SPARC Industries – Breeding technology to seed the future

For all the sweeping visions conjured up by the space industry, they require the hard work of those engineering the technologies and hardware to make this future a reality. SPARC Industries is a forward-looking startup seeking solutions to emerging challenges and evolutions in space, focusing its research and development (R&D) on plasma-based technologies. As it is approaching its first anniversary, CEO Dejan Petkow and Deputy CEO Thorben Meinardus are intent on developing technologies to enable the future. 

SPARC Industries was born as a spin-off enterprise of GRADEL, a well-established company whose tireless pursuit of innovation has made it a household name in the nuclear equipment industry. In 2013, GRADEL created the NSD department, which subsequently drove the development of plasma-based technologies, including neutron generators. SPARC Industries was founded in November 2017 and took over the department’s entire set of technologies and patents in 2018.

Located on the Belval site of Technoport, Luxembourg’s oldest business incubator, SPARC Industries is a member of the Luxembourg Space Cluster and receives support from the Ministry of the Economy and the European Space Agency (ESA). Ambitious and practical, the currently 8-man strong team is striving to turn ideas into realities and develop products to market maturity.

 

Striving to turn ideas into realities and develop products to market maturity

 

The Mission of SPARC Industries

SPARC Industries’ R&D priorities are guided by their distinct expertise in plasma physics and technologies. In addition to varied consultancy services offered to a range of space and non-space actors, the startup is currently developing a plasma-based satellite propulsion system and a plasma simulation software in a bid to extend its core business.

The plasma-based satellite propulsion system represents an innovative approach to respond to the emerging needs of the impending era of satellite constellations in Lower Earth Orbit. These constellations require a shift in satellite construction towards a sub-system and component-based approach with simpler and cheaper designs and elements, not dissimilar to mass production. SPARC Industries’ thruster using Inertial Electrostatic Confinement technology meets these criteria and distinguishes itself through a thrust vector perpendicular to its length axis. The recent fabrication of a 3D-printed prototype testifies to the progress achieved, with predictions that the system will be market-ready in 2023.

With a view to promote the development of its hardware-based technologies, SPARC Industries is devising its own plasma simulation software. The startup found that existing tools on the market do not adequately meet the specific needs of its R&D, which deals with highly energetic gas flows at very low density. Counting on 10 years of experience, the team decided to develop its own plasma simulation software in 2015, taking into account the complexities of surface chemistry and flow physics and seeking to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow. While primarily serving its own internal R&D needs at the moment, the software is equally designed to meet commercial standards and will make it to the market in 2019-20.

Inheriting neutron generator technology and the associated expertise from GRADEL, SPARC Industries was compelled to determine the fate of this workstream. Analyses conducted to assess the state of the latest form of this technology demonstrated that a major commitment to further development was required to make it viable, a herculean task associated with significant financial risk for the young startup. Against this background, the team has opted instead to launch a maintenance service for existing neutron generators, creating an additional short-term source of revenue while focusing its R&D on the above projects.

Over the coming year, the magazine will accompany SPARC Industries on its journey. It will showcase some of its projects in more detail and explore the various facets of what it means to be a startup in Luxembourg’s evolving innovation eco-system.

 

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