BREMEN, Germany — The German satellite component company, Dcubed, is venturing into the realm of in-space manufacturing, initiating a series of missions to showcase the production of expansive solar arrays directly in orbit. At Space Tech Expo Europe on November 18th, the company unveiled its ARAQYS product line, engineered to offer more adaptable and economical manufacturing of solar arrays in orbit compared to traditional methods.
A pivotal test of this technology is slated for the ARAQYS-D3 mission, planned for launch in the first quarter of 2027 aboard a SpaceX rideshare mission, arranged by Maverick Space Systems and utilizing a satellite bus from Astro Digital. This mission will focus on manufacturing a solar array capable of generating two kilowatts of power. The spacecraft will transport a rolled-up blanket of solar cells.
“We unroll it in space and print a structure on it that stiffens it,” explained Thomas Sinn, chief executive of Dcubed, in an interview. This structure employs a resin cured by ultraviolet light, which Sinn noted as a low-power method for production. Constructing the array structure in space simplifies the process for large arrays compared to ground-based manufacturing. “The traditional approach with folded panels gets very heavy,” he said, necessitating sturdier panels and more robust release mechanisms to withstand the launch environment.
“The big advance of this in-space manufactured solar array is that it is designed for use in space. We don’t need any hinges or hold-down release mechanisms. So, we can make it very thin up there,” he added. Dcubed intends to utilize terrestrial solar cells rather than space-qualified ones. Sinn stated that this approach could reduce costs from hundreds of dollars per watt to “double-digit” dollars per watt, which is significant for emerging, power-intensive applications like space data centers. Terrestrial cells are deemed adequate for satellites with lifespans around five years.
“We are really going with this for the megaconstellations, for the cheap satellites,” he said. “It’s not something we would use for the space station or anything like that.” The ARAQYS-D3 is an ESPA-class spacecraft, approximately one meter in size. Upon full deployment, the solar array will extend about 15 meters. Sinn mentioned the close collaboration with Astro Digital, whose headquarters in Colorado are near Dcubed’s U.S. office.
Prior to ARAQYS-D3, Dcubed has planned two precursor missions. The first, ARAQYS-D1 or Dcubed-1, is a 3U cubesat designed to demonstrate the production of a 60-centimeter boom in space. ARAQYS-D2 will assess the printing of a one-meter solar array as a payload on a spacevan mission by the French company Exotrail. Both missions are set to launch on separate SpaceX rideshare missions in early 2026.
Dcubed also manufactures conventional solar arrays and recently secured a contract from Intuitive Machines to supply arrays for the initial lunar communications satellites. Sinn suggested that two kilowatts marks the point where in-space manufactured (ISM) arrays become beneficial. “We could see that a lot of the customers that we have right now that need two kilowatts or higher could replace their traditional solar array with an ISM solar array, because they can save an order of magnitude in cost,” he said.
Dcubed is actively seeking early adopters for its ISM solar array, including the U.S. Space Force and the German military. One potential application is power beaming, which Sinn mentioned the company intends to showcase on ARAQYS-D3. Theoretically, there's no limit to the size of an array produced via this technology. “We go now with two kilowatts because that is the right balance between doable and completely crazy,” he said. Subsequent steps involve five-kilowatt arrays, followed by 10- to 20-kilowatt versions.
Large arrays present structural challenges for frequently maneuvering spacecraft. However, Sinn added, “if you don’t need to do a lot with the spacecraft, you could go to 100 meters, one kilometer.” The name ARAQYS is derived from aranea, the Latin term for spider. “They can make very nice structures when needed,” Sinn said. It also alludes to Arrakis, the desert planet from the "Dune" saga. “I loved the movie,” he concluded.