Helicity Space – a commercial space company developing in-space propulsion and power technology based on fusion power – announced $5 million in seed round funding from several new investors, including Airbus Ventures, TRE Ventures, Voyager Space Holdings, E2MC Space, Urania Ventures, and Gaingels. Co-founded by Setthivoine You (former professor in plasma physics at the University of Tokyo and University of Washington) along with Marta Calvo (formerly at Aerojet Rocketdyne with a background in chemical engineering) and Stephane Lintner (formerly at Goldman Sachs with a background in applied mathematics), the team at Helicity Space is focused on changing the game with fusion propulsion and its applications to advance exploration efforts, ultimately benefitting life on Earth.
Helicity Space’s innovation is the culmination of over 20 years of research by world-class scientists to develop a novel approach to achieving fusion. And the innovation utilizes plectonemic plasma jets for confinement, magnetic reconnection for heating, and peristaltic magnetic compression for raising energy density.
The successful closing of this seed round further enables Helicity Space to advance its proprietary technology, the Helicity Drive, which consists of scalable fusion propulsion engines that should enable safer, faster, reusable, and more fuel-efficient travel into deep space.
Helicity Space is also supported by a significant team of leading strategic advisors – who are experts in their fields, including former NASA Astronaut and NASA Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight William Readdy, former chief executive of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and leader of the NASA New Horizon’s mission, Dr. Alan Stern, and the former Director of the NASA Ames’ Research Center, Dr. Simon “Pete” Worden.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are pleased to announce this latest round of funding for Helicity Space. Nuclear fusion propulsion technology is the critical missing ingredient to fast, sustainable, and safe space exploration of our solar system. We thank our investors for not only understanding the impact this new technology will have, but also for believing in the entrepreneurial spirit that’s required to expand the robust space economy from Earth’s orbit and cislunar’s operating grounds all the way to deep space.”
– Dr. Stephane Lintner, Co-founder of Helicity Space
“We’re proud and excited to be on this journey with Helicity Space to bring the world’s leading advances in plasma physics to space propulsion systems, and thereby set to bring the whole of our Solar System into Earth’s reach. And on Earth, we see the benefit of bringing space-based and tested plasma fusion power to the speedier realization of executable plasma fusion applications to meet more of our planet’s energy needs. Helicity’s highly talented global team is unlocking the value of a new breed of physics with a wealth of applications we stand ready to support.”
– Lewis Pinault, Airbus Ventures Partner
