# Lockheed Fusion Reactor news making the rounds again

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lockheed-fusion-reactor-news-making-the-rounds-again/811642>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 2, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lockheed-fusion-reactor-news-making-the-rounds-again/811642 "2018-04-02T15:02:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lockheed-fusion-reactor-news-making-the-rounds-again/811642/1 "2018-04-02T15:02:42Z")

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We had a thread in [2013](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=684225) and [two](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737438) [threads](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737411) in 2014.

[Story](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19652/lockheed-martin-now-has-a-patent-for-its-potentially-world-changing-fusion-reactor) is making the rounds again because of a patent filing, but a patent is just a patent. Haven’t seen any reports of groundbreaking success yet.

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lockheed-fusion-reactor-news-making-the-rounds-again/811642/2 "2018-04-02T15:59:40Z")

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It was, oh, over thirty years ago that I first heard “Fusion energy has been ten years away for the last twenty years”.

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**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lockheed-fusion-reactor-news-making-the-rounds-again/811642/3 "2018-04-02T16:10:45Z")

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> [@Tzigone](#):
>
> [Story](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19652/lockheed-martin-now-has-a-patent-for-its-potentially-world-changing-fusion-reactor) is making the rounds again because of a patent filing, but a patent is just a patent. Haven’t seen any reports of groundbreaking success yet.

Still a lot of talk about how great their hypothetical fusion reactor will be but scarce details on how it actually overcomes the problems that dozens of other programs have experienced over the last seven decades of a large array of initially promising approaches (tokamak, stellarator, laser confinement, ELMO bumpy torus, electrostatic confinement, et cetera). Let me know when they can produce enough net power to light up a room much less power an aircraft carrier.

Stranger