Our Mission: To create the landscape and conditions for commercial Space Solar Power technology by the U.S. to become successful and self-sustaining.

Space Frontier Foundation Updates

• The International Conference on Energy from Space 2025, sponsored by Space Energy Insights and the Space Frontier Foundation, is scheduled to be held on November 19-21 in France. This year's theme is "Energy for Security". Check out more about the conference here, register your interest, and submit your abstracts.

Notable News

• DARPA's Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay project has recently achieved a record transmission of over 800 watts of power delivered over 8.6 kilometers for 30 seconds, resulting in over a megajoule of energy being transferred, outperforming previous tests in both distance and duration. This test was a part of their POWER Receiver Array Demo, which features a novel receiver with a compact aperture and a parabolic mirror which reflects the beam onto the surrounding photovoltaic cells. 
• Space Solar has announced a partnership with MagDrive, a UK-based company that specializes in propulsion for satellites and spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. They were recently recognized as part of Tech Nation's Future Fifty 2025 cohort and was honored at the UK Prime Minister's residence, 10 Downing St. This recognition was soon after the successful test of their AlbaTRUSS demonstrator, a proof-of-concept that orbital solar panel structures can be robotically assembled. Their potential impact has been quantified by Imperial College London, that adding 2 GW SSP to the UK's energy sources can save the UK around £1 B/year.
• Reflect Orbital, a company that creates a constellation of satellites that reflect sunlight down to Earth, has raised over $20M in Series A funding led by Lux Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Starship Ventures. They plan to launch their first reflector next year. 
• Star Catcher has announced their partnership with the company Satlyt which offers edge computing solutions for data processing in orbit, which will be offered alongside Star Catcher's orbital energy.
• Space Energy Initiative's SSP Showcase and Summit at the Linklaters' London office took place on Wednesday, May 7th, where members of the UK's government (particularly the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero), prominent SSP leaders, and members of the academia and space industry discussed how SSP is vital for the UK and next steps towards implementation. It's notable that there was broad agreement that SSP is possible and necessary for the UK's energy future across all these groups.
• Space Energy Insights has recently published blog posts quantifying how SSP can address both the UK's energy needs and France's energy needs.
• Caltech has released the full version of the paper on SSP which concludes that the proposed 10 GHz system can deliver electricity at 9.4 ¢/kWh, making it competitive with the least expensive renewable energy sources available today.
• Virtus Solis has successfully created Laser Induced Copper Deposition, by plating graphene circuit traces with copper, which will enable them to use additive technologies for faster and more cost-effective manufacturing. Virtus Solis CEO John Bucknell has also been featured in an Infinite Frontiers article, in which he shares his journey and describes the different components of his company’s technology and plans for demonstrations.
• The Space Studies Institute has cleaned and released more archived research on SSP, on topics such as Large Active Retrodirective Arrays, Alternate Frequency Analysis for SSP, and Analysis of Interference from SSP.
• More details have been released about Japan's SSP test, OHISAMA. The 400-pound satellite will beam 1 kW of power, in microwave frequency, to stations in a 25-mile radius. Because Japan has limited land availability for terrestrial solar or wind farms, SSP being orbital offers them a better solution for energy security.

SSP Systems Enablers

• Solestial, which produces photovoltaics for solar panels in space, has recently announced raising $17M in Series A funding. The round of funding was led by AE Ventures, alongside several investors. Solestial also welcomed a new CEO, Margo de Naray, who was formerly the Senior VP & GM of Space Products and Services at Astra. 
• mPower, a company that has created a flexible and lightweight mesh of silicon solar cells called DragonSCALES, has raised $21M in Series B funding. The round of funding was led by Razor's Edge Ventures, alongside Shield Capital. DragonSCALES has had success in orbital tests, and the company aims to focus on not just satellite power beaming but also lunar and deep space power beaming and power generation for Earth.
• Advancements in in-space manufacturing, such as Astral Materials' development of a crystal growing furnace, China's development of a novel metal alloy on the Tiangong space station, and Varda's tests of uncrewed capsules that return materials back to Earth as well as successful crystal growth in space, can not only lead to increased in-space assembly and return capabilities but also potentially production of materials needed for SSP. 
• Recent articles feature Space Solar’s plans to deploy its first power station, Merlin, by 2030 to beam 30 MW of energy, as well as Virtus Solis’s 1 kW demonstration mission planned for 2027. Both articles have emphasized the importance of advancing reusable launch vehicles in lowering launch costs and making SSP more viable.

Upcoming Events

• Baiju Bhatt, founder of Aetherflux, will be speaking at a fireside chat hosted by TechCrunch, in Menlo Park, California. The event is set for June 18th, and he will be discussing Aetherflux's recent funding milestone and future plans. 
• The International Space Development Conference will take place between June 19 - 20 in Orlando, Florida. Their Space Solar Power Symposium features a review of NASA's latest report on SSP, latest developments and plans globally, and the International Space Solar Power Student Competition, sponsored by SPACE Canada. Find more details on the conference here.

Power Demands of Technology

• The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee recently held a hearing on how the U.S. can increase innovation and progress in technology, in the context of the ongoing AI race. Those who testified include Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, Michael Intrator, CEO of CoreWeave, and Brad Smith, president of Microsoft. A common theme among their testimonies was that energy abundance is crucial in enabling growth in these technologies, as computing power demands continue to increase.
• In pursuing the goals of American energy dominance set by the Trump administration, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has included nuclear power as a main priority, citing growing power demands from AI and data centers. Congressional committees are actively exploring the development of a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, with discussions on increasing availability of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and management of spent nuclear fuel.

Outsiders' Perspectives

• Kate Eliason, of the Constellations newsletter by Kratos, features several prominent SSP experts in a recent article. The article discusses advancements in SSP technologies, economic feasibility, China's SSP plans said to be the "Three Gorges Dam in space," legislative milestones, power beaming, and overall the unique potential of SSP being able to harness energy around the clock.
• Jason Plautz, of Politico's E&E News, discusses the future of SSP, how it can address energy demands on Earth, and how Blue Origin and SpaceX's reusable launch vehicle development is driving down launch costs and are making SSP economically viable.
• Aman Tripathi, of Interesting Engineering, has highlighted Space Solar's recent milestones such as completing the CASSiDi project and also discusses key elements of their technology, including energy beam steering capabilities and their solid-state approach. Space Solar has also been highlighted in a Times article by Adam Vaughan, featuring a graphic created by the Times explaining Space Solar's architecture.

Experts and Advocates on SSP

• Sam Adlen, co-CEO of Space Solar, was interviewed by Alain Gavin for the Tech Command Investing podcast, discussing how SSP works, implications of SSP for global energy challenges, and hurdles that need to be overcome in order to create the technology. Sam Adlen has also appeared in an RE:TV film, featuring SSP and their demonstrator HARRIER. This past month, the Space Solar CEOs have given talks at several events such as the Farnborough International Space Show, the OK, bye climate festival, SXSW London, and the Earth Day Sea and Space Summit.