Overview of SPARC on the high-field path to fusion energy*

The SPARC mission is to create and confine a plasma that produces net fusion energy for the first time. High-temperature, high-field superconductors are the fundamental technology that enables SPARC to be built at a relatively small scale compared to other proposed net-energy tokamaks; the smaller scale enables it to be completed on a faster timeline. The two major milestones of the 3-year Phase 1 of the project scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2021 were (1) design, construction, and operation of a SPARC-relevant toroidal field model coil (TFMC) and (2) a ready-to-construct engineering design of the SPARC tokamak and facility. The third year of R&D was very successful with the TFMC, at the time of abstract submission, being assembled and the test facility commissioned. In parallel, the physics and engineering design of the SPARC tokamak and facility has matured to the 30% complete "ready-to-construct" design, culminating in a  week-long project review. No showstoppers were found and the go-ahead was given to start construction on the site in Devens, Massachusetts. The project remains on schedule for first plasma in 2025.