Gama, a French company developing ultra-lightweight deployable solar arrays for satellites, has announced a €15 million seed round backed by Transition, Planet A, Draper Associates, and Manta Ray. The funding will accelerate production of its Wing system, designed to deliver satellite power at scale using commodity silicon cells rather than specialised components.

Orbital power generation has become a critical constraint as new satellite applications emerge. Direct-to-device networks, broadband constellations and orbital data centres all demand significantly more electrical power per satellite than earlier systems. Since every watt depends on solar array surface area, and all that area must compress into a rocket fairing for launch, the engineering challenge is acute.

Gama's Wing system packs large arrays into minimal stowed volumes while maintaining simplicity for mass production. The integrated unit combines solar generation, sun-tracking array rotation, power management and optional energy storage. Gama also provides the control algorithms that stabilise satellites carrying such large arrays, running on the customer's flight computer.

The company's core innovation lies in its approach to cell supply. Most satellite manufacturers depend on specialised III-V solar cells produced in limited quantities by a small number of suppliers, with lead times exceeding a year. Gama instead sources high-volume terrestrial silicon cells—the same cells manufactured by the billion for rooftop installations—and adapts them for space use, eliminating both supply and cost bottlenecks.

Because Gama controls both the deployable hardware and the software managing these large orbital structures, the Wing architecture scales to higher power levels as satellites grow larger. Once production begins, Gama targets six-month lead times for Wing, with further reductions as manufacturing volumes increase.

In September 2026, Gama announced a partnership with Eclipse Space, a satellite constellation provider founded by former SpaceX Starlink engineers, to supply deployable solar arrays as the power layer for Eclipse's platforms. Gama will deliver its first demonstration unit in summer 2027.

Andrew Nutter, CEO and cofounder of Gama, explained the shift in space industry constraints: "For years the hard part of space was getting there. Launch has become dramatically cheaper, unlocking vast new applications, and the constraint has moved to power. The next generation of satellites needs far more of it, and every array still has to fit inside a fairing. Wing is built to solve that problem at volume. Demand from constellation builders is arriving faster than we planned, so we have brought forward our investment in production capacity. This round lets us build the line and the team to deliver it on an aggressive schedule."

Expansion plans

The funding will support three key initiatives:

  • Accelerating the first Wing production line in Ivry-sur-Seine to meet customer demand
  • Expanding in-house development, functional and environmental testing capabilities
  • Recruiting approximately 60 engineers across mechanical, power electronics, software, production and test disciplines

Team and vision

Gama's engineering leadership comes from SpaceX. CTO Daniel Chapman and VP of Engineering Duncan Adams both built Starlink hardware and production lines at the aerospace company. Chapman emphasised the manufacturing focus: "At SpaceX we learned that building one great piece of hardware is not the hard part. Building thousands is. We started with a blank sheet and designed Wing from first principles to be fast, easy and cost-effective to manufacture. And because we build both the hardware and the software that controls these large structures, the same architecture scales to much higher power levels as satellites continue to grow ever larger in size and capability, to keep pace with ever-increasing demand for connectivity and other orbital services. Now we are hiring the engineers who want to build that factory with us and continue on to the larger deployable products on the roadmap."

Nick de la Forge, co-founder and GP at Planet A, highlighted the company's distinctive approach: "Energy in orbit is becoming critical infrastructure, and the way it is produced matters. Gama's lighter arrays mean less launch mass and less material for every watt in orbit, and they are built efficiently at volume. What sets the team apart is its culture: humble and hungry, SpaceX-style ambition and speed, combined with the depth of French engineering. Engineers design, build and test under one roof, so a new idea becomes tested hardware in days or even hours."

Ari Helgason, co-founder and GP at Transition, underscored the strategic importance: "Europe needs companies that can build strategic space hardware at industrial scale. Gama's leadership has done this before. That experience is why they have reached a customer partnership with constellation builders so quickly, and why we are backing them to become the reference supplier of power for the new space economy."

Source: Tech.eu