Helion

More quartz! Shown here is the beginning of a Polaris vacuum vessel being removed from its spinning mold; these large tubes are made with fused silica (quartz). Next up, this tube will be machined to create a final vacuum vessel. Each end of Polaris will have a large tube, and our team is making several tubes now to down-select for the highest performance. #quartz #hardtech 

Our commitment to rapidly scaling and commercializing fusion technology guided our choice of fuel. We chose Deuterium and Helium-3, recognizing the engineering challenges that come with it, but confident in our team's ability to overcome them. Learn more on how we made this decision early in Helion’s development: https://lnkd.in/gzHGQNaQ

Today, I visited Helion to learn about their latest advancements in #fusion energy. Our investment in fusion underscores Microsoft's long-term commitment to becoming carbon negative by 2030.

For the last 18 months, we’ve been building up our capacitor manufacturing capabilities, producing capacitors for circuit and plasma testing. Now, we’re on to a full production run for Polaris. We’re manufacturing 12µF capacitors to be installed and run on Polaris this year. Each of these in-house capacitors is built by our technicians before undergoing rigorous high-voltage pulsed power testing.

United by a shared commitment, Nicholas, Sofia, and Ryan are helping us bring fusion power to the world. You can too: https://lnkd.in/gK3YfPSU Thank you, Greater Seattle Partners, for featuring three members of our outstanding Production Team! #uncommonthinkerswelcome #cleanenergy #hiring

We’re manufacturing vacuum vessels in-house for both of Polaris’ formation sections.  These vacuum vessels are made of fused silica (quartz). We make these in-house by powering three graphite electrodes inside a spinning mold filled with silica sand. While the sand spins in the mold, the electrodes heat the inner layer of sand, melting it into place to form a quartz tube.  Shown here is an early test, running at 20% of the full power used during the tube manufacturing process.  

We have several patent applications that just went public! An ultra-dense cable interconnector to maximize electrical current density, a pump for ultra-low pressures in high-temperature vacuum chambers, and a method for extracting electricity directly from axially-expanding fusion plasmas. • Multi-dimensional, Flux-excluding, Low inductance Electrical Interconnect • Hybrid Gettering Diffusion Pump • Apparatus and Methods for Generating a Pulsating, High-Strength Magnetic Field Our team really is brilliant. We have team members that identify how to do things better so we can scale faster, and they make it happen. These patents are just one example of that type of work and thinking.

Polaris formation section delivered to Ursa: ✅ The first of Polaris’ two formation sections have been delivered to its new home in Ursa. By building sections of Polaris in our Antares facility, and “shipping” them down to Ursa, our team is gaining valuable insight on what assembly and installation will look like in our commercial systems. #missionpolaris #fusion #hardtech 

We have 25+ open roles for Technicians at Helion! Apply using the links in the comments. #hiring #cleanenergy 

Major construction is going on in Everett. ⛅ #construction #everettwa