Avalanche Energy

Recognized under Tier 5 — Energy Production & Storage, Avalanche Energy is a Seattle-based fusion startup developing the Orbitron, a compact electrostatic-confinement fusion device roughly the size of a lunch pail, designed to scale from a 5-kilowatt power pack into larger clustered arrays. In 2026 the company reported sustaining 300,000 volts across roughly two and a half inches of vacuum gap, a high-voltage confinement milestone central to its fusion approach. Avalanche's spacecraft work has been backed by the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit, which awarded it a prototype contract in 2022 to demonstrate next-generation nuclear propulsion and power generation for spacecraft, and later selected Avalanche alongside Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp to develop small nuclear-powered spacecraft for in-space demonstrations targeted for 2027. A compact fusion source that fits inside a spacecraft bus would give Moon and Mars missions power density unconstrained by sun angle, dust accumulation, or long polar and Martian nights.