Look inside this lab where scientists are recreating the energy of the sun to produce nearly unlimited clean energy

Look inside this lab where scientists are recreating the energy of the sun to produce nearly unlimited clean energy

The TAE Technologies fusion machine, Norman, in the company's lab in Foothill Ranch, California. Norman was built from the middle of 2016 to mid-2017 and cost $150 million to build. It is 22 feet high, 80 feet long and weighs 60,000 pounds.

Recreating in a lab the nuclear reaction that powers the sun and other stars “” which is called nuclear fusion “” is a feat as complex as it sounds.Fusion has the potential to create massive amounts of carbon-free or clean energy. So though no scientists have quite accomplished creating usable energy from fusion just yet, a handful of companies are working at it.The machines being built by scientists to accomplish this are called reactors, and they are massively heavy, cost tens of millions of dollars and represent the culmination of decades of scientific research.TAE Technologies, headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California, is a fusion company using a unique reactor design, and it recently reached a key milestone in the quest for usable energy from fusion. TAE Technologies shared this virtual tour of its lab to explain the potential of fusion technology.

How to get to 50 million degrees Celsius

To re-create fusion on Earth, first, a lighter atom such as hydrogen has