Space is getting busy — more satellites, more ambitious missions, more demand for power. But transporting big, rigid solar panels from Earth brings big problems: they’re heavy, bulky, and need complex mechanisms to fold up for launch and unfold in space. That adds cost, weight and risk.
Dcubed is aiming to change all that with its new system, ARAQYS, which prints solar arrays directly in orbit. Instead of sending a finished panel, a spacecraft launches with a flexible “solar-blanket” plus a compact 3D-printer and UV-curing resin.
Once in space, the blanket is unrolled and the printer builds a rigid support structure beneath it.
In the vacuum of space the resin hardens under UV light — creating a sturdy, functional solar array without hinges, heavy frames or complex deployment mechanisms.
This in-space manufacturing (ISM) approach could dramatically lower costs, reduce launch size, and allow far larger solar arrays than would be practical to launch from Earth. Dcubed plans demonstration missions: first a small “boom” in 2026, then a 1-meter array, and by around 2027 a 2 kW solar array built entirely in space. If that works, it could scale up further — to larger arrays generating many kilowatts.
That kind of power capacity opens doors: satellites with stronger energy supply, space-based data centers, electric propulsion for long-range spacecraft, even future space-based infrastructure for communications or power-beaming. ISM solar arrays could make satellites cheaper, easier to build and more powerful — accelerating the space economy while lowering the “tyranny of launch.”
The vision: space craft don’t just get launched, they self-build their power systems on orbit. What once required heavy engineering and complicated mechanics becomes as simple as unrolling a blanket and pressing “print.” It could mark a real shift in how we build and power our future in space — cheaper, cleaner, and infinitely more scalable.