The Italian innovative start-up ORiS announced its participation in Dcubed’s ARAQYS-D3 mission, a pioneering in-orbit demonstration of next-generation power generation and power transmission technologies. The mission represents a major milestone toward enabling scalable, space-based energy infrastructure, demonstrating the first ORiS’ building blocks to deploy an orbital energy distribution infrastructure.
Dcubed is a German NewSpace company that develops and manufactures release actuators, mechanisms and deployable structures for a wide range of space applications. Starting with a 3D printer and two-person team in 2018, today Dcubed offers multiple product lines and supplies leading space exploration customers in 15 countries across 4 continents.
ORiS is incubated at I3P, the Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, and is part of the ESA BIC Turin incubation program, managed by I3P in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the European Space Agency (ESA), Politecnico di Torino and LINKS Foundation. As one of selected international partners, ORiS will contribute to the mission with its advanced laser-based wireless power transmission technology, demonstrating optical power beaming capabilities in space.
The mission
ARAQYS-D3 is designed to validate the concept of Power-as-a-Service (PaaS). This paradigm shift aligns with the rapidly growing energy demand of satellites driven by emerging applications such as space-based data centers. Moreover, the demonstration of power beaming technology will enhance ORiS' value proposition in supporting satellite operators in established markets such as Earth Observation, Payload Hosting, and Communications by boosting the performance and revenue of satellites already in orbit, while also laying the groundwork for reducing the costs of new satellites.
“Being selected for ARAQYS-D3 is a strong validation of ORiS' leadership position in the emerging power beaming market,” said Andrea Villa, CEO of ORiS. “Satellites are evolving into high-performance computing nodes in space, and energy is becoming the primary enabling factor. ORiS aims to change the rules of power generation in space, powering a new class of missions and unlocking unprecedented scalability, higher performances and significantly reduced cost.”
“ORiS is an excellent partner for ARAQYS-D3, and their participation significantly strengthens the mission. By integrating their advanced laser power beaming capabilities with our in-orbit demonstration platform, we are jointly pushing the boundaries of what is possible in space-based energy systems and accelerating the path toward operational Power-as-a-Service,” said Thomas Sinn, CEO of Dcubed.
The technology
In the ARAQYS-D3 mission, ORiS will validate the core technology as the first step toward its Power-as-a-Service vision. The mission will demonstrate:
- end-to-end wireless power transmission (WPT), from laser generation to electrical power conversion
- record-setting, stable in-orbit energy transfer, setting a new benchmark for space-based power beaming
- compatibility between ORiS’ proprietary transmitter and space-grade photovoltaic cells.
“ARAQYS-D3 allows us to validate, in orbit, what has so far only been demonstrated in controlled environments,” added Anna Mauro, CTO of ORiS. “Demonstrating stable and efficient energy conversion in orbit is a necessary step toward making power beaming viable at scale. This is how we move from isolated satellites to interconnected energy ecosystems, where energy distribution in space becomes as flexible and accessible as data is today.”
The mission is destined to launch as early as February 2027 aboard a SpaceX vehicle, with the satellite platform provided by Astro Digital.
