TerraSpark Secures €5M Funding for Space-Based Solar Power

TerraSpark, a company dedicated to developing space-based solar energy systems, has announced the closing of a pre-seed financing round, raising over €5 million. Investors include Daphni, better ventures, the Hans(wo)men Group, and a group of strategic business angels. This capital is earmarked to support the company's technological advancement and fund upcoming pilot applications and field testing.

TerraSpark's initiative comes at a time of increasing focus on innovative energy solutions, especially in Europe, where existing infrastructures face significant challenges. Rising demand, grid constraints, and the growing energy needs of data centers represent hurdles that require long-term, technologically advanced approaches.

The Vision and Phased Approach

TerraSpark's vision is based on generating solar power from space, a concept that promises to deliver a continuous energy flow, immune to weather variations or the alternation of day and night. While the idea of harnessing solar energy in orbit has existed for decades, it has only recently become more concretely feasible. Reduced launch costs, coupled with advancements in satellite manufacturing and orbital robotics, have opened new perspectives for this technology.

The company has opted for a phased approach to its deployment. Initially, TerraSpark will focus on the commercialization of radio frequency-based wireless energy transmission for industrial use on Earth. This preliminary phase is crucial for validating the technology's safety, efficiency, and regulatory requirements before scaling towards orbital systems. As Jasper Deprez, founder and CEO of TerraSpark, stated, "Space-based solar power has long been considered something for the distant future. Across Europe, energy resilience is now a practical concern. With a step-by-step approach, starting with commercially viable systems on Earth, we believe this can become real infrastructure within a realistic timeframe."

Implications for Energy Infrastructure

Energy is a critical factor for any technological infrastructure, and data centers, particularly those hosting intensive workloads like Large Language Models (LLMs), are among the largest consumers. The ability to ensure a stable, clean, and independent power supply from terrestrial grid fluctuations is a significant advantage for those evaluating on-premise deployments or hybrid strategies. TerraSpark's proposal, though still in its early stages, offers an interesting perspective for addressing growing energy demand and mitigating risks related to grid stability.

For CTOs and infrastructure architects, the availability of reliable and scalable energy sources is fundamental for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and data sovereignty. Solutions like the one proposed by TerraSpark could, in the long term, help reduce dependence on traditional energy grids, offering greater control and predictability over operational costs. While the journey is long, the focus on validating the technology on Earth before space deployment demonstrates a pragmatic strategy for a sector with complex technical and regulatory constraints.

Next Steps and the Team

TerraSpark's team comprises professionals with experience in space technology, engineering, and business scaling, including Jasper Deprez (CEO), Sanjay Vijendran (CTO), and Matthias Laug (COO). This combination of expertise is essential for tackling the technical and commercial challenges of such an ambitious project.

In the coming months, the company will focus on preparing pilot applications and demonstration use cases, including wireless power transmission in live environments. The roadmap includes an orbital technology demonstrator planned for 2027, followed by initial space-to-Earth power transmission in 2028. The recently secured funding will be crucial for accelerating these developments and carrying out the necessary tests to transform a decades-old idea into an infrastructural reality.