Starpath launches Starlight solar panels at 90% lower cost

Ask Starpath CEO Saurav Shroff about America’s space priorities, and he doesn’t mince words: the nation is “one order of magnitude high on cost and one order of magnitude low on ambition.” His company’s new solar panel line is Starpath’s answer to at least one half of that equation—bringing the cost of space power down to earth.

On September 25, Starpath officially launched sales of its space-rated solar panels, branded Starlight, in the U.S. with a startling claim: prices that are roughly 10 times lower than the current industry standard of $75–250 per watt. The company says its approach delivers a 90% reduction compared to the status quo.

Two Models, Faster Timelines

At launch, Starlight comes in two versions:

• Engineering Model – Priced at $9.81 per watt, ships beginning the second week of October. Not flight-rated, but ideal for labs, prototyping, and satellite builds ahead of launch.
• Flight Model – Designed for in-space use at $11.20 per watt, with deliveries starting in Q4 of this year.

Both are backed by a streamlined, automated production process that Starpath says slashes manufacturing costs while dramatically increasing throughput.

“It’s a win for humanity if our solar panels are available commercially for the entire space industry at a price that is 90% cheaper than what you can get today,” Shroff said.

The company also promises lightning-fast shipping: three weeks initially, with a target of just three days by December. That’s a drastic shift from today’s five-to-14-month industry lead times.

Scaling for the Space Age

Starpath claims its new automated production line could, by next year, produce more than the entire current global supply of space-rated solar power—enough capacity to serve every satellite manufactured on Earth. If demand spikes, the company says it could scale output to 40 megawatts within a year.

Shroff sees the technology as essential for more ambitious projects. “The economics sort of kind of work for the satellite industry,” he noted. “They’re very expensive, but they do not work for building a city on Mars.”

The Starlight product line grew out of Starpath’s broader mission: building infrastructure to terraform the solar system, starting with the Moon and Mars. When the team ran the numbers for a serious lunar base, existing solar pricing made the idea prohibitively expensive—“literally more than the GDP of the entire world,” Shroff said.

Not Just for Sale, but for Use

While Starpath expects strong commercial interest—particularly for power-hungry applications in low Earth orbit—Shroff emphasized that the majority of production will be for the company’s own use. “We will be the consumer of around 98% of our output,” he said, with the panels fueling Starpath’s long-term vision of off-world infrastructure.

Still, the company believes offering the panels to the broader market won’t distract from its mission. Instead, it creates a sustainable revenue stream while enabling other players in the space industry to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Shroff hopes that by lowering costs so dramatically, Starpath can expand the field of vision for space exploration.

“We think that people should dream bigger,” he said. “Everybody should take a careful look, particularly NASA, at their goals, and ask themselves if they’re dreaming big enough.”