T-Minus Space Daily: "Space Power Grid" (December 29, 2025)

Host: Maria Varmazes, N2K Networks
Guest: Andrew Rush, President, CEO, and Co-founder of Starcatcher

Episode Overview

This episode of T-Minus Space Daily dives into the vision and technical journey behind building the first-ever "power grid for space." Maria Varmazes interviews Andrew Rush, CEO of Starcatcher, whose startup aims to revolutionize how satellites receive and use power in orbit. They discuss the current limitations of spacecraft energy, Starcatcher’s innovative approach, timelines for development, and the unique intersections of space engineering, law, and entrepreneurship.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Andrew Rush's Background and Space Industry Journey

[01:56–05:49]

• Family and Influence: Rush grew up grounded in science fiction and science fact, with a mother teaching physics and chemistry, and a father who was a chemical engineer.

• Unique Combination: Rush brings together physics, engineering, and patent law, which he credits with "helping reduce legal fees for the companies I’ve worked at, but also, you know, helps, helps us build things."
  Quote:

  "Thinking like a lawyer or the process you use to build good arguments as a lawyer is really just the scientific method."
  — Andrew Rush [06:33]

• Career Progression:

  • Patent lawyer for space companies
  • CEO of Made in Space (first manufacturing off the planet, work with NASA, DARPA, etc.)
  • President/COO of Redwire (large provider of solar arrays and space structures)
  • Now, co-founder of Starcatcher.

• Key Realization: Despite advancements in launch technologies and lowering costs, "power is still done in this like camping trip kind of mentality," limiting what spacecraft can do.

2. The Vision: Building a “Power Grid” in Orbit

[07:16–10:00]

• Starcatcher’s Core Mission: To deploy a constellation of satellites that collect, concentrate, and redirect solar energy directly to client satellites’ existing solar arrays, virtually on demand.
• Compatibility: No custom hardware or specialized receivers required—Starcatcher’s system uses existing satellite solar arrays.
• Technical Principle: "If I give [a solar array] five suns of what it’s seeing in LEO, it’ll generate five times that amount of wattage, five times that amount of power."
  — Andrew Rush [08:57]
• Real-World Example: BepiColombo probe at Mercury using the same principle to generate roughly 12 times the power it would in low Earth orbit.

3. Why Satellites Are Power-Limited Today

[10:00–13:46]

• Mission Design Conundrum: Balancing cost with capability—off-the-shelf “bus” satellites are limited in power (typically 800–1500W in LEO).
  • Demand for more power driven by modern needs: direct-to-device comms, AI edge computing hardware, more advanced national security operations.
• Limits of Current Approach:
  "My kids’ gaming computers at home would eat up the entire power budget of a given ESPA-class satellite."
  — Andrew Rush [11:27]
• Engineering “Doom Loop”: Upsizing arrays leads to heavier satellites, bigger buses, greater launch costs—a feedback loop Starcatcher aims to break.
• Life Extension: Supplementing satellite power can stretch mission lifespan and prevent premature shutdowns.

4. Unique Advantages and Use Cases for the In-Orbit Power Grid

[13:46–16:21]

• Duty Cycling Eliminated: Additional power on demand could enable continuous operation of instruments, computation, and communications.
• Disaster Mitigation:
  "When our network is online, those folks can just call us up and say, 'Hey Starcatcher, please send additional flux to the spacecraft so we can keep it power positive… and we can save the mission.'"
  — Andrew Rush [15:42]
• Immediate Industry Impact: The technology solves problems pertinent to satellites launched today, not just 10 or 20 years from now.

5. Development Progress and Forward-Looking Milestones

[16:50–18:33]

• Origins: Founded in July; raised $12.3M in a seed round.
  • Grew from 3 to 30+ team members rapidly.
• Demonstrations & Timeline:
  • 2025: Series of increasingly complex ground demos (multi-kilometer power beaming).
  • 2026: First space demonstration of the technology.
• Validations: Recent AFWERX SBIR Phase 1 award; strong collaborations with DoD.

6. Startup Life: The Highs and Lows of Building in SpaceTech

[19:01–21:45]

• Day-to-Day Reality:
  "You can really sort of get slapped in the face at breakfast and then get patted on the back at lunch and then get kicked in the shins at dinner, and then rinse or repeat the next day."
  — Andrew Rush [19:24]
• Leadership: The best part? Seeing an idea in action:
  "Seeing them go from like, 'Hey, we have this idea' to 'Hey, look, there's this little mock satellite across the lab that's on a track that we're beaming energy to completely autonomously…'" — Andrew Rush [20:28]
• Hardest Part: Staying steady and creating an environment for technical teams to thrive.

Notable Quotes

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|--------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 06:33 | Andrew Rush | "Thinking like a lawyer or the process you use to build good arguments as a lawyer is really just the scientific method." | | 08:57 | Andrew Rush | "If I give [a solar array] five suns of what it’s seeing in LEO, it’ll generate five times that amount of wattage..." | | 11:27 | Andrew Rush | "My kids’ gaming computers at home would eat up the entire power budget of a given ESPA-class satellite." | | 15:42 | Andrew Rush | "[Clients] can just call us up and say, 'Hey Starcatcher, please send additional flux to the spacecraft...'" | | 19:24 | Andrew Rush | "You can really sort of get slapped in the face at breakfast and then get patted on the back at lunch..." | | 20:28 | Andrew Rush | "Seeing them go from... 'We have this idea' to...'there's this little mock satellite... we're beaming energy to...'" |

Important Timestamps

• 01:56–05:49 — Andrew Rush’s career and motivation
• 07:16–10:00 — What Starcatcher is building and why
• 10:00–13:46 — The limitations of legacy satellite power systems
• 13:46–16:21 — The advantages of in-orbit power beaming
• 16:50–18:33 — Company progress, milestones, and military partnership
• 19:01–21:45 — The startup experience in NewSpace

Overall Tone & Takeaways

This episode balances deep technical discussion and industry optimism, with Rush’s genuine enthusiasm for both engineering and space entrepreneurship shining through. The conversation is friendly, occasionally playful (with Trekkie references), and focused on real-world industry impact. Starcatcher’s project is framed as an urgently needed and transformative infrastructure play—one that could redefine how satellites operate, extend missions, and enable entirely new activities in space.