Projectiles from a 72-foot fusion gun are fired at 4.3 miles per second in an effort to produce limitless energy

The Big Friendly Gun, or BFG for short, is a 22-meter (72-foot) steel prototype gun that shoots a bullet at astronomical speeds into a fuel pellet to produce nuclear fusion reactions. The original word for the BFG, however, was probably not “friendly.” The gun was developed by UK startup First Light Fusion to create fusion without the need of magnets or lasers, which consume a tremendous amount of energy and render fusion astonishingly inefficient in current incarnations.

The startup is developing a whole novel approach to nuclear fusion with their projectile-based system, which it claims is more effective and less complicated than laser-based techniques, as first reported by Newsweek.

Currently, the first reaction in fusion reactors is sparked by a big laser. The targets are filled with thermonuclear fuel, and the high-energy beams heat the outer layer of those targets, causing them to explode and compress the fuel inside. The reaction’s shockwaves and this compression work together to exert enough pressure on the fuel to trigger nuclear fusion, which starts the process of releasing enormous amounts of heat.

Although First Light’s strategy is much easier, it doesn’t take away from the great engineering. When a huge steel gun loaded with gunpowder is fired, the piston accelerates down the barrel while compressing the hydrogen gas in front of it. When the gas enters a cone-shaped section, it is compressed into a very small space and comes into contact with the projectile, which then shoots out of the gun at a speed of 7 km/s (4.3 mph) into the fusion target. The pressure is sufficient to start nuclear fusion at this point of collision.

 

In order to fund the BFG and its fictitious fusion machines, the corporation has raised a considerable sum of money. It is the UK’s projectile launcher with the maximum energy.

Although projectile fusion is not a brand-new concept, its design could completely alter the fusion industry.

Inertial fusion has produced a net energy gain, although an underground weapons test served as the catalyst rather than a laser, according to CEO Nick Hawker.

You now have concrete proof that inertial fusion can result in significant energy gains.

I feel a little unreasonable to condemn magnetic fusion for this since we are aware of the challenges and have devised a plan to overcome them thanks to the research done in this field.

The company has already put their huge gun through testing, and more studies will be carried out to see how well the plan works. The next edition, which will eliminate the crude gunpowder solution and first accelerate the piston using electric currents, is now being developed by the team.

Hawker estimates that, if all goes as planned, the reactor will start generating useable energy in the following decade and delivering it to the grid in the following decade. They believe we are about to experience almost limitless energy, to put it another way.