We are proud to join Helicity Space’s seed round and support the team’s efforts and vision to dramatically expand the boundaries of humanity’s spacefaring capabilities.
Our investments in new space technologies are core to our own vision to enhance our planet’s best futures through advancements in the aerospace sector. We have invested in many fundamental and enabling innovations across the spectrum of the space economy - from terrestrial hardware manufacturing to launch services to in-space logistics and beyond - to create and multiply the system benefits that our exploration and utilisation of space can bring to our planet and beyond. Looking towards the stars beyond our solar system, we have historically only been able to dream of the machines and vehicles that may take us to the distant celestial bodies that we have spent the last few centuries observing. Even closer to home, planets beyond Earth’s moon have only begun to seem reachable in the last few years. These limitations have been governed by the so-called “rocket equation,” which balances the tradeoff between specific impulse (ISP) and thrust that determines a conventional electric or chemical propulsion system’s mobility. At a high level, ISP determines how efficiently a propulsion system consumes its fuel and thrust is a measure of the force that the system generates to propel itself. Given that existing technology is currently limited to chemical and electric system architectures, we have traditionally been limited to either low ISP/high thrust chemical rockets or high ISP/low thrust electric propulsion systems. In practice, this means that chemical rockets burn through fuel too quickly and electric propulsion systems take too long to accelerate for long-distance travel. The Helicity Space team is on a path to transcending these limitations by developing a fusion drive that leverages the power of nuclear fusion reactions for propulsion, enabling both high ISP and high thrust. The team’s thesis for fusion as a method of propulsion in space is built on both fundamental characteristics of fusion physics as well as properties of the space environment –fusion is inherently very fuel-efficient, and space, as a perfect vacuum, offers excellent conditions for fusion reactions to occur. While fusion has been theorised for decades to be promising for space travel, advancements in development have long been hindered by significant scientific and engineering barriers and a lack of public sector investment. The Helicity Space team has developed a novel approach to fusion reactions, using multiple recombining plasma jets to create and control the conditions necessary for fusion to occur. With several years of research and meticulous supercomputer modelling to prove the viability of this approach, along with private sector investment, the Helicity Space team is now deploying and testing hardware to turn theory to reality. Fusion-based propulsion will revolutionise humankind’s ability to traverse deep space. From establishing settlements on other planets and moons to venturing beyond our solar system and to other capabilities long locked in the realm of science fiction, our collective capacity for space mobility will take one giant leap forward on the back of Helicity Space’s technology. We are proud to welcome Helicity Space into the Airbus Ventures portfolio family and to put our resources behind the team’s mission to power humanity’s expansion into the stars.By Thomas d'Halluin and Lewis Pinault