American nuclear fusion startup based in Tukwila, a suburb of Seattle. Founded in 2021 by Brian Riordan and Robin Langtry, who left Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos's rocket firm. The company aims to create a power-generating fusion reactor small enough to fit in a barrel by 2029.
Avalanche Energy's device, the Orbitron, is a modernised version of the Farnsworth fusor, a bench-top fusion reactor designed in 1964. The Orbitron uses a cylindrical vacuum chamber with a rod-shaped cathode and adds a magnetic field, causing ionised deuterium nuclei to spiral rather than collide with the cathode. This allows a far higher density of nuclei to be sustained for longer, increasing the amount of fusion. Trials with deuterium have successfully generated neutrons.
Individual Orbitron units would produce around 15kW. A battery of them generating 1MW or more would fit in a shipping container, potentially useful for powering robot ships and submarines, isolated Arctic bases, military applications and spacecraft.
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