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When you look at the night sky, what you see are actually lots of “power plants”. Every star makes a huge amount of energy through nuclear fusion (核聚变). For years, scientists have tried to make this kind of energy. They need to make a “mini star” on Earth. Recently, some scientists made a big step forward.

In February, the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, UK, doubled a world record set in 1997. The machine there, named Jet, used fusion engines (发动机) to make the same amount of energy as four wind turbines (涡轮机) make, reported The Guardian.

In the past, no experiment could make more energy than what was used to start the fusion engine. This new experiment, although only lasting five seconds, showed it’s possible to make more power.

The reaction (反应) stopped when the equipment (设备) got too hot. This problem can be solved with cooling systems. Future fusion reactions may last much longer than five seconds-minutes or even hours.

Why do we care so much about star power? Fusion reactions would provide power to everyone on Earth-enough for everyone to use for thousands or millions (百万) of years. They’re also clean— they don’t produce carbon dioxide or radioactive (放射性的) waste.

You may wonder why fusion energy is so hard to make. Creating conditions similar to a star is not easy. The machine must reach temperatures as high as 10 times that of the sun’s core (核).

Even so, it’s time to get excited about star power. If it can be successfully rolled out (开展), it will be a landmark (里程碑) in human history.