Florida startup Star Catcher snags $12 million to help develop 1st off-Earth energy grid

"We're confident Star Catcher will do for orbital power what SpaceX has done for launch. "



Artist’s illustration of a portion of the Star Catcher Network deployed and servicing multiple client satellites. Power nodes (top) beam energy ranging from hundreds of watts to tens of kilowatts to client spacecraft solar arrays (bottom). (Image credit: Star Catcher Industries)

Space-based solar power may not remain a mere sci-fi dream for much longer.

Florida startup Star Catcher Industries just scored $12.25 million in seed funding to develop its planned constellation of power-beaming satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), the first of which could take flight as early as next year.

"We're confident Star Catcher will do for orbital power what SpaceX has done for launch. They're a proven, veteran commercial space team executing on an audacious vision at high speed," Andrew Sather, principal at Initialized Capital, which led the seed funding round along with B Capital, said in a statement today (July 24).

Jacksonville-based Star Catcher plans to provide juice not to customers on Earth but rather to satellites in orbit. That's a rapidly growing market, thanks to megaconstellations like SpaceX's Starlink; LEO is expected to harbor about 50,000 spacecraft by 2030 (a roughly five-fold increase from today), according to the company.

More:
https://www.space.com/star-catcher-industries-space-based-power-grid