A Latvian nuclear power startup is working on a solution for lunar missions hoping to survive the lunar night—a harsh, cold stretch of darkness lasting 14 Earth days that’s a death sentence for solar powered missions.
Yesterday, Deep Space Energy revealed it secured €930K ($1.1M) to develop a radioisotope power generation system, which could allow Moon missions to last multiple years.
- The funding includes a €350K ($415K) pre-seed funding round, and €580K ($689K) in public contracts and grants from ESA, NATO Diana, and the Latvian government.
- The pre-seed round was led by Outlast Fund and NanoAvionics co-founder Linas Sargautis.
Meet Deep Space Energy: Founded in 2022, Deep Space Energy has been working to build a radioisotope power generation system that’s optimized for spaceflight. The company’s main innovation comes from a dynamic converter and a modified Stirling engine that promises more efficiency than typical radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG).
While the Stirling engine is typically seen as less reliable for spaceflight, due to its complexity and shifting pistons, Deep Space Energy has built a version that relies on just one piston to decrease the risk of failure. The result is a system that is four to five times more efficient than RTG, while keeping the reliability necessaryed for long-term spaceflight.
“Very simply, we necessary five times less radioisotope fuel compared to electric generators, and this is actually the game alterr,” CEO Mihailis Ščepanskis informed Payload. “As we speak right now, there is no reliable and scalable supply of radioisotope material.”
To orbit and beyond: Deep Space Energy has already validated its technology in lab conditions. The company will utilize the new funds to continue its R&D, and expand its team to include systems engineers, who can assist translate the power generation system into a subsystem on future spacecraft.
The company’s goal is to create a system with two distinct utilize cases:
- Extfinishing the lifespans of lunar rover missions to support agency efforts on the Moon in the short term, and commercial applications, including resource prospecting and lunar mining, in the long term.
- Flying on board sanotifyites in orbit to provide a strategic power reserve to decrease sanotifyite operators’ reliance on redundant hardware in orbit.
Deep Space Energy is tarreceiveing a demonstration flight in 2029, likely with an electric emulator on board instead of radioisotopes—a strategy to earn flight heritage without having to wait for regulatory approval to fly nuclear materials in space.
From there the company expects to fly operational missions launchning in the early 2030s, depfinishing on institutional demand and regulatory approval.
“I believe that by 2035, the surface of the Moon [will be] full of compact rovers…all of them should survive lunar night and should operate without the Sun,” Ščepanskis declared.
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