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Realta Fusion的磁镜赌注：2026年直接发电演示点亮灯泡
Realta押注高温超导磁体能让磁镜复兴，直接转换胜过蒸汽；在WHAM于2024年实现首次等离子体后，其2026年6月的演示为灯泡供电。
Realta Fusion
做的是什么生意
Realta Fusion is a Madison, Wisconsin spinoff of University of Wisconsin-Madison fusion research, commercializing WHAM-style magnetic-mirror machines for electricity and industrial heat, with a prototype reactor called Anvil as its next step.
启动资金：$9M seed led by Khosla Ventures plus a $36M Series A led by Future Ventures in May 2025; raising a new round as of June 2026
起因
WHAM (Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror) began in 2020 as a UW-Madison, MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems partnership funded with $10M in DOE grants. Realta spun out of UW-Madison - co-founded by physicists Cary Forest and Jay Anderson with Kieran Furlong as CEO - to commercialize mirror fusion and took over WHAM as a public-private partner; in June 2023 the DOE selected Realta for milestone-based fusion funding. WHAM achieved first plasma on July 15, 2024 and set a record magnetic field for magnetically confined plasma within its first weeks of operation.
经过
Realta raised a $9M seed led by Khosla Ventures, then a $36M Series A led by Future Ventures in May 2025 (with Avila VC, GSBackers, Khosla, Mayfield, SiteGround, TitletownTech and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation), targeting power costs of $100 per MWh falling toward $40. In April 2026 Commonwealth Fusion Systems - the company that built WHAM's magnets - announced what it called its largest deal of this kind to date, supplying HTS magnets to Realta. On June 19, 2026 Realta powered lightbulbs using electricity harvested by a prototype converter attached to WHAM, which it called the first private direct-electricity demonstration from a fusion device; TechCrunch noted WHAM does not yet run deuterium-tritium fuel, so the converter harvested input power rather than alpha particles. Furlong estimated direct conversion at about 90% efficiency versus roughly 33% for steam turbines, with recirculated electricity potentially adding 20-30% to a commercial plant's output.
结果
Still running: Realta has demonstrated first plasma, a record confinement field and a direct-conversion proof of concept, but not a fusion-grade reactor; finalizing the Anvil prototype design and raising a new round are the immediate next steps.
背景
Realta Fusion是位于威斯康星州麦迪逊的初创公司，从威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校聚变研究中分拆，旨在商业化磁镜——由于强大的端部磁体无法阻止等离子体泄漏，这一反应堆概念被遗弃数十年。它的赌注是新的组件改变了物理：高温超导磁体强度比磁镜研究者之前拥有的任何磁体强数十倍。
Realta接管了WHAM（威斯康星高温超导轴对称磁镜），该项目始于2020年，由威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校、MIT和Commonwealth Fusion Systems合作，获得能源部1000万美元拨款。WHAM于2024年7月15日实现首次等离子体，并在数周内创下约束场纪录。Realta筹集了由Khosla Ventures领投的900万美元种子轮，以及2025年5月由Future Ventures领投的3600万美元A轮，目标是每兆瓦时100美元并降至40美元；2026年4月，Commonwealth Fusion Systems同意向其供应高温超导磁体，CFS称这是其迄今最大的一笔此类交易。
2026年6月19日，Realta通过连接WHAM的原型转换器为灯泡供电，称这是私营公司首次演示直接从聚变装置收集电力。TechCrunch的评论很精确：WHAM尚未使用氘氚燃料，因此转换器收集的是输入功率而非聚变阿尔法粒子。Realta估计直接转换效率约为90%，而蒸汽轮机约为33%，并计划利用其循环电力加热等离子体。该公司正在完成Anvil原型设计并筹集新一轮资金。
这件事要成立，得有什么
- 磁镜因磁体泄漏等离子体而失败；强数十倍的高温超导磁体消除了该限制，让Realta用新物理复兴了60年前的概念。
- 轴对称磁镜通过添加磁场较弱、成本更低的中段来扩展，攻击聚变的资本成本问题，而不仅仅是等离子体物理。
- 直接电力转换瞄准经济性的另一半：估计效率约90%对蒸汽约33%，加上循环电力用于等离子体加热。
- 公私合作结构使其早期得以推进：2023年6月获得能源部里程碑资金、WHAM伙伴关系，随后里程碑达成后获得私人资本和CFS供应协议。
可借鉴之处
当一项技术失败数十年，寻找其底层发生变化的组件：高温超导磁体复兴了磁镜；直接转换从热力学侧面攻击同样的成本问题。
后续进展
截至2026年7月1日，Realta Fusion正在筹集新一轮资金并完成其首个专用原型反应堆Anvil的设计，此前其于2026年6月19日演示了通过WHAM上的直接转换转换器为灯泡供电。WHAM仍是演示装置：它不运行氘氚燃料，因此转换器收集的输入功率，且不存在聚变级反应堆或电网连接。其商业目标是初始每兆瓦时100美元，随后降至40美元，直接转换通过循环电力预计增加电厂输出20-30%。
资料来源
- Realta Fusion generates electricity directly from a fusion reaction, an apparent first
- Realta Fusion taps $36M in fresh funds for its fusion-in-a-bottle reactor
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems leans on magnets for near-term revenue
- First plasma marks major milestone in UW-Madison fusion energy research
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