Virtus Solis and Silicon Valley startup Orbital Composites are preparing to begin robotic assembly of hexagonal photovoltaic tiles — essentially solar panels — in a medium Earth Molniya orbit in 2027. Their goal is transmission of more than one kilowatt to Earth. Virtus Solis won a $1.92 million contract in January from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy to develop technology for wirelessly transferring radio-frequency power. Highly efficient, miniature RF components will benefit SBSP campaigns as well as unrelated space programs, Tate said.

Space based solar will have greater than 90% availability, for 5–20x more sunlight than terrestrial solar due to no weather or night time. Sunlight is 40% more intense in orbit.

There are several verticals that struggle to be electrified, especially heavy duty use cases like marine and aircraft. Using synfuels as energy storage is a great idea, and Virtus Solis Technologies could help bring synfuels to market at costs lower than digging oil out of the ground.