Elve qualifies 100W millimeter-wave amplifiers for space — enabling faster satellite internet and Earth imaging

California-based startup Elve has successfully qualified its 100-watt millimeter-wave Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier (TWTA) platform for spaceflight, marking a milestone for high-bandwidth satellite communications. The work was carried out under U.S. Space Force Small Business Innovation Research funding.

Elve CEO Diana Gamzina told SpaceNews that the company "didn't just qualify one product, we qualified a family of 100-watt products" for the environmental conditions of space. Within a year, the technology will be demonstrated on an operational spacecraft, "not just a demonstrator," she added.

Gamzina, who holds a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of California, Davis, explained the strategic importance of the achievement. "To interconnect the world, you need a lot of data to be able to go up as well as down from our satellite constellations," she said. "Having amplifiers at high power levels available at these millimeter wave frequencies gives you a lot of bandwidth and unlocks access to high-data-rate connectivity." She also noted that millimeter-wave amplifiers will help imaging satellites deliver data to the ground more quickly.

Gamzina founded Elve in 2020 after working at the UC Davis Millimeter-wave Research Center, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and the European Space Agency. The startup's mission was to redesign millimeter-wave amplifiers and drastically reduce their cost. In 2024, Elve raised $15 million in funding.

Elve's amplifiers are now offered "at a cost point where it is something you can design into your system," Gamzina said. "As a result, constellation can benefit from the efficiency of traveling wave tube amplifiers compared to alternative solid-state power amplifier technology."

The space qualification readiness milestone positions Elve as a potential supplier for next-generation satellite constellations that require high-power, high-frequency amplifiers to support broadband internet and rapid Earth observation data downlinks. The company's platform is designed to meet the stringent reliability and environmental requirements of orbital operations, paving the way for commercial deployment.