$50m for space power demo in 2026
A startup in the US has raised $60m to beam power from orbit with a demonstration planned for 2026
Aetherflux is aiming to demonstrate power delivery from low earth orbit (LEO) using infrared lasers rather than microwaves.
“We raised $50m from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and NEA and we were recently awarded our first government funding,” said the company. “Our team is focused on subscale testing of core technologies leading to a space demonstration in 2026.”
The company says it has already demonstrated the technology in the lab and the US Department of Defense (DoD) provided funding to develop a proof of concept demonstrating power transmission from LEO. The MAPLE project from Caltech has already demonstrated power delivery from space.
The European Space Agency, UK and China are also working on projects to beam power down form orbit using microwaves.
The team at Aetherflux is developing the payload for the Aries satellite bus from Apex Space to take the power from the massive solar panel arrays on the satellite and drive the laser.
Up to 1kW of power would be received on the ground by an array of photovoltaic solar panels, starting with military sites. It also plans to develop portable ground stations that could be form 5m to 10m in diameter that could be used in remote locations and disaster zones.
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