Key Takeaway: The funding is the latest example of growing space tech innovation, with implications for regulatory and standards development, as well as for IP issues in protecting off-Earth technologies.
In a seed funding round led by TFX Capital, ThinkOrbital received initial funding that will accelerate their capabilities in providing in-orbit services. ThinkOrbital plans to use this funding in part to continue to expand on their current satellite technologies connecting their orbital and terrestrial services. Space News.
ThinkOrbital currently provides orbital technology services to address various challenges faced today. For example, ThinkOrbital provides large-scale in-orbit construction efforts to establish orbital data centers to address growing AI workloads that may be cumbersome to maintain on land. As another example, ThinkOrbital provides large-capacity infrastructure that may be used for habitation or oversized manufacturing efforts that would be difficult to construct on Earth and transport into orbit. ThinkOrbital is additionally involved in a research study with Georgia Tech University “examining concepts for forward basing assets in space, such as storage depots for satellites.” Space News
ThinkOrbital is similarly working in the Defense space to enhance national security interests in space. Their flagship defense technology, the “Space-to-Space X-ray system,” Space Daily, provides spacecraft inspection capabilities that can determine “adversarial capabilities and intent, anomaly resolution, damage assessment, and definitive characterization of objects in orbit.” Id.
The initial funding allows ThinkOrbital to continue to expand and improve their important technologies. Dr. Vojtech Holub, Co-Founder and CTO of ThinkOrbital, believes that “[i]f we want large-scale, reliable, and capable systems in orbit, we need the ability to build and repair them in space,” and “[o]ur Space-to-Space X-ray capability provides the defense and inspection piece, and our in-space construction roadmap represents a step-change in how we ultimately build the next generation of orbital infrastructure with no limits on size.” Space Daily
ThinkOrbital currently maintains a patent portfolio on products such as their “patented dual-use X-ray imaging drones and autonomous ground vehicles that extend its imaging and inspection technologies to military battlespace awareness, law enforcement, and inspection of critical energy infrastructure on Earth.” Space Daily.
As industries such as infrastructure, defense, and aerospace manufacturing continue to expand into space, an urgent need for regulatory and industry standards will arise. Companies offering products and services such as orbital infrastructure should look towards patenting technology, not only to protect new innovation, but that may also be adopted by regulatory agencies and thus become industry standards. Industries “cannot adopt the standard without the permission of the intellectual property owner,” making any IP rights to such a standard very high value providing a breadth of licensing options and leverage as the technology continues to evolve.
An additional challenge to procurement of IP rights for orbital technologies is determining how best to protect subject matter that is constructed entirely in orbit. As off-Earth manufacturing grows, patent drafters will have to consider how to frame claims that remain enforceable on Earth despite orbital activity. These issues might additionally require updated legal frameworks and regulatory standards tailored to orbital development.
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