Polaris and Orion
Polaris and Orion is a FRC fusion device run by Helion Energy in United States. It is operating. Like every fusion device built so far, it has produced no net electricity.
Polaris reached a plasma temperature of 150 million °C and demonstrated measurable deuterium-tritium fusion in February 2026, which Helion described as a first for a privately developed machine. The result was not net energy gain and not net electricity.
Helion uses a pulsed field-reversed configuration and aims to recover electricity directly from the expanding plasma's magnetic field, skipping the steam cycle entirely. Construction of its Orion plant began in July 2025, intended to supply 50 MWe from 2028 under an agreement with Microsoft, one of the most aggressive timelines in the field by a wide margin.
| Organisation | Helion Energy |
|---|---|
| Approach | FRC |
| Confinement | magnetic |
| Country | United States |
| Status | Operating |
| First plasma | 2024 |
| Target date | 2028 |
|---|---|
| Power target | 50MW |
| Energy gain target | none stated |
| Net electricity | No. no fusion device has produced any |
Other FRC projects
| Project | Status |
|---|---|
| Copernicus | Planned |
Fusion needs tritium, and the world's civilian stock comes mostly from CANDU fission reactors. See the fusion overview.
Polaris and Orion in context
2 of the 24 fusion projects on record use the FRC approach: 1 operating, 0 under construction, 1 planned.
Its first plasma is dated 2024, 2 years ago: the 14th earliest of 15 projects on record with a first-plasma date.
It lists a target date of 2028, 2 years from now; of the 7 projects that list one, 2 list an earlier year. A target date is the project's own aim, not a forecast.
Its stated fusion power target is 50 MW, 6th of the 6 projects that state one (median 300 MW).
| Measure | Polaris and Orion | Median of all projects | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| First plasma | 2024 | 2015 | 14 of 15 (earliest first) |
| Target date | 2028 | 2028 | 3 of 7 (earliest first) |
| Fusion power target (MW) | 50 | 300 | 6 of 6 |
Worked out from the entries on this site only, so a figure compares Polaris and Orion with what is recorded here, not with everything that exists. An entry with no value for a measure is left out of that measure's ranking and median.
Sources
- World Nuclear Association and Helion Energy announcements · retrieved 2026-09-07
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data