Fusion has promised nearly limitless energy for decades, yet it has always seemed just out of reach. Marta Calvo knows the challenges firsthand and is working with the Helicity team to bring fusion to space.

The company she co-founded, Helicity Space, is building fusion-powered propulsion using a new type of plasma jet that was discovered in 2017.

So far, Helicity has moved from theory and simulations to a four-jet system that reached over three million degrees. Now, the team is aiming for ten million degrees and, eventually, a reaction that produces more energy than it uses – the Net Gain moment that defines every fusion concept.

If it works, this technology could make deep-space trips faster and more practical, let us carry heavier cargo, and help us reach parts of the solar system we can't access today.

Keep reading to see how Helicity Space is turning a scientific breakthrough into real hardware, why space might be the first big use for fusion, and what Marta’s aerospace and military background has taught her about building for a future that doesn’t exist yet.

About Helicity Space

Helicity Space’s proprietary fusion space propulsion and power technology will catalyze humanity’s spacefaring ambitions. This will help expand both human and robotic space exploration further than before, enhance national security missions, and amplify global commerce. Their fusion engine holds the promise of fast, agile, and efficient deep space transports. If successful, it will open the door to off-world industries, interplanetary resource mining, clean energy, planetary preservation, and planetary protection, ultimately helping ensure the survival of human civilization.

The breakthrough that started it all

Helicity Space started with a scientific discovery.

In 2017, Co-founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Setthivoine You and his team at the University of Washington discovered a new class of long, stable plasma jets. The breakthrough opened the possibility of merging multiple jets and using the resulting energy release for propulsion.

Around the same time, advances in pulsed power, high-power electronics, computing, and small spacecraft made it more practical to turn the physics into something that could be built and tested.

The founders didn’t start building right away. First, they brought together a team of scientific advisers to review the theory and got funding for simulations from the Department of Energy. Because many people had worked on fusion for decades without it becoming widely used, the team wanted to understand and mitigate the risks before investing in and building the hardware.

The simulations supported the theory, but at that point they could only take the company so far. Eventually, the scientific advisers reached a simple conclusion: the idea looked plausible, but there was only one way to know whether it would actually work. They had to build a sub-scale system.

“It was the convergence of a fundamental scientific breakthrough and the technology needed to turn it into hardware that got us here.”

From four plasma jets towards fusion conditions

Since 2018, Helicity has built its technology step by step. Dr. You’s university research showed that a single plasma jet could be stable. Their project, ECLAIR I, had to prove that several jets could be merged successfully in Helicity’s system.

The team began with two jets, progressed to three, and eventually merged four. The original target was one million degrees. Instead, Marta says ECLAIR I recently surpassed three million, which gave them the confidence to move forward with ECLAIR II.

The new system will go from four to nine jets, aiming for ten million degrees, at which point the goal is to achieve teamfusion conditions. If they reach that goal, ECLAIR III will aim for 100 million degrees and Q>1.

Q measures the relationship between the energy generated by a fusion reaction and the energy required to initiate it. A result above one would represent net energy gain, the “holy grail”, as Marta describes it.

This milestone is what turns a promising fusion experiment into something that could truly change the world. But, even with the progress they’ve made so far, Marta is careful not to overstate what they could achieve.

“We have a clear path, but we’re not declaring victory yet. Until we demonstrate net energy gain, there’s still significant technical risk.”

Changing the economics of deep-space travel

Today’s spacecraft are limited by the efficiency of the reaction inside their propulsion systems. Chemical rockets need a large amount of fuel and burn it quickly, which severely limits the range and maneuverability of missions beyond orbit.

They are extremely powerful, but for a short period of time; enough to get a payload into space from Earth’s surface. This creates a fundamental challenge: the more fuel a spacecraft carries, the heavier it becomes, requiring even more fuel to propel that additional weight. This creates an exponential increase in fuel requirements, making longer journeys through space both difficult and inefficient.

The Helicity Drive works for a spacecraft already in space, using nuclear fusion to push plasma out the back of the rocket. That reaction is 1 million degrees hotter than the chemical reaction used by a rocket. This allows for a very different kind of fuel consumption. A Helicity drive can continuously accelerate towards Mars (or the Asteroid Belt), or go back-and-forth to the Moon with very little fuel. That makes it lighter, highly maneuverable, and capable of covering long distances, thanks to constant acceleration…very fast, too.

With bigger engines in the future, the goal is to generate more energy than needed, save some, and use it to travel farther into the solar system. This could make a big difference for how far and how flexibly we can travel.

Long deep-space journeys expose humans and hardware to radiation for extended periods of time. Existing propulsion also limits a spacecraft’s ability to change course or return quickly when something goes wrong.

A faster, more maneuverable system could make missions more flexible and make journey times shorter. It could also enable spacecraft to carry heavy cargo more efficiently, supporting infrastructure around the Moon and elsewhere in space.

Marta also sees potential national security applications in repositioning assets or replacing critical satellites more quickly. But the biggest opportunity is to make more types of missions possible.

“We hope to get to fusion reactions that free up more energy than we put in, so we can recycle some of the surplus energy, store it, and continue to fly further into the solar system.”

From the moon to the Asteroid Belt

How far could this technology eventually take us? Marta is quick to say that no one really knows.

She compares trying to predict a fusion-powered space economy today with asking Christopher Columbus to describe what the New World would eventually become. A major transportation shift like the one Helicity is building can create industries, infrastructure, and possibilities that are hard to imagine beforehand.

Right now, the Helicity team is especially interested in one destination: the Asteroid Belt. Essentially, as Marta puts it, it holds the resources of a planet that never formed. Yet with our current propulsion technology, accessing those resources is extremely difficult. Distances are vast, and missions can be slow, expensive, and operationally challenging.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, for example, is flying a mission to the asteroid Psyche 16, scheduled to get there in 2029. Psyche, for the record, is estimated to be worth 106 trillion (in today’s market).

Helicity thinks fusion could change this. If people, robots, and cargo could travel between the Moon and the Asteroid Belt quicker and more efficiently, Marta believes it could help create the foundations for a genuine off-world economy. Current estimates suggest an XL Helicity drive could reach the Asteroid Belt in less than 5 months with a 450t payload.

Materials could be extracted and processed in space, while infrastructure could be manufactured closer to where it is needed. Their long-term vision goes even further. If humanity could source more of what it needs beyond Earth, Marta imagines a future in which less industrial activity needs to take place here on our home planet.

“Nobody really knows where this is heading, and that’s part of what makes it exciting.”

Why space comes before fusion power on Earth

The same physics behind Helicity’s propulsion system could eventually have applications much closer to home.

If the company can achieve Q>1 and ultimately move towards much higher Q values, Marta believes the technology could potentially form the basis of a fusion reactor capable of generating net electric power.

However, the engineering needs for a fusion plant are very different to those of a jet. A fusion plant would need to sustain a high-Q reaction continuously and integrate it into major energy infrastructure, all while competing economically with numerous existing sources of electricity.

Meanwhile, space offers conditions that best fit Helicity’s approach. In space, the vacuum is already there, and its pulsed system doesn’t need to maintain a continuous reaction like a power station. For propulsion, the reaction only needs to provide the energy to accelerate the spacecraft.

Rather than trying to solve fusion propulsion and terrestrial power simultaneously, Helicity can focus first on using the technology where its characteristics offer a natural advantage. As the underlying physics and engineering continue to develop, the lessons learned in space could eventually feed back into energy generation on Earth.

“We see space as a way to mature the technology first. Over time, that could potentially lead to terrestrial fusion power as well.”

Bringing aerospace rigor into a startup

Marta brings decades of experience on major aerospace and defense programs to Helicity, including the Space Shuttle, THAAD, and BepiColombo, all programs which taught her how precise you have to be when building hardware that will fly.

A small error that might be fixable in another industry can become mission-critical in aerospace. Components, manufacturing processes, and interfaces have to perform as intended, often in environments where repairs are impossible. Marta has brought that attention to detail to Helicity.

But working in big organizations also showed her what she wanted to change. In her experience, large programs often create specialized roles, lots of procedures, and many layers of decision-making. They also have far more resources than a young company. Helicity can’t, and doesn’t want to, work like that.

Instead, Marta wants to mix the discipline of aerospace with the speed of a startup. This means keeping the high standards needed for flight hardware, staying lean, making decisions quickly, and giving the people closest to the problem the authority.

For a company facing new physics and engineering challenges, being able to move fast without losing sight of quality is crucial.

“We’ve tried to take the best of both worlds, maintain the rigor required for flight hardware while staying lean, moving quickly, and keeping decision-making close to the people doing the work.”

Even the best technology depends on execution

One lesson from Marta’s early career has always stuck with her: to know the people who are actually doing the work.

This includes the scientists and engineers developing the technology, as well as the manufacturing teams, welders, and technicians turning designs into physical systems.

Building complex aerospace systems on time and on budget requires the entire organization to work together. Manufacturing, procurement, testing, quality control, and many practical decisions ultimately determine whether an idea becomes a functioning product. This is the culture Marta and her co-founders are building at Helicity.

She thinks leaders should stay close enough to the details to really understand what’s happening, without adding extra layers between themselves and the people solving problems. It also means truly respecting the hands-on expertise needed to build something new. For her, the challenge isn’t just hiring smart people. It’s getting everyone focused on execution.

“The science and core engineering are critical, but great technology only works if you can execute.”

Resilience, grit, and taking care of your people

Marta’s leadership approach was shaped long before she joined Helicity. She says she learned the most about leadership during her time in the military.

This experience taught her how much people depend on one another when circumstances become difficult. She sees the same in entrepreneurship and says that being a founder takes “absolute resilience and grit.” Tough times rarely have a clear end, and founders can’t just quit when things get hard.

But resilience doesn’t mean doing everything by yourself. In the military, trusting the people around you can be a matter of survival. In a startup, the stakes are different, but Marta believes the company’s survival still depends on the strength of the team as a whole.

That’s why she calls people Helicity’s most valuable asset. She sees leadership as a chance to learn with others and support the team during tough times.

“When things get tough, you rely on your team. In a war zone, your life depends on the people around you. In a startup, the survival of the company does too.”

Finding investors who are ready for the journey

Fusion propulsion isn’t a typical venture investment. Helicity is building technology that has never existed before, with major scientific milestones still to come. Development will take a long time and require significant funding.

For Marta, attracting investors starts with being honest about these facts. The company has secured grants, including funding from the US Department of Energy, as well as support from private foundations and investors.

Marta doesn’t want to make the journey sound easier or shorter than it is. Instead, the case for investing is about the size of the opportunity if Helicity succeeds.

A propulsion technology capable of fundamentally changing movement through the solar system could create applications across exploration, logistics, infrastructure, national security, and potentially energy generation. The technical risk is significant, but so is the potential impact.

Helicity’s founders are patient. They need investors comfortable with the same view.

That’s why trust is so important. Every investor has to support the team through milestones with uncertain outcomes, and Marta believes the company must earn that trust by being open and delivering results.

“We’re not promising an easy journey.”

Proving it before talking about it

Helicity uses the same approach in how it communicates with the public. Fusion has endured decades of ambitious predictions, making new claims subject to understandable scrutiny.

Marta knows that scientists will ask for evidence, and believes they should. As a result, Helicity has chosen to stay quiet about some of its progress until it has the data and technical results to back up any breakthroughs. This caution is important because Helicity isn’t just improving an existing propulsion system, it’s trying to prove a completely new technology.

The next phase will move the company closer to that goal. Alongside developing ECLAIR II, Helicity is working towards an in-space demonstration to understand how its plasma jets behave beyond Earth.

Marta expects this milestone will take several years, but it will be another chance to turn assumptions into evidence. This has been Helicity’s approach since advisers first told the founders they needed to build the technology and see what happened.

“Until we are ready with enough data  that we can back up our breakthroughs, we have to be very careful.”

Quickfire round

A tool you can’t live without?

“Microsoft Teams for work and WhatsApp for keeping in touch personally. I’m also experimenting with AI tools. AI is good, but you still have to be very wary of the answers that AI gives you.”

A founder you admire?

“Hélène Huby, founder and CEO of The Exploration Company. I think she’s a visionary with a strong character. She has an amazing combination of ambition and humility, and what she has built within the European space ecosystem is incredible.”

How do you recharge?

“Walking lets me combine exercise with staying in touch with the people around me. Instead of always meeting friends over meals, I suggest going for a walk. When time allows, I also escape to Pilates or yoga.”

Advice that has stuck with you?

Take care of your people.”

To infinity and beyond?

Helicity Space has already moved from theory and simulations to merging four plasma jets and reaching over three million degrees. Now, each new milestone aims to answer a bigger question: can this promising physics become a propulsion system that can actually fly us faster and further through space?

If it can, the impact could range from building things on the moon and carrying heavy cargo to missions deep into the solar system, and maybe even fusion power on Earth someday.

Helicity Space is working to turn fusion propulsion from a long-held dream into something that can really fly. To learn more about the technology, the team, and their vision for deep-space exploration, visit their website.