essentially nothing about the field. I can imagine how it might be used to understand how plasma works, and how to measure plasma activity, specifically in the domain appropriate for fusion reaction instead of thermonuclear weapons, might be relevant.
I conjecture this because I read about how knowledge from thermonuclear weapons development helped inform our understanding about how fusion works in stars, even though the experiments themselves were secret.
The story was of a Soviet astrophysicist visiting the US. He gave a lecture about stellar processes. A US grad student asked him afterward about one step in the process, something like "how do you know the plasma is transparent to X-rays?". The Soviet scientist said simply "it is." The US student, confused about it, asked his US advisor, who informed the student that it meant the Soviets figured it out as part of research for H-bomb development. I don't have a primary source for it though.
As a possible parallel, Shepard's suborbital flight used a Redstone ballistic missile, modified to make it human rated. Space flight and space telescopes are closely intertwined with missile technology and espionage/surveillance.
I conjecture this because I read about how knowledge from thermonuclear weapons development helped inform our understanding about how fusion works in stars, even though the experiments themselves were secret.
The story was of a Soviet astrophysicist visiting the US. He gave a lecture about stellar processes. A US grad student asked him afterward about one step in the process, something like "how do you know the plasma is transparent to X-rays?". The Soviet scientist said simply "it is." The US student, confused about it, asked his US advisor, who informed the student that it meant the Soviets figured it out as part of research for H-bomb development. I don't have a primary source for it though.
As a possible parallel, Shepard's suborbital flight used a Redstone ballistic missile, modified to make it human rated. Space flight and space telescopes are closely intertwined with missile technology and espionage/surveillance.