Despite huge progress, fusion energy has always seemed to be that 20-years-away technology.
But the tides are changing.
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The reaction produced pressure upwards of 1.85 terapascals almost four times that found at Earths core.
It produced 69 megajoules of fusion energy for five seconds.
The biggest challenge is maintaining power generation overtime.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Countless such records have been reported in recent years.
A big chunk of these come from Europe.
More and more of them are made by privately-owned companies.
Increasingly, governments are realising that private companies offer the fastest path to commercial fusion energy.
Startups are taking decades of fusion research and bringing it to life, said Roos.
Its simply a matter of time now [to fusion commercialisation].
That means you could be charging your phone with fusion energy in as little as six years.
The key driver is decarbonisation.
Fusion wont replace all other energy sources, it will complement them, said Roos.
In the race to scale clean sources of energy, its no wonder governments are betting big on fusion.
In the US, congress recently granted a record-breaking$763mn forfusion energy research.
Caught between these two giants sits Europe.
The programme has a budget of1bn between 2021-2025.
EUROFusions proverbial baby is ITER, a22bn fusion reactor currently under construction in France.
While the project has faced several delays, ITER is set to deliver its first plasma next year.
ITER will provide a wealth of knowledge for startups pursuing commercially viable fusion reactions, said Roos.
But perhaps Europes biggest asset is the UK.
Britain has aggressively pursued fusion research for decades.
TheCulham Centre for Fusion Energynear Oxford is widely regarded as the epicentre of fusion energy research globally.
Europes bedrock of research and reactors gives companies operating there a significant head start.
Now all it has to do is keep them there.
Can Europe hold on to its talent?
While Europe may have the upper hand in research, cash flows more freely in the US.
Thats far more than any other European company.
And thats a positive step forward for all of us whichever way you slice it.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
