Latvia’s Deep Space Energy has secured €930,000 in pre-seed funding to advance development of a novel radioisotopic power generator, aiming to provide sustainable energy for lunar missions and bolster the resilience of satellite infrastructure. The funding, finalized February 11, 2026, includes €350,000 from Outlast Fund and angel investor Linas Sargautis, a former co-founder of NanoAvionics, alongside €580,000 in public grants from the Latvian government, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA).
The company’s technology utilizes radioisotopes – materials derived from nuclear waste – which generate heat through natural decay. Deep Space Energy claims its generator converts this heat into electricity with significantly improved fuel efficiency, requiring five times less radioisotope fuel than traditional radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) currently used in space, according to founder and CEO Mihails Ščepanskis.
“We’re developing an auxiliary energy source to enhance the resilience of strategic satellites,” Ščepanskis stated. “It provides the redundancy of satellite power systems by supplying backup power that does not depend on solar energy, making it crucial for high-value military reconnaissance assets.”
The company estimates its technology would require approximately 2kg of Americium-241 to generate 50W of power for a lunar rover, compared to the roughly 10kg needed for comparable output from legacy RTG systems. Deep Space Energy emphasizes its generator is not intended for weapons applications, focusing instead on increasing the operational reliability of dual-use satellites operating in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Geostationary Orbit (GEO), and Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO).
The funding will be used to further develop the radioisotopic generator towards commercialization, with a particular focus on supporting lunar exploration initiatives such as NASA and ESA’s Artemis and Argonaut programs, as well as the broader Moon Village framework. The company aims to address energy challenges in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, where solar power is unavailable. Ščepanskis stated the company aims to generate electricity in space and supply it to space agencies and private companies interested in exploiting lunar resources.
Separately, the UK Space Agency has awarded contracts totaling £945,000 to three companies investigating in-orbit manufacturing. BioOrbit received £250,000 for its ‘PHARM’ study, focused on manufacturing drugs in microgravity to create protein crystals for improved drug formulations. Space Forge secured £300,000 for ‘2Forge2Furious,’ demonstrating the commercial production of semiconductor seed crystals in orbit. OrbiSky was awarded £295,000 for ‘SkyYield,’ developing a payload to process ZBLAN fluoride glass in microgravity, a material capable of transmitting light with significantly reduced signal loss compared to traditional optical fibers.
The UK Space Agency’s funding comes from its Sustainability & ISAM and Unlocking Space programmes, designed to support growth within the UK space sector. The agency identifies in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) as a priority capability area for national security and economic growth.
