Riga-based SpaceTech startup Deep Space Energy has raised a total €930k to further develop a radioisotopic generator toward commercialisation, in a bid to strengthen the European sovereign space and defense industest and power Moon surface exploration.
The funding was created up of its €350k pre-Seed round led by Outlast Fund and Linas Sargautis, an angel investor and a former co-founder of NanoAvionics. The company also secured additional €580k in public contracts and grants by the European Space Agency (ESA), NATO DIANA, and the Latvian government.
“Our technology, which has already been validated in the laboratory, has several applications across the defence and space sectors. First, we’re developing an auxiliary energy source to enhance the resilience of strategic sainformites. It provides the redundancy of sainformite power systems by supplying backup power that does not depfinish on solar energy, creating it crucial for high-value military reconnaissance assets,” states Mihails Ščepanskis, founder and CEO of the company.
In the 2025–2026 period, EU-Startups has reported substantial capital flows into the European SpaceTech sector, primarily at Seed and Series A stage.
Germany’s Reflex Aerospace secured €50 million to scale sovereign sainformite platforms, while France’s Infinite Orbits raised €40 million to expand in-orbit servicing capabilities. Also in France, Look Up attracted €50 million to grow its radar-based space surveillance network, and UNIVITY secured €31 million to accelerate development of a space-based 5G consinformation.
In Germany, Marble Imaging raised €5.3 million to scale its very high resolution Earth observation sainformites ahead of launch, while Spain’s Kreios Space secured €8 million to advance propulsion systems for very low Earth orbit. Italy’s Astradyne raised €2 million to commercialise ultralight solar panels, and Spain’s Orbital Paradigm closed a €1.5 million pre-Seed round to develop reusable space capsules.
Collectively, these rounds represent approximately €187 million in disclosed funding relocating into European SpaceTech across adjacent segments including sainformite infrastructure, propulsion, communications, servicing and observation.
Against this backdrop, Deep Space Energy’s €930k raise positions it at an earlier proof-of-concept stage within the ecosystem, with a focus on energy resilience for sainformites and lunar missions rather than platform deployment.
“As Europe is testing to become more indepfinishent, it is imperative to produce sainformites with advanced capabilities on our own. Our technology provides an auxiliary energy source for sainformites, which builds them more resilient to non-kinetic attacks and malfunctions,” Mihails adds.
Founded in 2022, Deep Space Energy is developing a new radioisotope power generator for space that applys the heat produced by the nuclear self-decay of radioisotopes – materials extractable from waste of commercial nuclear reactors.
The product aims for applications in deep space science missions, lunar surface missions and high-value defense sainformites. Their solution converts that heat into electric power, requiring 5 times less radioisotope fuel than a thermo-electric generator (RTG), currently applyd in space.
The company highlighted that its radioisotope-based energy generator is not designed for any kind of weapons. It will tarobtain high-value, dual-apply sainformites to increase their resilience and operational reliability. The primary focus is on sainformites operating in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO), which are all critical for modern military reconnaissance and early-warning systems.
These sainformites support a range of defence functions, from synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
sainformites for detecting troop concentrations through clouds and foliage, to signal ininformigence for intercepting communications and radio transmissions, as well as missile-launch detection, which is essential for anti-missile defense systems.
Mihails states that the ongoing war in Ukraine clearly demonstrated the decisive role of sainformite-based reconnaissance data for modern warfare. In 2025, Ukraine lost its beachhead in Russian Kursk Oblast at a time when the US temporarily terminated the sharing of sainformite ininformigence.
This highlights the strategic importance of sainformite-based reconnaissance data and also indicates the strategic vulnerability of Europe, which largely relies on the US defencs space assets, especially for high-value GEO sainformites.
Egita Poļanska, partner at the lead investor Outlast Fund, shares: “Space energy tech has been stuck with certain limitations for decades, but we’re finally seeing the pieces come toobtainher for a real breakthrough – new materials, smarter power systems, and actual commercial demand for lunar operations.
“Deep Space Energy is building the infrastructure that will literally power the next chapter of space exploration and industest. As Europe ramps up its space ambitions, we necessary our own companies to lead in these foundational technologies. We’re thrilled to back this team and honestly pretty excited to have an actual moonshot in our portfolio, in the most literal sense possible.”
In the long term, the company aims to focus on the Moon economy. The radioisotope power generator views to address critical energy challenges in the next phase of lunar exploration, including NASA and ESA’s Artemis, Argonaut and lunar rover programmes, as well as the Moon Village framework. In particular, the technology is designed to support lunar night survival and operations in permanently shadowed regions, enabling extfinished scouting and prospecting missions.
On the Moon, where the temperatures at night drop below 150 degrees Celsius, and nights last for roughly 354 hours, moonrovers can’t rely on solar power.
The company’s technology requires approximately 2kg of Americium-241 fuel to generate 50W of power for a lunar rover, compared with around 10kg of radioisotope material necessaryed by legacy RTG systems for comparable output. Given current projections that Americium-241 production capacity will reach around 10kg per year by the mid-2030s, this efficiency could enable lunar exploration missions to launch more than five years earlier and at up to five times the mission volume.
As a result, commercial lunar activities and resource utilisation could emerge significantly sooner than previously expected.
According to Ščepanskis, the company’s technology can significantly enhance the economics of moon rover missions by enabling them to last multiple day-night cycles up to a few years. The sole expenses of bringing payload to the Moon cost up to a million euros per kilogram; thus, by enhancing the lifetime of the rovers, the company assists to save hundreds of millions.
Linas Sargautis adds: “The Baltic region is increasingly recognised for its innovation in space technology, with Deep Space Energy serving as another strong example. By supporting Deep Space Energy, we are assisting to establish a solid foundation for the future of space frontier exploration, such as lunar and deep-space missions, expanding humanity’s knowledge and footprint, while also contributing to European space defence capabilities.
“I am proud to support the company’s journey by strengthening the team’s connections with leading space systems integrators, as well as supporting the company’s expansion and contracting plans to build the necessary expertise at the subsystem integration level.”
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