Every satellite in orbit depends on one thing above all else: a reliable power supply. Yet the systems that monitor that power are often made up of dozens of separate, custom-designed components; heavy, complex, and expensive to qualify for space. Spasic is replacing all of that with a single chip. And with ESA Spark Funding, they're building the prototype that could change how satellites are designed.

The Company: Spasic

Spasic is a spin-out from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), built on research and prototyping conducted at DTU Nanolab and DTU Space. The company was founded by Thomas Emil le Cozannet and Jonas Christoffersen, whose complementary backgrounds in MEMS sensors, cleanroom fabrication, and satellite power systems form the technical foundation of everything they are building.

Their technology is based on the Hall effect, a physical principle that allows a sensor to detect electrical current by measuring the magnetic field it produces, without needing to be in direct electrical contact with the circuit being measured. The technology was originally developed for precision current sensing in industrial applications on Earth. Spasic is now adapting it for one of the most demanding environments imaginable: outer space.

The Challenge: Power Monitoring Is Holding Satellites Back

Every satellite relies on a power supply unit to distribute electricity across all its systems. Monitoring how much power is flowing, detecting faults early, and keeping everything within safe limits is essential, a failure in any criticalsystem can put an entire mission at risk.

Today, this monitoring is done using a combination of many separate, custom-designed components, each chosen specifically for a given mission. There is no single off-the-shelf solution that handles the job on its own. That means more parts, more weight, more development time, and more opportunities for something to go wrong, in a field where every gram counts and reliability is non-negotiable.

And every one of those components must survive in space: exposed to radiation, extreme temperatures, and the vacuum of orbit. Qualifying each part for these conditions takes significant time and money, and the process has to be repeated for every new satellite design. As the satellite industry scales toward constellations of hundreds or even thousands of small satellites, this approach simply doesn't hold up.

The Spark Funding Project: Spasic-HALLS

Spasic's ESA Spark Funding project is called Spasic-HALLS, and it does exactly what the satellite industry has been missing: integrating current monitoring, voltage monitoring, automatic fault detection, and digital data output into a single compact chip.

Because it uses the Hall effect rather than a resistor to measure current, it avoids the energy waste and heat generation that traditional sensing methods produce. And because the technology scales to high-power lines without any increase in loss or heat, it is well positioned to support the high-power power supply units that the next generation of satellites will require, a capability that existing solutions struggle to match.

Spasic will use the ESA Spark Funding to take their sensor technology from early prototype to a validated, space-relevant design. The project is supported by DTU Nanolab, which has provided cleanroom infrastructure during earlier research phases and will offer technical guidance throughout. Running alongside the technical work, the team will also engage with potential customers across the European space ecosystem to validate their value proposition and refine their commercial roadmap.

Why This Matters: Building for the Satellite Era

Spasic's long-term ambition goes well beyond a single product. The team sees this Spark Funding project as the first step toward building a full-stack Danish and European chip design company focused on radiation-tolerant electronics for space. As the satellite industry scales up, the demand for compact, standardised, and flight-proven components will only grow.

"If it works on Earth, use it for space."

That's the logic of ESA Spark Funding and Spasic is taking a sensor that has proven its worth in precision industrial applications and hardening it for the final frontier.

Spasic is one of four companies currently supported through the ESA Spark Funding programme in Denmark, managed by ESA Technology Broker Denmark at DTU. Spark Funding provides funding for companies transferring proven non-space technologies into space applications.

Is your company's technology ready for space? Find out more about ESA Spark Funding →www.spaceventures.dk/companies/spark-funding