Star Catcher will try beaming power between two satellites in orbit
A US startup plans to send power from one satellite to another with a laser, and the test is set for this October. Star Catcher's Protostar spacecraft will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission. If it works, satellites could one day get extra power in orbit instead of being limited by their own solar panels. That would change how future spacecraft are designed and what they cost.
The test
Once in orbit, Protostar will release a small CubeSat fitted with ordinary solar panels. The main spacecraft then has to find that CubeSat on its own, track it, and aim an optical power beam at its panels. Engineers will measure how much energy arrives and how efficient the transfer is.
Star Catcher says it would be the first optical power beaming between two untethered spacecraft. The parts have been tested separately. In October 2025, the company reported sending more than 1.1 kW to commercial solar panels at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a ground-based world record. Its tracking software flew on the Sextant Alpha mission in late 2025.
We’re building the first power grid in space.
? Fusion: Over the last 2 years, in a series of ground and in-space technology demonstrations, we’ve validated the core technology stack: energy harvesting, satellite acquisition and tracking, and energy transmission. Now we’re…September 28, 2026
Protostar is the first time the pieces run together in space. Caltech's MAPLE project showed wireless power transmission in orbit in 2023, but it used microwaves rather than light.
The money
Star Catcher closed a Series A round in May 2026, bringing its total venture funding to $88 million. The US Space Force has also signed a $60 million STRATFI contract, a program that pairs government and private money for dual-use technology. The company reports 10 power purchase agreements, with customers including Starcloud, Loft Orbital and Astro Digital, according to Satellite Today.
Those customers hint at the market: Earth-observation satellites, military spacecraft and power-hungry orbital computing. Google's first AI-chip test satellite is due to fly on the same SpaceX mission, which is one reason orbital power is getting attention. SpaceX's other big launch news, Starship reaching orbit, is also making orbital hardware cheaper to imagine.
What's next
Nothing here is available to buy. The company has no public pricing, and commercial service depends on a bigger second-generation spacecraft that engineers are already designing. That craft is meant for real customer supply, not demos.
The October result is the number to watch. A laser can be very efficient on a lab bench, but pointing it at a fast-moving target hundreds of miles away is harder. If Protostar delivers useful power, the idea moves from experiment to product. If not, the ground records will remain the headline.
