Commissioning Plan
Commissioning proceeds in gated stages from cold checkout to first plasma, proving each subsystem before the next depends on it.
Commissioning turns an installed machine into an operable one through a sequence of gated milestones. Each stage proves a subsystem in isolation, then in integration, before the next stage relies on it. No stage is skipped, and each has entry and exit criteria.
Gate structure
- G1 Cold checkout — instrumentation, interlocks, and services verified de-energized
- G2 Vacuum — leak-tight boundary, bakeout, UHV base pressure
- G3 Cryogenics — controlled cool-down of the coils to operating temperature
- G4 Magnet energization — staged current ramp with quench protection live
- G5 First plasma — initiation, then progression toward the design operating point
Integrated system tests
Between gates, integrated tests exercise the interlock chains, the protection systems, and the control architecture end to end. Fault injection confirms that trips, fast discharges, and safe states behave as designed under realistic conditions rather than only on paper.
Design-stage status
Aegis is at the design and simulation stage; the burner is being perfected while the breeder (Hyperion) is built. The first test burner is targeted around 2032. This commissioning plan is the sequence the design is engineered to satisfy, and no hardware net-gain is claimed before it is executed.