Slashing CO2Taming the stellarator with software.
Big Picture
Research into magnetic fusion has long centered around donut-shaped tokamaks, which confine plasma with ultra-powerful magnetic rings. Stellarators – their coiled counterparts – promised greater stability and efficiency in theory, but have historically been too geometrically twisted to build and control. Times have changed. Breakthroughs in materials science and advanced manufacturing open the door to stellarators in real life.
How it Works
Thea is building a stellarator with fewer twists and turns. Their simpler design replaces prohibitively complex 3-D magnetic coils that put commercial stellarators out of reach with arrays of flat, or 2-D, planar coils. These high-temperature superconducting magnets can be programmed to recreate the magnetic fields that once required actual curvatures in the structure itself. In other words, Thea solves a materials science challenge with software.
Unfair Advantage
Thea’s reactor architecture is enabled by computational design breakthroughs by CTO David Gates at the storied Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. It enables them to build a reactor faster and more economically, putting them on a path to Q>1 in under 5 years. The promise of building near-term commercial fusion alongside a CTO who is a legend in the field has attracted the world’s premier magnet and stellarator talent.
10
Gigatons of CO₂e
potentially avoided by 2050
BRIAN BERZIN CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Brian was previously VP of Strategy at General Fusion, where he led corporate and commercialization strategy, capital markets, and scale-up.
DAVID GATES CTO & CO-FOUNDER
David is an internationally recognized fusion scientist, a Senior Research Scholar at Princeton, and Head of Advanced Projects at PPPL.
Twisty device explores alternative path to fusion
Science
A breakthrough once described as impossible brings a fusion energy device closer to realisation
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory