#Throwback to the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST), the predecessor to MAST Upgrade (MAST-U), celebrating its first plasma in December 1999. Check out this old MAST pulse! To find out more about MAST-U, the UK's national fusion experiment, visit https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/programmes/mast-upgrade/ #ThrowbackThursday | UK Atomic Energy Authority

Machine creates plasma hotter than the Sun and solves one of fusion energy’s biggest problems. At the UK’s Culham Campus, scientists are running experiments inside a machine that heats plasma to over 54 million degrees Fahrenheit (30 million Celsius) — nearly twice as hot as the Sun’s core. It’s called MAST Upgrade — the world’s largest operational spherical tokamak. And right now, it's taking on one of fusion’s toughest challenges: how to handle the extreme heat pouring out of a fusion reactor.

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