Star Catcher Industries has secured US$12.25 million in seed funding for its ambitious plan to build the world’s first “space-based energy grid.” A network of satellites would gather energy from the Sun and beam it at higher concentrations to other satellites in orbit.
Collecting energy from sunlight makes even more sense in space – you get a constant stream of energy 24/7, without being at the mercy of the weather or taking up valuable land. It’s no surprise then that efforts are ramping up to capture sunlight from orbit and beam it down to the surface.
Star Catcher, however, has another idea. Rather than dealing with the challenge of getting the energy back to Earth, the startup plans to use that energy to power other satellites more efficiently.
The Star Catcher Network would comprise a series of Power Node satellites that capture ambient solar energy, concentrate it, and beam it to the solar panels of other satellites. The company claims each node could provide up to 150 kW of transmission capacity, even sending power to multiple satellites simultaneously. The organizations running the receiving satellites simply provide the “orbital elements” to Star Catcher so they can track them and supply them with power.
The client’s satellites wouldn’t need to be retrofitted with anything for this to work – Star Catcher claims the concentrated solar energy they’re beaming out is compatible with existing solar arrays, allowing them to generate five to 10 times more energy than they would directly from the Sun themselves.
From a business perspective, Star Catcher and the client organizations would enter into a contract that outlines the amount of energy sent, the concentration (0.1 to 10 Suns) and how often they need it. Clients can be on a pay-as-you go model, with Star Catcher saying it should roughly halve their energy costs.
There isn’t a whole lot of technical detail on how exactly all this would work – for now Star Catcher seems focused on funding. But the company does plan to launch an in-orbit demonstration in late 2025, followed by a commercial service deployment.
Source: Star Catcher