Did they really just promise fusion power within four years? I don't know why I'm seeing this on HN...it should be trumpeting and blasting through our media like wildfire. I mean, this is an article's dream - no details, extravagant claims (which I hope are true), and a high profile company. I can't wait for this to be on the NYT.
At 6 minutes into the talk, the slide suggests that their solution might be feasible (generating commercial power) by 2025.
The timeline at 12m10s says "could have a prototype reactor" in 5 years, and a powerplant in 10 years.
I didn't hear anything about actual success; mostly just optimism. Like, how does one get to Mars in 1 month, even with fusion power? What's the engine and how is it cooled?
For reference ITER is expected to get first plasma in 2020, a hypothetical DEMO electrical generator by (keeping fingers crossed) 2033, and a conjectured PROTO prototype power station by some time after 2050.
It was slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I would say that company R&D has a higher chance of getting to market than government R&D. And yes, they may have gotten gov't grants, but it's still managed by a respected engineering company.
Practical fusion power isn't created by press conferences, it's created by physics -- very clever physics, so clever that all efforts to date have failed.
When you see someone predicting practical fusion power in N years, just remember -- this is the norm for fusion power research, all that changes is N.
This is not to say fusion power won't ever happen -- chances are it will happen -- but not by designing better and better press conferences.
