Zeno Power

Zeno Power is a Washington, D.C.-based space power company founded in 2018 by Tyler Bernstein and Jonathan Stautberg — two University of Michigan engineers — developing radioisotope power systems (RPS) for spacecraft and surface missions using strontium-90 (Sr-90) as fuel rather than the traditional plutonium-238 (Pu-238) used in NASA's RTGs aboard Voyager, Cassini, Curiosity, and Perseverance.

The strategic differentiator is fuel availability: Pu-238 is produced in minuscule quantities by the Department of Energy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (~1.5 kg/year currently), making it extraordinarily scarce and NASA-monopolized. Sr-90 is a commercially available fission byproduct from nuclear power plant operation — a high-activity beta emitter already extracted in large quantities from spent nuclear fuel reprocessing waste streams, with an existing supply chain through the DOE.

Zeno's ZP3 generator design converts Sr-90 beta decay heat to electricity via thermoelectric conversion, delivering approximately 3 watts of electrical output over a 15-year operational lifetime with no moving parts.

Target applications include LEO satellites operating in the inner Van Allen radiation belts above 2,000 km where solar panel degradation is severe (spy satellites, navigation constellations), lunar surface missions surviving the 14-day lunar night when solar power is unavailable, and deep-sea/Arctic IoT sensors where solar access is impossible. The NASA Artemis lunar south pole infrastructure — where craters are in permanent shadow — creates explicit demand for small RPS units to keep instruments alive through the two-week lunar night.

Zeno Power raised a Series A of approximately $50M from Shield Capital and other investors. DoD and NASA SBIR contracts fund ongoing development. Competitors include Aerojet Rocketdyne and General Atomics for traditional Pu-238 RTGs (serving the government institutional market), and long-term competition from emerging microreactor concepts like Kilopower/KRUSTY at higher power levels.