News

Tuba Balta at PSFC

July 8, 2022

Fusion’s new ambassador

High school student Tuba Balta engages new audiences through her MIT PSFC internship.

PSFC News

Dennis Whyte and Bob Mumgaard in experimental environment

May 12, 2022

Practically changing the world

PSFC Director Dennis Whyte received  a 2022 University of Saskatchewan Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his significant accomplishments since graduating from USask.

University of Saskatchewan News

Diagram of SPARC tokamak

April 6, 2022

Turning neutrons into fusion fuel

“One of the things that you get good at while at MIT,” says PSFC research scientist Sara Ferry, “is being able to start from nothing on a particular system or skill and knowing how to approach it in a way that’s effective.”

PSFC News

Zoe Fisher in the laboratory

February 25, 2022

Finding her way to fusion

Zoe Fisher's undergraduate research journey leads to a role working on the SPARC tokamak.

PSFC News

20T magnet Demo Event Highlights, MIT

September 24, 2021

VIDEO: Highlights of the MIT-CFS 20T Magnet Demo event

On Sunday, September 5, 2021, a large-bore, high temperature superconducting magnet designed and built by CFS and MIT reached a field of 20 tesla. It paves the way to building SPARC and commercializing fusion energy. These are highlights from the Live-Streamed 20 Tesla HTS Magnet Demo Event

Star in a bottle, MIT

September 8, 2021

VIDEO: A Star in a Bottle: The Quest for Commercial Fusion

On Sept. 5, 2021, for the first time, a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet was ramped up to a field strength of 20 tesla, the most powerful magnetic field of its kind ever created on Earth. That successful demonstration by the PSFC and CFS helps resolve the greatest uncertainty in the quest to build the world’s first fusion power plant that can produce more power than it consumes.

HTS Magnet, MIT

September 8, 2021

VIDEO: Unlocking SPARC: HTS Magnet for Commercial Fusion Applications

An animation of how the high temperature superconducting (HTS) fusion magnet built by MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS)was tested. Reaching a field of 20 tesla, it is the most powerful superconducting magnet in the world and a key technology in SPARC, a compact, high-field tokamak that will produce net energy from fusion.

Vinny Fry, MIT

June 24, 2021

Wired for Success

MIT engineer, Vinny Fry is preparing to help test SPARC’s Toroidal Field Magnet Coil (TFMC), a scaled prototype for the HTS magnets that will surround the tokamak’s toroidal vacuum chamber to confine the plasma.

PSFC

Diagram of ARCH concept

April 12, 2021

On course to create a fusion power plant

Since taking on course 22.63 (Principles of Fusion Engineering) over a decade ago Prof. Dennis Whyte has moved away from standard lectures, prodding the class to work collectively on  “real world” issues. The course has been instrumental in guiding the real future of fusion at the PSFC.

PSFC News

David Fischer, MIT

October 20, 2020

Pushing the envelope with fusion magnets

Postdoctoral associate David Fischer's research focuses on observing ways irradiation damages the thin high-temperature superconductor tapes in the design of ARC, a fusion pilot plant concept.

PSFC

SPARC, MIT

September 29, 2020

Validating the physics behind SPARC

This series of papers provides a high level of confidence in the plasma physics and the performance predictions for SPARC. No unexpected impediments or surprises have shown up, and the remaining challenges appear to be manageable. This sets a solid basis for the device’s operation once constructed, according to Martin Greenwald, Deputy Director of MIT PSFC.

MIT News

June 29, 2020

At home with fusion research

In March, when concerns about the coronavirus forced her to leave MIT, undergraduate Sreya Vangara found herself 450 miles from campus, and needing to reorient her approach to her fusion project for both the spring and summer sessions.

PSFC

May 4, 2020

Rockin’ the Zoom room

Recently the PSFC's Matt Fulton found himself playing guitar and singing for a new audience, his work colleagues, welcoming them to an end-of-the-week Zoom concert of “pub tunes."

PSFC

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