Nuclear fusion's levitated dipole dark horse emerges from New Zealand

Overview

For the first time, a commercial company has confined plasma in a levitated dipole reactor — using a single half-tonne superconducting magnet floating freely in a vacuum chamber, held aloft only by magnetic force. Superheated gas swirls around it at over one million degrees Celsius. On February 17, 2026, Wellington-based OpenStar Technologies publicly demonstrated this feat in its five-meter-wide "Junior" prototype, with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon triggering the final stage of the experiment.

The achievement validates a simpler approach to fusion — while most ventures use tokamaks or stellarators requiring dozens of external magnets, OpenStar's design uses just one internal magnet, mimicking how planetary magnetospheres trap charged particles. The concept was first tested at MIT and Columbia University from 1998 to 2011, then shelved when U.S. federal funding went to tokamak research. OpenStar built Junior in under two years for less than ten million dollars, a fraction of conventional fusion's billions, and New Zealand has committed thirty-five million dollars to fund the company's next, four-times-more-powerful device.

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Key Indicators

1,000,000+°C

Plasma temperature achieved

Temperature of the plasma confined around the levitated magnet during Junior's demonstration

550 kg

Levitated magnet mass

Weight of the superconducting magnet floating wirelessly inside the vacuum chamber

<$10M

Cost to build Junior

Total cost of designing and constructing the Junior prototype in under two years

NZ$35M

Government funding secured

New Zealand Regional Infrastructure Fund commitment for OpenStar's next device, Tahi

$7.1B+

Global private fusion investment

Cumulative private funding flowing into fusion startups worldwide as of late 2025

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People Involved

Ratu Mataira

Leading development of next-generation Tahi device

Darren Garnier

Overseeing plasma physics program

Christopher Luxon

Publicly backed OpenStar at demonstration

Organizations Involved

OpenStar Technologies

Fusion Energy Startup

Transitioning from Junior prototype to next-generation Tahi device

A Wellington-based startup developing a levitated dipole fusion reactor, a design that uses a single floating superconducting magnet rather than the complex arrays of external magnets used in tokamaks.

MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

University Research Laboratory

Formal collaboration partner with OpenStar

The MIT lab that built and operated the original Levitated Dipole Experiment from 1998 to 2011, proving the concept that OpenStar is now commercializing.

Fusion Industry Association

Industry Trade Group

Tracking rapid growth in private fusion sector

The trade association representing private fusion companies, which reports that the industry raised over two and a half billion dollars in a single recent twelve-month period and directly employs more than 4,600 people.

Timeline

January 1987 February 2026

12 events Latest: February 17th, 2026 · 5 months ago Showing 8 of 12

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February 2026
OpenStar levitates magnet in million-degree plasma
Latest Milestone

OpenStar publicly demonstrates its Junior prototype levitating a 550-kilogram superconducting magnet inside a five-meter vacuum chamber filled with plasma exceeding one million degrees Celsius — the first time a commercial company has achieved plasma confinement with a levitated dipole. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon triggers the final stage of the experiment.
February 17th, 2026
New Zealand government commits NZ$35 million to OpenStar
Funding

The Regional Infrastructure Fund backs construction of OpenStar's next device, Tahi, which will generate a magnetic field four times stronger than Junior at up to twenty Tesla.
February 17th, 2026
October 2024
Junior achieves first plasma
Milestone

OpenStar's Junior prototype produces and confines plasma lasting twenty seconds at 300,000 degrees Celsius in a mechanically supported configuration, validating the basic reactor concept.
October 31st, 2024
Pacific Fusion raises $900 million in stealth debut
Funding

A previously unknown fusion startup emerges with one of the largest first-round raises in fusion history, underscoring the scale of capital now flowing into the sector.
October 25th, 2024
January 2023
Darren Garnier joins OpenStar from Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Corporate

The former chief experimentalist of MIT's original LDX experiment becomes OpenStar's Director of Plasma Science, bringing direct experience from the only prior levitated dipole experiment.
January 1st, 2023
December 2022
National Ignition Facility achieves fusion ignition
Scientific

The United States' National Ignition Facility produces 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy from 2.05 megajoules of laser input, achieving net energy gain in a fusion device for the first time — though far from net electricity gain.
December 5th, 2022
August 2022
OpenStar raises NZ$10 million seed round
Funding

Led by Outset Ventures with participation from Icehouse Ventures, Blackbird, and other New Zealand investors, the round funds construction of the Junior prototype.
August 1st, 2022
January 2021
Ratu Mataira founds OpenStar Technologies
Corporate

A New Zealand physicist who recognized that advances in high-temperature superconductors could make the abandoned levitated dipole concept commercially viable founds OpenStar in Wellington.
January 1st, 2021
November 2011
U.S. Department of Energy defunds LDX
Policy

The Department of Energy ends funding for the Levitated Dipole Experiment to concentrate resources on tokamak research, shelving the concept for nearly a decade.
November 1st, 2011
February 2007
LDX achieves first levitated magnet operation
Scientific

The MIT-Columbia experiment successfully levitates its superconducting coil for forty minutes, demonstrating dramatically improved plasma confinement compared to mechanically supported operation.
February 9th, 2007
July 1998
MIT and Columbia begin building the Levitated Dipole Experiment
Scientific

Physicists Jay Kesner of MIT and Michael Mauel of Columbia University begin construction of LDX, the first experiment to test Hasegawa's concept.
July 1st, 1998
January 1987
Levitated dipole fusion concept first proposed
Scientific

Japanese physicist Akira Hasegawa theorized that a single levitating magnet could confine plasma for fusion, inspired by how planetary magnetospheres trap charged particles.
January 1st, 1987

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Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1998-2011

The Levitated Dipole Experiment at MIT (1998-2011)

Physicists Jay Kesner and Michael Mauel built the Levitated Dipole Experiment at MIT to test Akira Hasegawa's 1987 theory that a single floating magnet could confine fusion plasma. By 2007, LDX had demonstrated that levitating the magnet — rather than supporting it mechanically — dramatically improved plasma confinement. The experiment ran on a modest budget relative to major fusion projects.

Then

The U.S. Department of Energy ended LDX funding in November 2011 to concentrate resources on tokamak research, which was considered the most mature path to fusion.

Now

The scientific results sat dormant for nearly a decade until OpenStar's founder recognized that advances in high-temperature superconductors had eliminated a key barrier. LDX's former chief experimentalist now leads OpenStar's plasma science program.

Why this matters now

OpenStar is directly commercializing the concept LDX proved. This is a case of publicly funded research producing validated results that a private company later revives with newer technology — a pattern familiar from the internet, GPS, and mRNA vaccines.

December 2022

National Ignition Facility achieves fusion ignition (2022)

The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved scientific fusion ignition for the first time, producing 3.15 megajoules of energy from 2.05 megajoules of laser input. The announcement generated global headlines about the arrival of fusion energy, though the facility's lasers consumed hundreds of megajoules of electricity to produce their beams.

Then

The achievement validated that net energy gain from fusion was physically possible and generated a surge of investor and public interest in fusion startups.

Now

NIF's result demonstrated scientific proof-of-concept but highlighted the enormous gap between laboratory ignition and commercial power generation — a gap that private companies like OpenStar, CFS, and Helion are now racing to close through fundamentally different reactor designs.

Why this matters now

NIF's breakthrough reshaped public and investor perception of fusion from perpetual fantasy to plausible near-term technology. The post-2022 investment surge — including OpenStar's funding — is partly a consequence of this shift in credibility.

2006-present

ITER's repeated delays and cost overruns (2006-present)

ITER, the multinational tokamak under construction in southern France, was originally projected to achieve first plasma in 2020 at a cost of roughly ten billion dollars. By 2024, the project had pushed its target for full operation to 2039 and added over five billion dollars in cost overruns, driven by manufacturing faults, the complexity of a first-of-a-kind machine, and design changes required by safety regulators.

Then

Participating governments continued funding but with growing skepticism. The U.S. Congress commissioned reviews of American participation.

Now

ITER's struggles became a cautionary example of the tokamak approach's complexity and cost, helping catalyze the private fusion startup sector as investors and policymakers looked for faster, cheaper alternatives.

Why this matters now

OpenStar's pitch — a reactor built in under two years for under ten million dollars — gains its force partly from the contrast with ITER's decades of delays and tens of billions in costs. The levitated dipole's mechanical simplicity is a direct response to the engineering complexity that has plagued large tokamak projects.