The aspirations of countries and wealthy individuals regarding space call for improved power sources, and a new startup established by two PhDs from Stanford might have the solution. 

Arinna, launched by CEO Koosha Nazif and CTO Alex Shearer, announced on Wednesday that it has secured a $4 million seed funding round to create ultrathin solar panels from a novel material developed during their doctoral studies. 

The funding round was spearheaded by Spacecadet Ventures, with involvement from Anorak Capital and Breakthrough Energy Foundation; the company chose not to disclose its valuation.

Arinna, named after the Hittite deity of the sun and pronounced similarly to arena, anticipates having its initial products tested in orbit by the end of this year. Following the successful qualification of their photovoltaics in space, the company aims to construct a facility capable of producing the material at megawatt scale by 2028.

“We are developing qualification panels to send to our initial clients that will illustrate that these two-dimensional photovoltaics possess the efficiency and resilience to withstand space conditions,” Shearer stated. “We plan to substantiate this at a larger scale over the coming year, while simultaneously refining the necessary processes to manufacture each layer of our photovoltaic cells in a roll-to-roll format.”

Arinna specializes in solar cells tailored for spacecraft. In the era before SpaceX, when most satellites were custom-made, spacecraft utilized expensive yet durable solar panels made from rare earth materials. With the advent of mass-produced satellites, lower-cost silicon panels are now being employed, albeit they deteriorate faster due to cosmic radiation.

Instead, Arinna’s innovation is grounded in a new material — transition metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs, which are atomically thin semiconductors developed only in recent decades. The ultrathin solar technology from Arinna enables extremely flexible cells that the company asserts are both less expensive and more resilient than traditional space solar panels.

“Over the years, much of the solar advancement has been about squeezing out marginal percentage gains on familiar, existing technologies,” Ben Gaddy, a materials scientist and senior director at Breakthrough Energy, remarked to TechCrunch. “This represents a completely distinct category of materials.”

Nazif and Shearer crossed paths at Stanford while engaged in their doctoral studies. Nazif focused on materials that could be repurposed to fabricate photovoltaic cells akin to traditional semiconductors, while Shearer worked on methods for large-scale production of those cells. “Koosha was the visionary, and I’m the builder,” Shearer humorously noted.

The company anticipates its photovoltaics will be significantly more flexible than traditional panels and 32% more efficient. Furthermore, according to Shearer, Arinna’s technology will not necessitate protective coverings, can endure for 15 years in orbit, and can be produced in a matter of weeks.

These enhancements would be substantial advancements over current technology, provided the company successfully navigates its orbital testing campaign this year without unexpected challenges and can fulfill its mass production objectives. 

“From my experience with all the space companies we’ve backed, power poses a significant barrier, a bottleneck,” remarked Wiz Khuzai, a general partner at Spacecadet Ventures who led the funding round, to TechCrunch. “[Arinna] is set to unlock the next generation of power solutions in space.”