While the OpenStar machine uses the same basic principles of magnetic fields to hold a plasma in place, Mataira says there are some other key differences.

“Our relationship with instability and turbulence is basically the complete opposite of a tokamak,” he says. “In these other types of machines, turbulence or instability kills your machine or kills your performance.

“In the case of a tokamak, you have these things called disruptions, where all the stored energy of that plasma can find its way into the wall of the device and basically blow it up. You also have turbulence, which, as you’re trying to get the core really hot, takes that heat the plasma moves around, and then just puts that heat out into the edge. You can’t hit the temperatures that you need.”