Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
For Fusion Energy Week 2024, we asked ORNL fusion scientists and engineers to react to depictions of fusion energy in pop culture and separate fusion fact from fiction.
In Part Two of the "Fusion Reactions" series, they look at fusion-powered spaceflight in "The Expanse," an epic sci-fi series set hundreds of years in the future, when humans have colonized the solar system thanks to the development of powerful spaceship drives driven by inertial confinement fusion. In the clip, the protagonists aboard The Rocinante encounter an issue with the fuel pellets in their reactor, leaving them stranded on the edges of known space. Our reacting fusioneers look at how realistic the reactor design is, its parallels with real devices here on Earth, and whether the show's chosen fuels of choice – deuterium and helium-3 – would actually work.
#fusion #fusionenergy #reaction #fusionenergyweek
Image & Video Attributions:
– "The Expanse" property of Amazon Studios
– Fuel pellet image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
– National Ignition Facility - Lawrence Livermore National Security (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Ignition_Facility's_target_chamber.jpg), „National Ignition Facility's target chamber“, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode
– Space background image - ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/ R. Gendler, U.G. Jørgensen, J. Skottfelt, K. Harpsøe, Pismis 24, CC BY 4.0
This video is intended for educational purposes only. Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976: Allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.
For Fusion Energy Week 2024, we asked ORNL fusion scientists and engineers to react to depictions of fusion energy in pop culture and separate fusion fact from fiction.
In Part Two of the "Fusion Reactions" series, they look at fusion-powered spaceflight in "The Expanse," an epic sci-fi series set hundreds of years in the future, when humans have colonized the solar system thanks to the development of powerful spaceship drives driven by inertial confinement fusion. In the clip, the protagonists aboard The Rocinante encounter an issue with the fuel pellets in their reactor, leaving them stranded on the edges of known space. Our reacting fusioneers look at how realistic the reactor design is, its parallels with real devices here on Earth, and whether the show's chosen fuels of choice – deuterium and helium-3 – would actually work.
#fusion #fusionenergy #reaction #fusionenergyweek
Image & Video Attributions:
– "The Expanse" property of Amazon Studios
– Fuel pellet image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
– National Ignition Facility - Lawrence Livermore National Security (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Ignition_Facility's_target_chamber.jpg), „National Ignition Facility's target chamber“, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode
– Space background image - ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/ R. Gendler, U.G. Jørgensen, J. Skottfelt, K. Harpsøe, Pismis 24, CC BY 4.0
This video is intended for educational purposes only. Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976: Allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.
