Santa Fe-based Solstar Space Co. will work with the federal government to advance its internet technology, designed to allow more continuous connection with satellites.
The company was awarded an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 contract from the Air Force for feasibility studies with the Department of Defense to show how its technology "supports continuous connectivity," according to a release from the company. The first phase award will span 90 days and is worth $50,000, founder and CEO Brian Barnett told Business First. The tech, which the company calls a critical data relay, is a component that can be affixed to satellites before they are launched to provide a communications link to other equipment, according to Barnett.
"We feel like we are kind of revolutionizing the way that operators of satellites in orbit can communicate with their very valuable and expensive space assets," Barnett said. Satellites often communicate using ground stations with a connection that is limited. With Solstar's technology, "you can communicate with [a satellite] any part of the day really," Barnett said.
Following the Phase 1 Air Force contract, the company plans to move on to Phase 2 “as early as August” when hardware would begin to be built. After that, Solstar will want to deploy the hardware on satellites. In 2018, the company tested its technology on Blue Origin's New Shepard Rocket, according to a NASA release. To prove it, a tweet was sent in space.
The company provides bandwidth for small satellites and enables orbital and suborbital communications for crewed missions, the release says. Some in the space industry have said the coming years are set to bring "explosive commercial growth" to low-earth orbit.
Lisa Dreher, a spokeswoman for Solstar, said spacecraft connectivity is becoming more important as more satellites are put into the air.
Solstar has about 20 workers, including subcontractors, Barnett said. It has raised about $2 million worth of outside funding but "tens of millions" of dollars have been invested to this point, he added. The company previously raised $1.38 million through crowdfunding platform Wefunder.
A number of tech companies in New Mexico have turned to crowdfunding as other sources of investment appear to have backed off from making bets during the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, the SEC changed the rules for regulation crowdfunding, allowing as much as $5 million to be raised.
