Beyond Reach Labs
Winter 2026 NewSpace solar arrays that grow to the size of a football field in orbit
At Beyond Reach Labs we are building solar panels for Space that grow from the size of a dining table to a football field in orbit. Mitch and Pele met 13 years ago as freshmen at UPenn studying mechanical engineering. Mitch recently got his PhD at Carnegie Mellon working with NASA on kilometer-scale deployable structures, and Pele spent seven years at SpaceX leading Dragon parachute engineering, safely returning astronauts from space. The collective satellites today use around 20MW, roughly the output of a datacenter on earth, but by 2030 there is a demand for over 10GW, a 500x increase, largely driven by orbital datacenters, space stations, and lunar outposts. If you want more power, your only option is to launch larger solar panels, which quickly become fragile or impractically expensive. As a result, power constraints already determine whether missions or industries can exist at all. But at Beyond Reach Labs we have introduced a new class of deployable solar panels giving satellites 10x more usable power without increasing launch mass or volume. This works because our patented deployable design changes geometry in space, allowing for us to reach 10x longer while remaining rigid.
AI Investor Summary
Beyond Reach Labs is building revolutionary, football-field-sized solar arrays that deploy in orbit, addressing a critical power shortage for the growing space economy. Their exceptional founding team brings deep expertise from SpaceX, CMU (NASA), Google, and Facebook, making them uniquely qualified to tackle this ambitious engineering challenge. While the market opportunity is vast and the technology is highly differentiated, early-stage traction and the inherent technical risks of megastructure deployment in space are key considerations.
Key Highlights
- ● Founders' exceptional backgrounds from SpaceX, CMU (NASA collaboration), Google, and Facebook.
- ● Ambitious and potentially disruptive technology for scaling orbital power.
- ● Strong alignment between founder expertise and the core technical challenge.
Risk Factors
- ● Extreme technical and engineering risk associated with deploying and maintaining kilometer-scale structures in orbit.
- ● Lack of demonstrated traction (revenue, users, partnerships) at this early stage.
- ● Long development cycles and high capital requirements for space hardware.
Founders
Hey, my name is Mitch Fogelson. I earned my PhD at CMU, working with NASA on the design, simulation, and optimization of kilometer-scale deployable space structures. I have published in the top robotics and aerospace conferences and journals, and recieved the Editor Choice Best Paper Award from ASME JMD 2023. Beyond Reach Labs is building space megastructures to be deployed from a single rocket launch, accelerating new space capabilities.
I have been working on some of the hardest technical challenges for almost a decade. I spent 6 years as SpaceX leading the engineering and production teams for the parachutes and between that also worked as the Plasma-Facing-Components Technical team lead at Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Now as co-founder of Beyond Reach Labs, we are currently working to enable space megastructures to be deployed from a single rocket launch and to accelerate the design of deployable space systems.
Score Breakdown
Exceptional technical depth and domain expertise. Mitch's PhD from CMU focused on kilometer-scale deployable structures with NASA, coupled with prior experience at Google and Facebook, demonstrates strong engineering and research capabilities. Pele's seven years at SpaceX leading critical parachute engineering for astronaut returns and experience at Commonwealth Fusion Systems highlights significant hands-on experience with high-stakes, complex hardware. Their long-standing relationship and complementary skill sets are a major asset. The combination of deep academic research and top-tier industry experience is rare and highly compelling. [Boost +2: Founder from Google; PhD from Stanford; Founder from Spacex]
The TAM for space-based solar power is enormous and growing rapidly, driven by the increasing demand for power in orbit for satellites, space stations, and future in-space manufacturing. The timing is opportune as the cost of launch decreases and the number of satellites proliferates. Regulatory tailwinds are generally positive for space infrastructure development, though international space law and debris mitigation remain considerations. The competitive landscape is emerging but not yet saturated for this specific scale of deployable solar.
The core concept of deployable, football-field-sized solar arrays in orbit is technically ambitious and offers significant differentiation. The ability to deploy from a single rocket launch is a key value proposition. The defensibility lies in the novel engineering required for such large-scale, reliable deployment and power generation in space. UX quality is not directly assessable at this stage, but the platform potential for powering various space applications (satellites, lunar bases, etc.) is high. The primary challenge will be proving the reliability and scalability of the deployment mechanism and the long-term performance of the solar cells in the harsh space environment.
Traction is very early stage. The provided description mentions 'collective satellites today use around 20MW,' which is context for the market need rather than company-specific traction. There are no explicit mentions of revenue, users, partnerships, or significant press coverage beyond company-published materials and industry blogs. Investor interest is implied by their presence in a YC batch, but concrete metrics are missing. [Boost +3: Tier-1 VC: accel; Revenue/ARR mentioned]
News
Beyond Reach Labs develops deployable solar arrays that deliver significantly more power per launch, aiming to provide scalable energy solutions for orbital data centers, commercial space stations, and lunar outposts.
The Robotics Factory partnered with Beyond Reach Labs to develop a prototype of their deployable space power system, highlighting hands-on engineering support and rapid prototyping.
Beyond Reach Labs develops deployable solar arrays designed to deliver significantly more power per launch, aiming to provide scalable energy solutions for orbital data centers, commercial space stations, and lunar outposts.
Beyond Reach Labs is developing deployable solar arrays that can expand from the size of a dining table to a football field in orbit, aiming to address a projected 500x increase in power demand for space infrastructure by 2030.
Beyond Reach Labs is an innovative startup established in 2023, focused on developing cutting-edge metamaterials and deployable technologies for challenging environments, with its founder and CEO being Mitchell Fogelson, Ph.D.
Beyond Reach Labs offers innovative space solar arrays for orbital expansion, featuring cutting-edge technology and scalability for orbital energy needs.
An AEO Content AI audit of beyondreachlabs.com indicates weak AI visibility with critical gaps in areas like llms.txt file and Schema.org structured data, scoring 43/100.
Beyond Reach Labs announced their development of deployable solar arrays for space that expand significantly in orbit, with plans for a first in-space demo flight in Q2 2027 and LOIs totaling over $175M.
The company is building patented deployable solar panels for space that offer 10x more usable power without increasing launch mass or volume, addressing the critical power constraints for future space missions.
Beyond Reach Labs is recognized for its strong technical founding team and a significant market opportunity in space solar arrays, though it is pre-revenue with an 'announcement coming soon' for its product.
Beyond Reach Labs is developing deployable solar arrays for space that can expand from the size of a dining table to a football field in orbit, addressing the growing demand for power in space.
Quick Info
- Batch
- Winter 2026
- Team Size
- 2
- Location
- Unspecified
- Founders
- 2
- Scraped
- 4/10/2026