South Korean scientists have created a record-beating ‘artificial sun’ which can now burn for 100million degrees, and they aim to have it burn for minutes at a time by 2026

An “artificial sun” which may be used to power nations in the near future has burned at 100million degrees for a record-breaking near-minute.

Boffins in South Korea are hard at work honing their man-made ball of light as they set a new fusion record. The superheating of a plasma loop broke records as the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research smashing a previous 31 second record.

The KSTAR has since broken its own record set in 2021, with the 100million degrees of heat lasting 48 seconds as scientists aim to harness the power of nuclear fusion.

KSTAR Research Centre director Si-Woo Yoon said: “Despite being the first experiment run in the environment of the new tungsten diverters, thorough hardware testing and campaign preparation enabled us to achieve results surpassing those of previous KSTAR records in a short period.”

The burning sun has marked a major shift in research as the 70-year research into harnessing new powers and forms of energy continues, Space reported. For the team overseeing KSTAR, their 17 second increase is a monumental next step.

Superheated coils of plasma are held in place long enough to trigger a reaction for nuclear fusion though keeping them in place is a difficult ordeal. Soviet scientist Natan Yavlinsky first succeeded in 1958 and research has continued from there.

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