TerraSpark Raises €5.4 Million and Secures a 2027 Orbital Test as Europe’s Space Solar Market Moves From Theory to Hardware

TerraSpark has raised €5.4 million in pre-seed funding and is moving into a more execution-focused phase with plans for an orbital technology demonstrator in 2027 and a first space-to-Earth power transmission target in 2028. The Luxembourg-based company will also join Dcubed’s ARAQYS-D3 mission, which is slated for launch on a SpaceX rideshare in early 2027 and is designed to test in-space power generation and transmission concepts.

The development is significant because space-based solar power has long been discussed as a distant concept, but TerraSpark is trying to approach it as a staged engineering problem rather than a single giant infrastructure leap. Its model is based on radio frequency wireless energy transmission, and the company says the near-term focus is on pilots, demonstrations, and commercially viable intermediate systems before any larger-scale orbital deployment.

 

Funding Gives TerraSpark a Path From Demonstration to Early Orbital Validation

 

The new financing round included Daphni, Sake Bosch, Hans(wo)man Group, and other investors, and the company said the capital will be used to prepare first pilots and demonstrations, including a live-event wireless power supply demonstration, followed by an orbital demonstrator in 2027. TerraSpark has also publicly stated that it is working toward its first space-to-Earth power transmission in 2028.

That matters because early-stage space energy companies often struggle to show a credible bridge between laboratory proof and orbital relevance. TerraSpark is trying to close that gap by sequencing its milestones: terrestrial demonstration first, then in-space validation, then a more ambitious transmission event. This makes the company’s proposition less about speculative future energy systems and more about whether wireless space power can be de-risked through stepwise hardware testing. That sequencing is an inference from the company’s announced roadmap and mission plan.

 

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The 2027 Mission Will Test Whether In-Space Wireless Power Can Work Reliably on Orbit

 

TerraSpark’s role on the ARAQYS-D3 mission will be to demonstrate radio frequency wireless power transmission in space by sending power from a shoebox-sized transmitter to a laptop-sized receiver across the host spacecraft. If successful, the transmitted power will light a bank of white LEDs, with the result recorded by an onboard camera.

This is a small-scale test, but strategically it is important. Space-based solar power ultimately depends not only on collecting energy in orbit, but on transmitting it efficiently and safely. A compact on-orbit transmission demonstration does not prove full-scale feasibility, but it does test one of the core functional layers required for future systems. In that sense, the ARAQYS-D3 mission is less about immediate commercial power delivery and more about validating whether power beaming can move from concept credibility to flight-tested engineering. That interpretation is based on the mission’s stated purpose and TerraSpark’s transmission demo design.

 

Dcubed’s ARAQYS Platform Adds a Broader In-Space Power Context

 

Dcubed has described ARAQYS-D3 as a Q1 2027 mission aboard a SpaceX rideshare that will demonstrate a 2 kW in-space-manufactured solar array and support use cases in power-beaming and directed energy. Dcubed presents the broader ARAQYS concept as a step toward a “Power-as-a-Service” model for satellites, where spacecraft could access external power sources to extend mission life and enable new applications.

That broader mission architecture gives TerraSpark a more meaningful context than a standalone tech demo would. The company is not testing wireless transfer in isolation, but within a mission built around orbital power generation and transmission capabilities. This increases the relevance of the demonstration because it places the technology inside an emerging ecosystem of in-space energy infrastructure rather than treating it as a one-off experiment. That is an inference drawn from Dcubed’s stated ARAQYS mission goals and TerraSpark’s inclusion on the mission manifest.

 

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Europe Is Trying to Build a Space Solar Capability With a Different Development Logic

 

TerraSpark’s leadership and positioning also suggest a deliberate European attempt to turn earlier policy and research groundwork into startup execution. The company’s chief technology officer, Sanjay Vijendran, previously led the European Space Agency’s Solaris space-based solar program, and TerraSpark explicitly frames its work as building on the validated physics of radio frequency energy transfer while focusing on the engineering challenge of safe, scalable systems.

This is notable because space-based solar has often been treated as a concept that is technically possible but commercially too far away. TerraSpark is trying to change that narrative by emphasizing realistic development stages and nearer-term use cases. That does not remove the major challenges around economics, transmission efficiency, launch costs, and large-scale deployment, but it does point to a more disciplined commercialization approach than the sector has often been associated with. The claim about the sector’s historical perception is a general characterization; the staged approach is grounded in TerraSpark’s public roadmap and leadership commentary.

 

The Real Test Will Be Whether Demonstrations Convert Into Credible Energy Infrastructure

 

The broader importance of TerraSpark’s funding and mission participation is that they move space-based solar one step closer to measurable engineering milestones. The company now has capital, a public timeline, and a defined orbital mission in which it will test wireless power transfer. Dcubed’s ARAQYS-D3 mission is targeted for early 2027, and TerraSpark’s own stated ambition is to follow with a first space-to-Earth transmission in 2028.

That still leaves major open questions. A successful LED-lighting demo on orbit would be meaningful, but it would remain far from proving economically viable space-based solar at utility scale. The next phase will depend on whether these demonstrations can show enough technical reliability and system efficiency to justify larger follow-on missions. For now, TerraSpark is best understood not as evidence that orbital solar is commercially solved, but as a sign that the market is entering a more practical testing phase where credibility will be earned through flight hardware rather than future promise.