CHASING THE SUN ON EARTH

After decades of false starts, the dream of limitless, clean energy may finally be edging toward reality - the Dawn of Green Fusion

- HRITHIK KIRAN BAGADE

FOR as long as humanity has understood the Sun, we've dreamt F of recreating its fire on Earth. The idea of nuclear fusion where atoms merge rather than split, releasing energy without the deadly waste or meltdown risks of fissionhas shimmered for decades like a mirage on the scientific horizon. Yet, something extraordinary is happening in 2025: that mirage is beginning to take form. Fusion is no longer a fantasy whispered in laboratories; it's becoming a tangible, measurable, and increasingly scalable force. Across the world, laboratories, startups, and government consortia are racing to harness fusion energy -a process that promises nearinfinite, carbon-free power. In an age straining under climate anxiety and energy insecurity, this pursuit feels almost mythic. The stakes are existential: whoever captures the Sun's secret first could rewrite the future of civilisation.

From hydrogen to hope Fusion's elegance lies in its simplicity. Two light atomic nuclei -usually isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium - collide and fuse under extreme heat and pressure to form helium, releasing colossal amounts of energy. The reaction fuels every star in the cosmos. But to recreate it on Earth, we must reach temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius hotter than the Sun's core-and confine the resulting plasma long enough to extract more energy than we expend.

For decades, that "net energy gain" seemed impossible.

Engineers joked that fusion was always 30 years away, no matter the year. But breakthroughs in magnetic confinement, plasma physics, and superconducting materials have bent that timeline sharply forward. The most visible symbol of this progress is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Southern France - a multinational mega-project involving 35 countries, including India.