Mantis Space has emerged from stealth with an oversubscribed $10 million seed round to develop orbital energy infrastructure designed to eliminate the solar generation downtime caused by Earth’s shadow.
Mantis Space is developing a constellation of satellites to be stationed in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), where they remain in nearly continuous sunlight. These assets capture solar energy and transmit it via high-precision lasers to customer satellites in lower orbits that are experiencing eclipse.
Chief executive officer Eric Truitt said that by tuning laser wavelengths to the specific absorption peaks of solar cells, the system achieves a generation efficiency 20% to 30% higher than raw sunlight.
The technology targets a primary bottleneck in satellite return on investment. Spacecraft typically spend one-third of their operational life in shadow, forcing operators to carry heavy battery banks or move to less productive, sun-synchronous orbits. Mantis said it aims to centralize power generation, allowing customers to reduce onboard energy storage mass and potentially double or triple mission utilization.
The company’s engineering is led by Chief Engineer John Sandusky, PhD, who joins after 20 years leading solar and laser programs at Sandia National Laboratory. The first iteration of the Mantis payload will feature four laser beams per satellite to serve multiple spacecraft simultaneously.
The startup selected Albuquerque, New Mexico, for its headquarters and manufacturing hub following a national search. The facility is supported by $3 million in state and city incentives and is projected to generate a $480 million economic impact over the next decade. The move places Mantis in a regional cluster of space-solar firms that includes mPower Technology.
Mantis Space targets a 2028 launch for its initial constellation. The company positions the service as foundational infrastructure for high-power applications, including orbital data centers and persistent radar systems that require uninterrupted energy.
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