About

Firefly Fusion is a privately held fusion energy startup developing a compact tokamak specifically optimized for negative triangularity — a promising plasma shape that improves confinement and stability, as demonstrated by DIII-D and other tokamaks. Firefly’s mission is to rapidly demonstrate burning plasmas by building an affordable, actively-cooled copper-magnet tokamak as a first step toward commercial fusion deployment. This enables high-performance experiments and rapid technology iterations without waiting for superconducting magnet development. Firefly Fusion is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France.

At DIII-D

Firefly Fusion collaborates with the DIII-D National Fusion Facility to investigate negative triangularity plasmas and their potential as a path to high-confinement, disruption-resilient operation. Our work at DIII-D supports both the validation of predictive simulation tools and the refinement of the design space for Firefly’s prototype tokamak, LUCIOLE. While we do not yet have full-time staff on site at DIII-D, we are involved in collaborative experiments, analysis, and proposal planning, with a focus on diagnostics, edge physics, and control strategies relevant to our mission.

Rustem Ospanov (CEO) 

Rustem Ospanov holds a Ph.D. in experimental physics and an MBA in entrepreneurship. With 18 years of research experience at CERN and Fermilab, he has led multiple innovative projects, blending deep scientific knowledge with entrepreneurial acumen. ​He brings this background now to the fusion space, guiding Firefly Fusion’s strategic direction, partnerships, and funding roadmap. His vision is to compress the timeline to commercial fusion by building targeted, high-yield experiments moving with private-sector agility and aligned with the shared goal of bringing fusion energy to grids.

Joining the Firefly Fusion Team

Firefly Fusion is planning to rapidly build up its team in the coming year. To learn more about our team, please visit our website.

We are presently searching for a Chief Technical Officer (CTO), who alongside the CEO is going to set up the team for designing and building the LUCIOLE Tokamak.