Airbus Ventures proudly announced its investment in Helicity Space, a commercial space company developing in-space propulsion and power technology based on fusion power. Helicity Space announced its $5 million seed round, with funding from several new investors including Airbus Ventures, TRE Advisors, Voyager Space Holdings, E2MC Space, Urania Ventures and Gaingels.
“We are pleased to announce this latest round of funding for Helicity Space,” said Dr. Stephane Lintner, Co-founder of 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 to deep space.”
Co-founded by Setthivoine You (former professor in plasma physics at the University of Tokyo and University of Washington) alongside 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), Helicity Space’s innovation is the culmination of more than 20 years of research by world-class scientists at CalTech, the University of Washington, Swarthmore College and the University of Tokyo put together to develop a novel approach to achieving fusion. The innovation leverages plectonemic plasma jets for confinement, magnetic reconnection for heating, and peristaltic magnetic compression for raising energy density. This successful close of our 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.
"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 realisation of executable plasma fusion applications to meet more of our planet’s energy needs,” remarks Lewis Pinault, Airbus Ventures Partner. “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.”
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, as well as the former Director of the NASA Ames’ Research Center, Dr. Simon “Pete” Worden. In addition, the company has long-standing relationships and continuing collaborations with leading education and research organizations.
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