The Wendelstein 7-X stellarator is an experimental nuclear fusion reactor designed to bring us closer to the prospect of clean, limitless energy, and since producing its first plasma in 2015 we've seen it take steady and significant steps toward that aim. Physicists have just confirmed another "major advance" that could see the reactor host plasma twice as hot as the Sun's core as a result of efforts to address inherent energy losses in the design.

Stellarators stand apart from the more common, symmetrical doughnut-shaped tokamak fusion reactors as hugely complex structures full of twists and turns. As it is with all nuclear fusion reactors, the goal is to recreate the processes at play within the Sun, by subjecting streams of plasma to extreme temperature and pressure, forcing atoms to collide and fuse together to produce monumental amounts of energy.

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