NATO DIANA Backs Deep Space Energy's Radioisotope Power for Lunar Missions

The company entered the category Sustainable Activities in Space. Deep Space Energy provides sustainable power supply in space based on scalable radioisotope systems.

A grant of EUR 100,000 will be provided to companies that have received NATO DIANA support, including the Latvian startup Deep Space Energy. This can be increased to EUR 300,000 by continued success in the accelerator.

There is also a mentoring program and access to more than 200 test centers in Europe and North America. NATO DIANA winners will also gain knowledge of defense procurement processes and networking opportunities with defense end-users, potential investors and industry partners.

Deep Space Energy technology is based on the high-level concept that everything needed for space should be built from space resources, so as not to waste the Earth's resources. The company aims to generate electricity in space and supply it to space agencies and private companies that want to exploit the Moon's useful minerals in the long term, said Deep Space Energy co-founder and CEO Mihails Scepanskis.

Any activity needs electricity. On the Moon, there is the added problem that a night that lasts for 14 Earth days and has temperatures of -150 degrees Celsius. If the equipment is not heated, everything freezes. The company's technology uses materials from nuclear waste - radioisotopes - which decay to produce heat that is converted into electricity with very high efficiency, at least in theory.

"Deep Space Energy is currently in the technology development phase. We have already validated the principle in the laboratory. Now we are moving forward with concrete technological solutions and various tests in space conditions," said Scepanskis.

The 2026 NATO DIANA accelerator call supports 150 companies from 24 countries.