Helion's Polaris prototype became the first privately developed fusion machine to run on deuterium-tritium fuel and reach plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius, the company said on 13 February 2026. But the field's other milestones this year point somewhere less glamorous: magnets, converters and cash.
NASA has abandoned its attempt to boost the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the $500 million gamma-ray telescope now expected to burn up in Earth's atmosphere later this year. The failure came after a $30 million rescue contract that gave Katalyst Space Technologies nine months to build and launch a spacecraft that spun out of control in late July.
SpaceX was set to launch Starship on Monday morning from Starbase, Texas, in the first attempt to send the vehicle into orbit and deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites, after the FAA cleared the flight on 26 September, according to CNBC.
NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies have abandoned the attempt to boost the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a $500 million telescope that will now reenter Earth's atmosphere later this year. The LINK rescue craft cost $30 million and was built in nine months.
Helion says its Polaris machine hit 150 million degrees Celsius on deuterium-tritium fuel. Realta Fusion has turned plasma energy straight into electric current. Thea Energy has banked $100 million for a stellarator. None of the three has put a watt on the grid.
Stanford and Caltech researchers have built HomeBody, a system that lets a Unitree G1 robot tidy an unfamiliar kitchen by calling a vision-language model directly into a skill library, according to The Decoder on 27 September.
Helion says its Polaris prototype became the first privately developed fusion machine to run on deuterium-tritium fuel, reaching plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius. The company announced the result on 13 February 2026. Two other data points from the same year tell a different story: ITER's $22 billion construction programme in southern France, and a $100 million Series B for stellarator developer Thea Energy.
Helion says its Polaris prototype became the first privately developed fusion machine to run on deuterium-tritium fuel and hold plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius. Realta Fusion reported the first direct conversion of plasma energy into electricity by a commercial fusion company.
Helion says its Polaris machine reached 150 million degrees Celsius and became the first privately developed device to run on deuterium-tritium fuel. Realta Fusion reported the first direct conversion of plasma energy into electricity by a commercial company. Both results landed in a year when ITER's price tag was put at $22 billion.
NASA's Starling mission has demonstrated a navigation system that fixes a spacecraft's orbit by sighting other objects in space rather than by GPS, with FALCON refining the orbits of more than 200 objects in a three-day run.
SpaceX was counting down to the first orbital flight of its Starship rocket on Monday, a 75-minute window opening at 8:15 a.m. ET from Starbase, Texas, after the FAA authorized launch and reentry on 26 September.
Fusion energy research is moving from lab benches toward supply chains and legislation. In the last week of September 2026, the Netherlands and the United States both announced industrialisation and policy steps.
NASA's Starling mission has determined a spacecraft's orbit by matching camera observations of other satellites and debris to a public catalog of roughly 20,000 objects, a first for optical navigation, and plans to extend the experiment to its four-spacecraft swarm later this year.
The newest hard research funding in the dossier is not fusion at all. On 21 September the US Department of Energy announced a $99 million round for 21 next-generation geothermal projects, CleanTechnica reported. The fusion headlines from the same week are partnerships, not results.
Britain's Royal Air Force unveiled No. III Space Effects Squadron on 26 September. Its job is to protect the satellites the UK relies on and to deny that same benefit to adversaries. The MoD says it will do this with electronic warfare, not anti-satellite missiles.
The Royal Air Force announced a new unit, No. III Space Effects Squadron, at a London conference on 26 September, tasked with protecting the satellites the UK relies on for communications and navigation.