Power Purchase Agreement Reached by Star Catcher, Loft Orbital
Marks One of the First Commercial Energy Transactions in Space
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been reached between Loft Orbital and Star Catcher to facilitate the purchase of power from the forthcoming Star Catcher Network to augment the power generation capabilities of Loft’s growing constellation of mission-agnostic satellite platforms.
“Plugging into an external power source fundamentally changes how we think about our mission offering.”
Alex Greenberg, Loft
Loft offers a turnkey solution for deploying diverse customer payloads to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) onboard high-power, off-the-shelf satellites. With the ability to host a wide range of customer payloads, these satellites require significant and flexible amounts of electrical power — a demand that continues to grow as on-orbit operations become increasingly data-driven and computationally intensive.
By accessing on-demand, scalable energy from Star Catcher, Loft will significantly improve its ability to accommodate high-power customer payloads.
“Plugging into an external power source fundamentally changes how we think about our mission offering,” said Alex Greenberg, Loft Co-founder and COO. “It boosts uptime for our customers’ payloads and processors, optimizes spacecraft performance, and ensures our constellation operates at full capacity.”
The Star Catcher Network consists of modular Power Nodes that collect solar energy using advanced optical systems and refine it into wavelengths optimized for spacecraft solar panels. Concentrated beams of light are then wirelessly transmitted across space to customer spacecraft. With no retrofit required, the Star Catcher Network enables satellites to generate two to ten times more power than onboard systems alone, significantly improving uptime, performance, and revenue potential.
“A readily available utility-scale power grid in space is a capability the entire industry needed yesterday,” said Andrew Rush, CEO of Star Catcher. “We are proud to partner with Loft. Providing Loft with on-demand power allows them to focus on mission performance rather than power limitations, a critical paradigm shift for the future of space operations.”
As demand for next-generation capabilities like real-time Earth Observation, direct-to-cell connectivity, and resilient national security operations continues to surge, Loft and Star Catcher are working to improve consistent and dynamic access to space for all customers.