US company Star Catcher Industries is sending an experimental spacecraft called Protostar into orbit in October. Interesting Engineering reports that it will lift off from Vandenberg on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission. Once in orbit, Protostar will try to transfer power to another satellite with no cable between them.
The experiment will unfold in stages. First, a small CubeSat with ordinary solar panels will separate from Protostar. Protostar must then find that same CubeSat on its own, track its motion and aim an optical beam at its solar cells. Finally, engineers will measure how much energy reached the CubeSat and how efficiently it was delivered.
That lets the company test three key technologies in a single flight: spotting another spacecraft, tracking it in orbit and sending power over a distance. Star Catcher has already tested each of them separately. It demonstrated optical power transfer on the ground at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and in late 2025, as part of the Sextant Alpha mission, it tested its detection and tracking software in orbit.
Protostar is meant to bring these pieces together into a single system. If it works, Star Catcher will have shown that a measurable amount of power can travel between two physically unconnected spacecraft under real orbital conditions.
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Longer term, the company wants to build a power grid in orbit. Under Star Catcher’s plan, satellites would draw extra power from outside sources instead of relying solely on their own solar panels. The company names Earth observation satellites, military spacecraft and power-hungry orbital data centers among its potential customers.
Space companies are already paying attention. Star Catcher has signed ten agreements for future power purchases, including deals with Starcloud, Loft Orbital, Astro Digital and Aethero, and has received more than 40 letters of intent from prospective customers. It has also raised $88 million in venture funding and holds a $60 million STRATFI (Strategic Funding Increase) contract from the US Space Force.
Meanwhile, Star Catcher is developing a larger next-generation spacecraft designed to actually supply customers with power, not just demonstrate the technology. First, though, Protostar’s flight should show whether wireless power transfer between satellites, and a full-fledged energy infrastructure in orbit, is viable.
