Jacksonville-based Star Catcher Industries, which specializes in spacecraft-to-spacecraft power transfer, completed the first test of its power beaming technology March 19 at EverBank Stadium.
During the demonstration, Star Catcher’s energy transmission system successfully collected and transmitted solar energy more than 100 meters across the stadium’s field.
Founded in Jacksonville in 2024 by “space entrepreneurs” Andrew Rush and Michael Snyder, with venture capitalist and operator Bryan Lyandvert, the company is headquartered at 5220 Shad Road, Suite 407, in Mandarin.
Its staff has grown from three to 30 in a year, according to Rush, who was the founding president of Redwire, a Jacksonville-based aerospace manufacturer and space technology company.
He also co-founded Made In Space, a manufacturer of three-dimensional printers for use outside Earth’s orbit, which Redwire later acquired.
In its first year, Star Catcher secured $12.25 million in seed funding, co-led by Initialized Capital and B Capital. Rush said the company will continue seeking investors so it can eventually establish an outer space energy grid of 200 Star Catcher Network satellites to mitigate the power limitations of satellites on missions.
It was also awarded an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 contract to help fund its research and development.
“This demonstration marks the first end-to-end test of our space power beaming technology, proving we can collect and wirelessly transmit energy with the precision needed for space applications,” Rush said.
Rush said that currently, astronauts on missions must be precise in their power usage, often stopping one task to conserve energy for another.
“What we’re able to do is collect solar energy and intensify that energy and send it to clients’ spacecrafts to give them more power so they can do more. Right now they’re basically on camping trips. They have to bring everything with them. If they don’t have enough stuff they have to do less,” he said.
He said no subscription is required. Power is provided on a “pay-as-you-go model.”
Lyandvert called the demonstration “transformative.”
“It’s the next phase of space development and of the industry,” he said.
“Power is one of the most fundamental things you can build. Creating a space-energy grid will open up capabilities for others. It will allow them to do more.”
Rush said Star Catcher’s energy grid can integrate with existing spacecraft without the need for retrofits to their power systems or custom receivers.
He said Star Catcher can provide space missions with energy at half the cost.
This breakthrough validates a core capability needed to build the Star Catcher Network, a planned space-based energy grid designed to provide continuous, on-demand power to satellites and space stations.
While the demonstration successfully beamed power more than the endzone-to-endzone length of a football field, Star Catcher is already preparing for its first large-scale test this summer at the Space Florida Launch and Landing Facility in Merritt Island.
The upcoming demonstration, according to Star Catcher, will integrate the wireless power transmission of hundreds of watts over more than 1 kilometer, simultaneously powering multiple mock satellites. It was the site of space shuttle landings until 2011.