“It is a natural fit that OpenStar has been built by a team that will leverage that expertise in HTS. I’m thrilled that they are building high-performance levitated superconducting dipoles from HTS, since this adds an exciting option to the diverse approaches to fusion. First plasma is a critical milestone and I’m looking forward to their progress.”
“OpenStar developing here is really the first dedicated fusion effort that we’ve seen, although it’s born out of work that was happening in research labs that was fusion adjacent on magnet technology and other fusion companies and projects,” explains Mataira.
Mataira says that there are risks associated with dipole technology because it is a much younger field with fewer machines built worldwide.