SpaceNews
Covering the business and politics of space
SALT LAKE CITY — A startup has developed large deployable structures that could enable small satellites to generate large amounts of power.
Beyond Reach Technologies announced Aug. 24 its Flarewing line of rigid deployable structures. Those structures can be used to mount solar panels, enabling satellites to carry large arrays that can be tightly stowed for launch.
The Flarewing-S, the smallest of the three configurations of the product, has dimensions of 1 x 0.25 x 0.08 meters when stowed but deploys to provide a surface area of 30 square meters. That can provide between five and eight kilowatts of power, depending on the type of solar cells used. The largest, Flarewing-L, has dimensions of 6 x 0.29 x 0.13 meters when stowed but deploys to provide a surface area of 625 square meters, generating up to 200 kilowatts of power.
The concept for Flarewing has its roots in a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, or NIAC, study that co-founder and Chief Executive Mitch Fogelson worked on while a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University. The NIAC study examined how to deploy kilometer-scale structures on a single launch.
That study led to the development of a truss design that stows flat but pops up into a triangular shape when deployed. A key aspect of the design is the high stiffness of the deployed structure, which reduces bending modes that can be a problem for pointing accuracy and during maneuvers.
“I think what’s unique about our structure is as it deploys out, it grows and it gets stiffer,” said Pele Collins, co-founder and chief technology officer of the company, in an interview.
The deployable structure, he added, also supports changes in satellite design as companies optimize for SpaceX’s Starship and its slot-shaped payload dispenser. “People are going from building giant boxes to more like the SpaceX Starlink style,” he said.
The deployable structures don’t require composite materials and can be made of aluminum and “a variety of novel joints,” said Fogelson. “We can manufacture at scale and produce at scale to support the hundreds of thousands of satellites that some of these companies are proposing over the next five years.”
Beyond Reach went through the Y Combinator accelerator program earlier this year and generated $350 million in letters of intent for using its structures for power generation and heat dissipation.
“It was everything from orbital data centers and commercial space stations to in-space manufacturing and satellite defense,” he said.
The company, focusing for now on deployable structures for solar arrays, has two contracts with undisclosed customers doing what he called “deeper investigations” into the technology. It has raised a little more than $11 million to date, including a $10 million seed round it announced in July.
Beyond Reach has 14 people working in a 16,000-square-foot facility in Brooklyn, New York. “We have a lot of strong opinions about bringing aerospace to the Northeast and the amazing talent and capabilities that the Northeast offers as a new aerospace hub,” Fogelson said of the company’s decision to locate in New York.
Fogelson and Collins met as undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. “What we see a lot, and what I experienced myself, is that if you’re a mechanical engineer and you want to work in aerospace and go to school in the Northeast, you end up having to move west because that’s where the jobs are,” said Collins, who worked at SpaceX for seven years on the Dragon spacecraft’s parachute system before co-founding Beyond Reach.
Basing the company in Brooklyn, they said, is a deliberate effort to help build up a space industry in the region and allow engineers who go to school in the region to stay there after graduation. While that industry is currently small, they said they can tap into an extensive network of machine shops and suppliers in the area to help them. The company is based in Industry City, a manufacturing hub that offers room for significant expansion.
“When we’re thinking about building the biggest structures,” Collins added, “New York City is the place for big structures.”
Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science… More by Jeff Foust
all dispatches >>
all jobs >>
Back to top
Sign in by entering the code we sent to , or clicking the magic link in the email.
By creating a SpaceNews.com account, you acknowledge that you have read our privacy policy and agree to our terms and conditions. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
We'll send a verification code to %EMAIL%.
Register now to get
2 more free articles this month.
You’ll also receive our weekly Editor’s Choice, SpaceNews This Week and Opinions newsletters. Opt-out at any time.
Sign in to an existing account
Get unlimited access to SpaceNews.com, the SpaceNews app and our digital monthly magazine for less than $5 per week.
$250/year
Cancel anytime. Sales tax may apply. No refunds. Terms and conditions apply.
See all subscription options
