Star Catcher: Building the First Space Power Grid

The Challenge of Spacecraft Power

• 🚀 Current spacecraft must carry all their fuel, limiting mission duration once energy depletes.
• 💡 Space missions are often power-limited, impacting their capabilities and requiring compromises in design.
• 🛰️ Traditional satellite buses in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) typically generate only 800-1500 watts, insufficient for modern demands like direct-to-device connectivity or edge computing.

Star Catcher's Orbital Power Grid Solution

• ✨ Star Catcher is developing the world's first power grid for space, consisting of a constellation of satellites.
• ⚡ These satellites collect, concentrate, and redirect solar energy to existing client satellite solar arrays, boosting power output, especially during eclipses.
• 🎯 The system is designed for minimal retrofitting, leveraging existing solar arrays which efficiently convert photons into power.
• 📈 Increasing photon flux to solar arrays can linearly increase power generation, with potential for significant gains (e.g., 5 suns yielding 5x power).

Benefits and Applications

• ✅ The power grid can extend satellite mission life by providing supplemental energy, addressing degradation over time.
• 🧩 It helps save costs by allowing the use of smaller satellite platforms and avoiding the