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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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August 2026
Latest News
Copper melting behavior at extreme temperatures could inform fusion materials
Using SLAC’s electron camera, researchers recorded timestamps of solid copper atoms (orange) as they melted (yellow) after being blasted with laser heat. This graphic shows how copper atoms changed over a period of several femtoseconds (millionths of a billionth of a second), notated here as fractions of a picosecond. Instead of the predicted collapse, the researchers saw a gradual melting. (Image: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has announced researchers have conducted experiments testing how copper melts under extreme conditions, such as those it might be exposed to in a fusion machine. The results, published in Nature Communications, found that a copper thin film was more resilient to melting than models had predicted, uncovering molecular dynamics that had been missing from calculations.
“These results greatly improve the simulations we use to predict which materials have the best shot at surviving the extreme conditions of future fusion reaction chambers,” said Mianzhen Mo, the SLAC staff scientist who led the research.
Thursday, May 8, 2025|9:15AM–1:15PM CDT
Meet in the Huntsville Marriott lobby by 9:15 am - the busses will be departing promptly by 9:30 am
Cost: $50
Capacity: 50 people
Lunch will not be provided
NASA Bus Tour Rules
The Payload Operations Integration Center is the 24/7 command post for research and technology activities on the International Space Station. The POIC manages all U.S. science, coordinates with international partners, and trains astronauts and ground team flight controllers.
The lab is the hub for advanced propulsion research and technology development. Highlights from its exhibit gallery include Marshall Space Flight Center's work on landers and the Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine. The Space Nuclear Propulsion Office will also have items displayed. Outside of the lab building is Propulsion Park, which includes a nuclear NERVA XE’’ engine, space shuttle solid rocket booster, aerospike engine, and F-1 engine.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is responsible for the design, construction, and testing of regenerative life support hardware for the International Space Station, known as the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). Attendees will get to view modules that simulate the space station environment and examples of hardware that support the ECLSS.
The original test stand for the Redstone and Jupiter-C rockets. The site includes a blockhouse made of three rail tankers welded together and buried underground - this is where Wernher von Braun and his team observed and controlled engine test firings.
