The US Department of Energy funded the Translation Confinement Sustainment (TCS) program as a follow-on to the LSX program, but it had not yet begun when the STX started operation. The purpose of TCS was to see whether Rotating Magnetic Fields could sustain FRCs born of the theta-pinch method, but the question remained as to whether RMF alone could form FRCs. If so, this was expected to be a lighter, more efficient means of FRC formation. This was the question that the STX was meant to answer.
