Charter is a specialty insurance brokerage and underwriting technology firm focused on space, nuclear and defence risks. Project Omega develops power systems derived from recycled nuclear fuel, which the company says can generate electricity for several decades without sunlight, refuelling or recharging.

The commercial logic is straightforward: power failure is already one of the leading causes of spacecraft loss. Industry data cited by the companies shows that up to one in three CubeSats fail within their first 100 days of operation, while commercial smallsats are lost at a rate above four per cent within their first year, with power and communications the dominant failure modes. Larger missions are not immune. The Inmarsat-6 and GSAT-6A satellites, as well as JAXA’s Omotenashi on the Artemis I mission, all suffered power failures.

From an underwriting perspective, a persistent, solar-independent power source changes the risk calculus materially. A spacecraft that can survive an eclipse, a solar storm or extended lunar night without losing telemetry is far less likely to become a total loss from what might otherwise be a recoverable anomaly.

Dr Stafford Sheehan, founder and chief executive of Project Omega, said that many missions still depend on power architectures with vulnerabilities that can turn a recoverable anomaly into a total loss. His company’s objective is to extend both mission life and mission economics.

The partnership will also explore a concept the companies describe as a Survival Telemetry and Recovery Module, analogous to an aviation flight data recorder: an independently powered beacon that would continue transmitting even if primary spacecraft systems failed.

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