FUSION ENERGY
In rural Malaga, Washington, Microsoft’s data centers have partnered with Helion to generate their own electricity using fusion—the same process that powers the sun. Helion is developing new fusion technology where electricity is directly recaptured, rather than heating water and turning steam turbines. To be successful, the technology needs to produce more energy than it consumes.
Recently, I worked with reporter Greg Kim to illustrate a cutaway of Helion’s unique fusion generator. Explore Helion’s fusion process in the graphic below, or read the Seattle Times story published on Sunday, April 26, 2026.
What is fusion?
When two light atomic nuclei are forced to fuse together, they form a heavier nucleus, releasing an immense amount of energy in the process. This is the same reaction that powers the sun and other stars.
What is plasma?
Plasma is the fourth state of matter. When a gas is heated to a certain temperature, it can turn into plasma, a soup of charged particles. More than 99% of the visible universe is made up of plasma in the form of stars and nebulas. On earth, we see charged plasma in lighting strikes, auroras, and neon signs.
At the extreme temperatures required for fusion, all matter is plasma. In Helion’s system, powerful magnets confine the charged plasma and channel the energy released by fusion reactions into electricity.
Deuterium–helium-3 fuel
Helion’s fusion process requires two fuels: deuterium and helium-3. Deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen, is commonly found on Earth in seawater. Helium-3 is rare on Earth, but thought to be abundant on the Moon. Helion generates its own helium-3 as a byproduct of the fusion reaction, which it then reuses in the next fusion reaction.
The plasma in deuterium-helium-3 fusion generally glows with a bright, intense pink or purple-white color. The color is caused by the excitation of hydrogen-like deuterium atoms in the plasma, which emit red and blue light.
Energy equation
Helion’s latest model, Polaris, requires more than 50 megajoules (MJ) of electricity per pulse to create, accelerate, and compress the plasma within the machine’s magnetic field. More than 10,000 high-voltage capacitors are stacked near the fusion generator to store the energy sent to the machine and returned from the fusion reactions. Helion’s goal is to demonstrate the ability to recover more electricity than is consumed.
