Collaboration will evaluate how a persistent power source would reduce spacecraft risk, extend mission life, and enable new approaches to anomaly recovery

Project Omega and Charter Space  announced a partnership to evaluate how next-generation radioisotope power systems would improve spacecraft resilience, reduce mission risk, and enable new approaches to spacecraft recovery and insurance. Charter Space Technologies, Inc. (Charter) is a specialty insurance brokerage and underwriting technology company for space, nuclear, and defense industrial base risks, and Project Omega, a nuclear technology company that has developed a battery power source that could generate electricity for several decades.

“This partnership is an exciting step towards an interplanetary future. Radioisotope power systems like the ones Project Omega is developing will be a massive game changer for spacecraft reliability and risk management, and we are excited to collaboratively research how persistent space-based nuclear power can make commercial spacecraft safer and more insurable,” said Yuk Chi Chan, Founder and CEO of Charter.

The collaboration will examine the effect of incorporating Project Omega’s long-duration power technology into spacecraft, including where solar-independent power sources can best reduce risks associated with spacecraft operations and extend mission life. Such scenarios include improved survivability during eclipses, solar storms, and lunar night operations.

In addition, the companies will also assess the potential insurance and lifecycle economics of these capabilities, including how persistent power and telemetry could affect expected spacecraft loss frequency and severity, anomaly recovery, end-of-life operations, and total cost of ownership. Up to 1 in 3 CubeSats fail in their first ~100 days (Langer 2016), and commercial smallsats are lost at a rate of over 4% within their first year of operation, with power and comms the top causes (Aerospace Corp 2020). For larger spacecraft, examples such as INMARSAT-6, and GSAT-6A as well as the JAXA Omotenashi on Artemis I all suffered power failures.

“Spacecraft are increasingly critical infrastructure, but many missions still depend on power architectures with vulnerabilities that can turn a recoverable anomaly into a total loss,” said Dr. Stafford Sheehan, Founder and CEO of Project Omega. “Project Omega is developing power systems that will operate for years or decades without sunlight, refueling or recharging. Working with Charter Space, we will be able to improve spacecraft reliability, mission life and ultimately mission economics.”

As part of the partnership, Project Omega and Charter will explore the feasibility of a Survival Telemetry and Recovery Module, similar to an aviation flight data recorder, an independently powered spacecraft beacon and telemetry system, to learn from and derisk future satellite anomalies.