A Colorado Springs-based venture capital fund is backing CisLunar Industries, a company specializing in the hardware needed to power satellites, with an investment of $1 million.
Payload, a space industry publication, first reported Friday that the Colorado ONE Fund was investing $1 million in the Loveland-based company.
CisLunar Chief Technology Officer Joe Pawelski likened the company’s technology to Nvidia’s graphics processors, which have become critical to artificial technology.
In the same way, CisLunar hopes its power processing units will become essential for both commercial and military satellites. The company expects to supply companies working on creative new propulsion systems aimed at keeping satellites in orbit and powering additional tasks such as launching a vehicle to take down a missile, Pawelski said.
New capabilities will be needed for military satellites as part of the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile tracking and defense system.
Traditionally, satellites have gone to space with all the fuel they would ever have, and once they ran out, they were expected to fall from orbit.
Directed energy could be one of those creative sources of power and CisLunar’s components could receive that beam of energy to power a satellite and release it in a controlled way, Pawelski said.
“What we are doing for power is going to be critical,” Pawelski said.
Last year, the company also developed the power supply for the first electron-beam welding system in space.
The potential of CisLunary Industries drew the attention of Colorado ONE Fund, a venture capital fund formed by The O’Neil Group, founded by Kevin O’Neil, a well-known businessman in Colorado Springs.
In 2023, the ONE Fund partnered with the Colorado Venture Capital Authority and the State’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade to jointly create a $34 million pool of money to invest in up-and-coming businesses specializing in aerospace, defense, homeland security and other related industries, The Gazette reported previously. The goal was to add jobs and strengthen the nation’s defenses.
The recent investment is “huge” for the company and will allow them to hire additional engineers, Pawelski said. It was also expected to support demonstration missions, the news release said.
The company expects to test power processing units on orbit no earlier than February 2026, as part of a flight hosted by Momentus. It also received a $1.9 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to build a modular power unit that will be used in an electric propulsion system.
CisLunar found its niche in power supply technology while so many other companies are focused on developing thrusters and the necessary electronics seemed to be a secondary concern for many, Pawelski said.
O’Neil said in a news release he believed CisLunar was addressing key challenges and opportunities.
“Their innovative approach to in-space power infrastructure and resource utilization not only reduces the costs and risks associated with space missions but also strengthens U.S. leadership in space sustainability and security,” he said. “We are excited to support their vision of a thriving economy in space, where energy and matter are harnessed and shaped to build a free and resilient future.”
Contact the writer at mary.shinn@gazette.com or (719) 429-9264.
