Katalyst Selected for Pentagon Program to Demonstrate Space-Based Power Beaming

Katalyst Space has been selected by a Pentagon energy investment program to develop and launch a robotic spacecraft capable of assembling a large-format power beaming system on orbit and transmitting power back to Earth. The company announced the selection Monday, working alongside the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

The award comes under the Advanced Scalable Growth Architecture for Robotic Deployment (ASGARD) program. Katalyst was chosen by the Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund (OECIF), which issues awards focused on maturing first-of-its-kind energy technologies for future warfighting platforms. Quantum Space also recently received an OECIF award.

The NRL is developing modular tiles that will form the large-format power beaming system. In the ASGARD mission, a Katalyst Nexus spacecraft will use robotic arms to assemble the tiles on orbit. Once assembled, the tiles will harness solar energy, convert it to radio frequency microwave energy, and transmit that energy down to Earth.

Katalyst recently experienced technology issues with a servicing spacecraft launched to rescue NASA's Swift Observatory. The company has also won a Defense Innovation Unit contract for a deorbit-as-a-service program. Katalyst highlighted that its Nexus spacecraft is able to serve multiple types of missions.

RuthAnne Darling, Director of Operational Energy Innovation, described the effort as a foundational step. "This important, first-of-a-kind technology opens new pathways for operational energy in space," Darling said. "Demonstrating this groundbreaking technology, autonomously assembling large-scale power and energy collectors in space, is the first step and a foundational one."

The demonstration is positioned as an early move toward operational energy capabilities in space, with the ASGARD program framed as the initial step in maturing autonomous on-orbit assembly of large-scale power and energy collectors.

What to watch next is Katalyst's development and launch of the robotic Nexus spacecraft and the on-orbit assembly of the NRL's modular tiles into a functioning power beaming system.