NEWSROOM
Kiwi start-up Astrix Astronautics unlocks new possibilities for power generation in space
Astrix Astronautics is one of New Zealand’s thriving participants in the $350 billion global space industry. Their innovative approach to deploying solar panels in space has opened up a world of opportunity by creating the potential for larger surface areas for generating solar power in space.
Developing a game-changing mechanism for the aerospace industry is a pretty high-level achievement (literally). But for entrepreneur Max Daniels, co-founder of aerospace component manufacturing company Astrix Astronautics, a key lesson he’s learned on his entrepreneurial journey is one that’s very much grounded in a simple business reality: “A vital skill needed when you’re building a start-up is finding and addressing a pain point for people,” he observes. “It’s the reason start-ups exist, and is where useful innovation occurs.”
For Max and his Astrix Astronautics co-founder William Hunter, the pain point they identified – current constraints on solar array technology – would initially seem fairly niche; arguably, not many of us are familiar with this particular issue. For a start, what exactly is a solar array? Think solar panels on a massive scale: solar arrays comprise several solar panels, each containing multiple solar cells, and thus offer renewable power generation from sunlight at the sort of capacity required to power spacecraft rather than simply heat a home. In fact, they are the main source of power for spacecraft that orbit Earth – for example, satellites.
Obviously, solar arrays need to be as large as possible to function well – and this poses difficulties for applications in space, explains Max. “Launches on rockets are very expensive and are done based on weight and size. This means there are significant limitations on the size and mass of spacecraft. Spacecraft get around this by using deployables – devices that fold up compactly while inside the rocket, but then deploy into a large structure once in space.”
And this is where that ground-breaking technology comes in. Copia, the first product developed by Astrix Astronautics, uses an ingenious inflatable deployment mechanism, enabling spacecraft to deploy larger areas in space with a high level of reliability. “The technology consists of three parts: the inflatable structure, inflation mechanism, and rigidization,” explains Max. “The inflatable structure is a series of flexible tubes that is folded up into its packed form. When deployment is triggered, the inflation mechanism fills the structure with gas. The gas unfolds the structure into its deployed state. Rigidization is the process of hardening the flexible tubes to allow a sturdy structure without the pressure from the gas. It’s needed as small punctures in the inflatable structure will occur during the satellite’s lifetime. By hardening the tubes, it becomes a permanent structure.”
This innovative approach marks a significant departure from the technology currently available in the sector, adds Max. “Typical solar arrays are deployed with hinge-based deployment with ridged panels. Imagine a series of doors that fold onto the satellite. The problem with this approach is that once you use more than three panels, the deployment becomes risky as each hinge needs to successfully deploy,” he says. “Copia doesn’t have this problem, which means we can achieve much larger deployments with a range of other benefits.” The technology drastically increases the deployable area on spacecraft, providing twenty times the surface area and decreased mass.
And solar arrays are just the start. In the aerospace industry specifically, the Copia mechanism can also deploy components of virtually any shape and size, including antennas, radiators, heat shields and drag sails. But in terms of the ongoing global search for effective, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, the potential for Astrix’s technology is obvious. It seems it’s not so niche after all.
It’s all the more remarkable when you consider that this technology had its genesis only five years ago, in a university students’ competition. Max was still studying for his Bachelor of Science (majoring in Physics) at the University of Auckland when he and his co-founders entered a competition called the Auckland Program for Space Systems (APSS). The goal was to develop a small satellite mission, but before they began, competitors were warned about the limitations of power generation for satellites. Far from accepting these constraints, Max and his teammates saw them as a challenge: “We believed that we could develop a better solution for satellite power,” says Max. After APSS, they participated in the Velocity entrepreneurship programme delivered by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). They developed a business plan around building and selling high-power solar arrays and entered CIE’s Velocity $100K Challenge, winning the New Ventures category of the competition and securing a place in CIE’s Venture Lab incubator.
Their win and its associated benefits aside, participating in CIE programmes was a valuable experience, recalls Max. It was here that he learned the aforementioned essential entrepreneurial lesson: listen to your customer. “Velocity was a good learning experience – it taught us how to investigate the market and use it to understand real pain points for people. Taking these skills, we delved deeper into the market struggles and investigated the problem we were addressing in more detail.”
This market research, combined with initial discussions with space experts, led to a slight change in direction for the young entrepreneurs. “The key discovery was the cost and lead time problems the industry currently faces,” explains Max. “This led us to stop pursuing high power and took us more towards affordability and production speed.”
There have been challenges, too. Start-ups rely on results to generate funding – but it’s not easy to achieve results with limited resources and connections, observes Max. “For example, we have found that our customers are much more responsive when we meet them in person,” he says. “Because most of them are in the USA, EU or Australia, we have had to use our limited travel budget very sparingly.”
He is, however, aware that engaging with customers is key – and it’s this advice he’s eager to share with budding entrepreneurs. “Talk with customers off the bat,” he advises. “You can do as much research and reading as you want, but until you talk with people who are facing the problem, you won’t know anything. We have spent the last year talking with customers and now have a much greater understanding of the industry while also opening opportunities to work with them.”
The company’s focus over the last year on “proving and gaining customer interest” builds on the successful on-orbit deployment of Copia’s first prototype, which was launched in 2022 with the help of Rocket Lab. This launch was “a huge milestone for Astrix,” says Max. “At the time, deployment was the main aspect that needed to be de-risked. Being able to prove our deployment technology works in space has been instrumental in building the customer relationships we now have.”
In other words, Astrix is gaining momentum – and fast. Max describes the response to their technology at recent conferences and on visits with customers as “phenomenal – it was a major validation point with the market,” he notes. “We are now engaging with multiple different customers, with some more launch opportunities early next year. Customers willing to launch our technology on their own satellites shows huge confidence in our technology and is a major milestone.”
Copia is now in its final stages of research and development; the next steps are about “proving its lifetime and bringing confidence in our technology for customers,” says Max. It’s a hugely exciting time for the company, which is currently working towards its next launch in early 2025. “This opportunity is a catalyst for growth of the team, technology, and for Astrix as a whole,” he enthuses. “It will be the final step to proving what we have worked on for the last few years to customers.”
CTO Will Hunter, CEO Max Daniels and Executive Chair Helen Robinson
Astrix Astronautics is one of New Zealand’s thriving participants in the $350 billion global space industry. Their innovative approach to deploying solar panels in space has opened up a world of opportunity by creating the potential for larger surface areas for generating solar power in space.
Developing a game-changing mechanism for the aerospace industry is a pretty high-level achievement (literally). But for entrepreneur Max Daniels, co-founder of aerospace component manufacturing company Astrix Astronautics, a key lesson he’s learned on his entrepreneurial journey is one that’s very much grounded in a simple business reality: “A vital skill needed when you’re building a start-up is finding and addressing a pain point for people,” he observes. “It’s the reason start-ups exist, and is where useful innovation occurs.”
For Max and his Astrix Astronautics co-founder William Hunter, the pain point they identified – current constraints on solar array technology – would initially seem fairly niche; arguably, not many of us are familiar with this particular issue. For a start, what exactly is a solar array? Think solar panels on a massive scale: solar arrays comprise several solar panels, each containing multiple solar cells, and thus offer renewable power generation from sunlight at the sort of capacity required to power spacecraft rather than simply heat a home. In fact, they are the main source of power for spacecraft that orbit Earth – for example, satellites.
Obviously, solar arrays need to be as large as possible to function well – and this poses difficulties for applications in space, explains Max. “Launches on rockets are very expensive and are done based on weight and size. This means there are significant limitations on the size and mass of spacecraft. Spacecraft get around this by using deployables – devices that fold up compactly while inside the rocket, but then deploy into a large structure once in space.”
And this is where that ground-breaking technology comes in. Copia, the first product developed by Astrix Astronautics, uses an ingenious inflatable deployment mechanism, enabling spacecraft to deploy larger areas in space with a high level of reliability. “The technology consists of three parts: the inflatable structure, inflation mechanism, and rigidization,” explains Max. “The inflatable structure is a series of flexible tubes that is folded up into its packed form. When deployment is triggered, the inflation mechanism fills the structure with gas. The gas unfolds the structure into its deployed state. Rigidization is the process of hardening the flexible tubes to allow a sturdy structure without the pressure from the gas. It’s needed as small punctures in the inflatable structure will occur during the satellite’s lifetime. By hardening the tubes, it becomes a permanent structure.”
This innovative approach marks a significant departure from the technology currently available in the sector, adds Max. “Typical solar arrays are deployed with hinge-based deployment with ridged panels. Imagine a series of doors that fold onto the satellite. The problem with this approach is that once you use more than three panels, the deployment becomes risky as each hinge needs to successfully deploy,” he says. “Copia doesn’t have this problem, which means we can achieve much larger deployments with a range of other benefits.” The technology drastically increases the deployable area on spacecraft, providing twenty times the surface area and decreased mass.
And solar arrays are just the start. In the aerospace industry specifically, the Copia mechanism can also deploy components of virtually any shape and size, including antennas, radiators, heat shields and drag sails. But in terms of the ongoing global search for effective, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, the potential for Astrix’s technology is obvious. It seems it’s not so niche after all.
It’s all the more remarkable when you consider that this technology had its genesis only five years ago, in a university students’ competition. Max was still studying for his Bachelor of Science (majoring in Physics) at the University of Auckland when he and his co-founders entered a competition called the Auckland Program for Space Systems (APSS). The goal was to develop a small satellite mission, but before they began, competitors were warned about the limitations of power generation for satellites. Far from accepting these constraints, Max and his teammates saw them as a challenge: “We believed that we could develop a better solution for satellite power,” says Max. After APSS, they participated in the Velocity entrepreneurship programme delivered by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). They developed a business plan around building and selling high-power solar arrays and entered CIE’s Velocity $100K Challenge, winning the New Ventures category of the competition and securing a place in CIE’s Venture Lab incubator.
Their win and its associated benefits aside, participating in CIE programmes was a valuable experience, recalls Max. It was here that he learned the aforementioned essential entrepreneurial lesson: listen to your customer. “Velocity was a good learning experience – it taught us how to investigate the market and use it to understand real pain points for people. Taking these skills, we delved deeper into the market struggles and investigated the problem we were addressing in more detail.”
This market research, combined with initial discussions with space experts, led to a slight change in direction for the young entrepreneurs. “The key discovery was the cost and lead time problems the industry currently faces,” explains Max. “This led us to stop pursuing high power and took us more towards affordability and production speed.”
There have been challenges, too. Start-ups rely on results to generate funding – but it’s not easy to achieve results with limited resources and connections, observes Max. “For example, we have found that our customers are much more responsive when we meet them in person,” he says. “Because most of them are in the USA, EU or Australia, we have had to use our limited travel budget very sparingly.”
He is, however, aware that engaging with customers is key – and it’s this advice he’s eager to share with budding entrepreneurs. “Talk with customers off the bat,” he advises. “You can do as much research and reading as you want, but until you talk with people who are facing the problem, you won’t know anything. We have spent the last year talking with customers and now have a much greater understanding of the industry while also opening opportunities to work with them.”
The company’s focus over the last year on “proving and gaining customer interest” builds on the successful on-orbit deployment of Copia’s first prototype, which was launched in 2022 with the help of Rocket Lab. This launch was “a huge milestone for Astrix,” says Max. “At the time, deployment was the main aspect that needed to be de-risked. Being able to prove our deployment technology works in space has been instrumental in building the customer relationships we now have.”
In other words, Astrix is gaining momentum – and fast. Max describes the response to their technology at recent conferences and on visits with customers as “phenomenal – it was a major validation point with the market,” he notes. “We are now engaging with multiple different customers, with some more launch opportunities early next year. Customers willing to launch our technology on their own satellites shows huge confidence in our technology and is a major milestone.”
Copia is now in its final stages of research and development; the next steps are about “proving its lifetime and bringing confidence in our technology for customers,” says Max. It’s a hugely exciting time for the company, which is currently working towards its next launch in early 2025. “This opportunity is a catalyst for growth of the team, technology, and for Astrix as a whole,” he enthuses. “It will be the final step to proving what we have worked on for the last few years to customers.”
CTO Will Hunter, CEO Max Daniels and Executive Chair Helen Robinson
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