Massive US device to unlock fusion secrets by recreating solar storm

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has launched a groundbreaking facility called the Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments (FLARE) to study magnetic reconnection, a powerful process where magnetic field lines snap and reconnect, releasing vast energy. This phenomenon, which drives solar flares and disrupts technologies like GPS and power grids on Earth, also affects fusion reactors by interfering with plasma stability. FLARE, an SUV-sized device capable of discharging over 6 million joules—enough energy to power a thousand homes for five seconds—enables scientists to recreate and analyze these cosmic-scale events in a controlled laboratory setting, something previously impossible with spacecraft or computer simulations. FLARE’s unique design allows it to simulate multiple reconnection sites simultaneously, addressing a major gap in current research that has only observed single “X-points” where magnetic lines reconnect. This capability could provide the first experimental evidence of multi-point reconnection, offering new insights into how reconnection heats plasma and impacts large astrophysical systems