Quote: "As of July 2010, the largest experiment by means of magnetic confinement has been the Joint European Torus (JET). In 1997, JET produced a peak of 16.1 megawatts (21,600 hp) of fusion power (65% of input power) ... Fusion powered electricity generation was initially believed to be readily achievable, as fission power had been. However, the extreme requirements for continuous reactions and plasma containment led to projections being extended by several decades. In 2010, more than 60 years after the first attempts, commercial power production was still believed to be unlikely before 2050."
My point is if this project creates a net gain > 1, it will address a lot more than the problem of getting to Mars.
Yes, but (apart from stars and weapons) this has never been achieved anywhere, ever. This is a big issue, bigger than most people realize.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power
Quote: "As of July 2010, the largest experiment by means of magnetic confinement has been the Joint European Torus (JET). In 1997, JET produced a peak of 16.1 megawatts (21,600 hp) of fusion power (65% of input power) ... Fusion powered electricity generation was initially believed to be readily achievable, as fission power had been. However, the extreme requirements for continuous reactions and plasma containment led to projections being extended by several decades. In 2010, more than 60 years after the first attempts, commercial power production was still believed to be unlikely before 2050."
My point is if this project creates a net gain > 1, it will address a lot more than the problem of getting to Mars.