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Draft:Proxima Fusion

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Proxima Fusion is a European fusion energy company founded in 2023 in Munich, Germany as the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics.[1] Its stated goal is to design the first generation of fusion power plants using quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarators.[2]

History

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Proxima was founded in April 2023 by Francesco Sciortino, Lucio Milanese, Jorrit Lion, Jonathan Schilling, and Martin Kubie, former scientists and engineers from the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Google-X.[3]

The company initially raised €7.5 million in pre-seed funding from Plural Platform, UVC Partners, Visionaries Club, Wilbe, High Tech GründerFonds, and others, followed by a €20 million seed round led by redalpine, with participation from Bayern Kapital, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, and the Max Planck Foundation.[4] It has since been awarded additional public funding from the European Innovation Council[5] and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.[6]

On June 28, 2024, Proxima announced that it would partner with the Paul Scherrer Institute to develop high-temperature superconducting magnets for its stellarators.[7]

Technology

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Proxima is designing QI stellarators, a magnetic confinement approach to fusion in which toroidal currents cancel out to zero, resulting in stable and continuous operation.[8] The company is leveraging recent advances in stellarator optimization, computational design, and superconductivity to build on the achievements of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator experiment at the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics signs cooperation agreement with German fusion start-up Proxima Fusion". www.ipp.mpg.de. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  2. ^ "Home". www.proximafusion.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  3. ^ "Proxima Fusion partners with leading European unicorn founders for its clean energy moonshot". www.proximafusion.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  4. ^ "Proxima Fusion Raises €20M Seed to Accelerate Timeline to Fusion Power". www.proximafusion.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  5. ^ Geschäftsführer, Martin Reichel. "EIC Accelerator - Eight Bavarian deep-tech start-ups to receive EIC funding". www.bayfor.org. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  6. ^ "BMBF project by Proxima Fusion and IPP starts with joint workshop". www.ipp.mpg.de. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  7. ^ "Proxima Fusion and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) Sign Framework Agreement for the Development of High-Temperature Superconducting Magnet Technology". www.proximafusion.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
  8. ^ Goodman, Alan G.; Xanthopoulos, Pavlos; Plunk, Gabriel G.; Smith, Håkan; Nührenberg, Carolin; Beidler, Craig D.; Henneberg, Sophia A.; Roberg-Clark, Gareth; Drevlak, Michael; Helander, Per (2024-06-26). "Quasi-Isodynamic Stellarators with Low Turbulence as Fusion Reactor Candidates". PRX Energy. 3 (2): 023010. arXiv:2405.19860. Bibcode:2024PRXE....3b3010G. doi:10.1103/PRXEnergy.3.023010. ISSN 2768-5608.
  9. ^ "Proxima Fusion | Technology". www.proximafusion.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.