HERCULES

Helion External Research Collaboration for Universities, Labs, and Enterprise Scientists

The HERCULES Program is Helion’s external funding initiative designed to accelerate long-term technical breakthroughs critical to scaling fusion energy. The program supports research labs and universities in developing materials and technologies that will enable the transition from Helion’s first fusion power plants to global fusion deployment. With over $17M in funding available through 2028, HERCULES will back projects in up to three phases:


Phase 1: $10,000 - $100,000 | 6-8 months

Phase 2: $100,000 - $500,000 | 12-24 months

Phase 3: $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 | University Center of Excellence


Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis, with priority given to submissions received by January 5, 2026.

Interested applicants should apply using the link below. Scroll for proposal requirements and sample projects of interest to Helion.

Apply now


Proposals should be a maximum of four pages and include a description of your team's capabilities and expertise, statement of work, deliverables and funding breakdown, any other current or anticipated funding resources, overall project schedule, and a list of personnel and institutions involved. We encourage you to connect with a Helion point of contact and/or your intended Helion PI counterpart to develop a strong proposal together. Proposal acceptance is not guaranteed and, among other things, will be conditioned on acceptable final terms to be determined by Helion.


Questions may be emailed to HERCULES@helionenergy.com. Responses may be limited due to volume.


Sample future HERCULES projects

  1. 1. Materials properties of SiC at greater than 10 dpa
  2. 2. Neutron-ion irradiation correlations for ceramics and accumulatively roll-bonded metals (<200 nm layer thickness)
  3. 3. Dielectric holdoff degradation due to prompt, pulsed ionizing radiation
  4. 4. Computational modeling of neutron impacts to materials properties
  5. 5. Radiation-hard, structural insulators
  6. 6. Development of magnet material with greater than 1 GPa strength and 75% IACS conductivity
  7. 7. Effects of long-term tritium permeation and retention in PFCs like SiC
  8. 8. High temperature dielectric PFCs other than SiC
  9. 9. Characterization of plasma wall interactions in the 10–60 keV range (hydrogen and helium)
  10. 10. Low-cost methods of recycling magnets and first walls
  11. 11. Cooling pulsed copper magnets with super critical gaseous fluids
  12. 12. Effects of hydrogen (from permeation or neutron interactions) on materials properties of ceramics and metals
  13. 13. Projections of radiation accelerated erosion and corrosion of coolant acting on SiC, copper-based magnet materials, and alumina
  14. 14. Continuous dosimetry for pulsed neutrons (>1e12 n/cm2 over milliseconds) with live readings
  15. 15. Pulsed neutron detectors (high fluence, low duration) in a continuous operating environment
  16. 16. Solid-state pulsed power switches (0.1–2.0 MA) with primary rise time <10 μs and an increasing rise time between 0.1–2.0 ms
  17. 17. Rapid modeling of edge biasing in a PIC-code-like WarpX
  18. 18. LLM-enabled MHD modeling of FRC translation
  19. 19. Long-life GW-scale pulsed ionization techniques (>1e20 #/cm3) including methods of heating (electrons 10–200 eV, ions 0.1–1.0 keV)
  20. 20. Efficient energy recovery from fast plasma jets
  21. 21. Pulsed magnetic isotopic separation of a plasma jet
  22. 22. Low-cost, room temperature HT-to-HTO catalysts
  23. 23. Passive tritium absorption from room ventilation streams
  24. 24. Efficient isotopic separation of hydrogen by cryogenic distillation
  25. 25. Elemental separation of H, He, and impurities by methods other than permeation membranes and cryogenic pumping
  26. 26. Rep-rated high-fluence vacuum systems in a high-temperature hydrogen environment other than turbo-molecular pumps
  27. 27. Remote high-speed command and control of rep-rated GJ-class pulse power systems
  28. 28. Impurity monitoring in steady operating 20 keV hydrogenic plasma systems
  29. 29. Scalable fusion generator operator training via simulated environments
  30. 30. National electrical grid monitoring program for technical and policy assessments

Sample existing HERCULES projects

Calibration of high-flux, pulsed neutron diagnostics using Godiva

Calibration of DD and DT neutron detection with the Gemini and ZEUS dense plasma focus machines

Collaboration on the LaBr3 diagnostic and calibration at the MJOLNIR dense plasma focus

Investigations of SiC considerations for first walls

Atomistic scale modeling of tritium in materials

Tritium testing data for vessel qualification for the Sealed Source and Device Registry