About:Energy modelling drives critical derisking and confidence for MP Space in satellite power system development
- Satellite Evolution Group
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
About:Energy has announced its engagement with MP Space, a leading Australian engineering company specialising in the design and manufacture of high-performance satellite subsystems.
The project enabled MP Space to validate its battery design, assess lifetime performance, and bring mission-ready confidence to orbit – all while avoiding the need for a potential six-month development pivot, courtesy of first-time-right cell selection and highly efficient battery cell testing.
MP Space, a fast-growing satellite subsystem developer, faced the challenge of selecting and validating battery cells for extreme space environments – where long lifetimes, shallow discharge cycles and robust reliability are critical. Traditionally, this process demands extensive in-house testing and data generation, delaying mission readiness.
By implementing The Voltt – About:Energy’s new, dedicated cloud platform and toolset for cell selection – MP Space benchmarked its chosen cell against a range of high-performance alternatives and integrated validated lifetime and degradation data directly into MATLAB Simulink models.
Built on About:Energy’s trusted, validated cell model library, The Voltt allowed the engineering team to model, test and compare cells under real-world duty cycles using data from more than 30 high-performance chemistries – all in one place, without the need for additional software.
As a result, the collaboration has driven confidence and derisking in cell testing, earlier alongside MP Space’s customer programme kick-off and the reassurance to adopt the latest-generation cell technology without waiting for full lifetime testing.
Dr Gavin White, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of About:Energy, said: “MP Space builds satellite energy systems, where reliability and precision are vital. Using The Voltt’s validated data and virtual testing, its engineers accelerate development, reduce risk, and strengthen confidence in mission-critical systems. With payloads worth tens of millions and designed to last full missions, satellites are often over-engineered and expensive. MP Space changes this through smarter engineering, using simulation and high-fidelity cell data to reduce development time and lower space power system costs.”
Jay Manley, CEO and Co-Founder of MP Space, said: “Access to About:Energy’s extensive expertise, robust datasheets and high-quality data platform meant we could make evidence-based design decisions that would normally require months of in-house testing. We avoided unnecessary prototype cycles, reduced risk, and freed up our engineering team’s time – all coming together to keep our programme moving at startup speed. And with our next step using the model to tune our thermal models, for assessing cell heat generation under various load conditions, the efficiency gains are constantly growing. The Voltt platform has therefore been invaluable in levelling the playing field for a small company like ours.”
About:Energy’s deep, validated cell and degradation datasets underpin every simulation within The Voltt. The business’ exceptional expertise and technological capabilities give teams the evidence to predict performance under any project profile and to make confident design decisions before building hardware. The tried-and-tested model replaces months of physical testing with reliable digital validation, keeping development programmes on-schedule and enabling time-poor suppliers to meet demanding customer timelines.