Flying taxis and satellite phones

At 1:03am on Monday 5 December, the most powerful laser on the planet flashed into life at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, in an experiment that sent shockwaves through the world of physics and beyond.

The laser targeted a fuel capsule, the size of a peppercorn, creating temperatures and pressures which sparked a fusion reaction - the reaction which powers the sun, reports BBC.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) had done such experiments before, but this time the energy that came out of the reaction, was more than the laser power used to trigger it.

It was a landmark moment for fusion researchers and, while fusion reactors are still a long way from making electricity that we can use, it shows that the physics works.

"We have taken the first tentative steps towards a clean energy source that could revolutionise the world," said LLNL Director Kim Budil.

The promise of a working fusion reactor is dazzling. It would need relatively small amounts of fuel, would not produce any greenhouse gases and would leave very little of the radioactive waste that makes current nuclear reactors so unpopular.

Fusion Profusion

The success at NIF will spur on the dozens of private companies which one day hope to build a commercial fusion reactor.

One private project in the UK is hoping for a big year in 2023. First Light Fusion, based just outside Oxford, has a novel way of creating fusion conditions.

It fires a small aluminium disc, at speeds of up to 20km per second, at a specially designed target containing the fuel needed for fusion.

On impact that target collapses creating huge pressure waves that can spark a fusion reaction.

Earlier this year, in a huge moment for the company, First Light confirmed that it had achieved fusion using this method.