Florida startup Star Catcher to launch Protostar laser power test
Florida startup Star Catcher is about to launch Protostar, a satellite that will try something pretty wild: sending power between two satellites using lasers.
This is happening soon on SpaceX's Transporter-18 mission.
Their co-founder and chief technology officer Michael Snyder calls it a big step toward building a real-life power grid in space.
Star Catcher seeks orbital power grid
Star Catcher, founded in 2024, wants to solve the energy crunch for satellites by creating an orbital grid.
They already tested their tech at NASA's Kennedy Space Center last year, delivering more than 1.1 kilowatts of electrical power wirelessly.
If Protostar works as planned with a CubeSat, this could open doors for things like smarter Earth monitoring and faster defense systems, all powered from orbit by the end of the decade.