Star Catcher Industries has received $12.25 million in initial funding for the Star catcher network project, a network of satellites that would collect energy from the Sun and transmit it at higher concentrations to other space vehicles in low Earth orbit.
A shared space energy infrastructure in 2025
Space, the ultimate frontier… even for clean energy. Projects to bring solar exploitation beyond land borders continue to move forward. And after the success of the small wireless photovoltaic plant in orbit, built by Caltech, several other initiatives have gained momentum. Star Catcher Network, the project to create the world’s first energy grid for space, is one of the most prominent projects in the world. Behind the ambitious idea is the U.S. Star Catcher Industries, which just recently announced that it had obtained $12.25 million in initial funding to turn the network into a reality.
How the energy grid for space will work
The plan might sound similar to the various space photovoltaic projects that have emerged in recent years. These projects envisage collecting solar energy directly from space, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and then transmitting it to Earth via microwave.
In fact, Star Catcher Network revolves around a very different concept. The company’s idea is to launch a series of Power Node satellites that capture environmental solar energy, concentrate it and transmit it to the photovoltaic modules of other satellites or media in orbit. The company claims that each node could provide up to 150 kW of transmission capacity, even simultaneously sending power to multiple satellites.
“Once built, the Star Catcher Network will be a unique energy network of its kind, capable of transmitting significant levels of broad-spectrum energy to spacecraft in low Earth orbit (“LEO”) and beyond,” the company writes. “The network will supply energy on demand and at higher concentrations than the Sun to existing solar panels of customer spacecraft, allowing them to generate up to five or ten times the amount of energy they would otherwise generate.”
The demand for energy grid for space
Demand for high-performance, high-energy applications in space, including telecommunications, orbit computing, remote sensing, manned space flights, and national security applications, is growing exponentially. With low Earth orbit expected to accommodate more than 40,000 satellites by 2030, Star Catcher predicts a need for 840 MW of plants to run these systems, compared to the tens of MW available today.
With this initial funding – co-led by Initialized Capital and B Capital – Star Catcher’s immediate focus will be validating and demonstrating its power transmission services for customers, starting with ground tests, followed by those in orbit at the end of 2025 and implementing the commercial service. Once the network is launched, satellite operators can pass “shared infrastructure”, where energy consumption will not be limited by what the satellites carry with them.
