plasma

Astronomers can confidently identify a star only because they understand stars as giant plasma spheres held together by gravity, generating energy through nuclear fusion.

When it gets too exciting, stars can blast off violent storms, where they push hot, soup-like plasma into space.

Knowing how long Earth's plasma layer takes to recover from such disturbances is essential for predicting future space weather and for protecting the technology that relies on stable conditions in near-Earth space.

FuZE-3 is also the first system from Zap to use a third electrode, which allows the mechanisms responsible for accelerating and compressing the plasma to be controlled independently.

Hot, fast plasma is shown in blue, and cooler, slower gas is shown in red.Credit: