Polaris Semiconductor DC Voltage Regulators to Undergo On-Orbit Validation Aboard ISS Mission
Alexandria, VA – June 5, 2025 – Polaris Semiconductor, a Virginia-based developer of advanced power management solutions, announced that its proprietary DC voltage regulators will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2025 aboard JAXA’s HTV-X1 spacecraft. The mission will serve as the first orbital validation of Polaris’s switching-free voltage regulation technology, designed to address long-standing pain points in DC power management electronics.
The flight hardware, already integrated with Aegis Aerospace’s MISSE Flight Facility as part of their MISSE-21 platform, will operate in low Earth orbit for an extended duration. This environment offers a comprehensive stress profile including radiation, thermal cycling, and vacuum conditions—ideal for evaluating component resilience and long-term performance.
“This mission provides flight heritage for our regulators, with real-time telemetry from a space environment,” said Matt Lumb, CEO of Polaris Semiconductor. “We're capturing high-fidelity performance data on-orbit to validate the use of our architecture for critical aerospace and defense applications.”
Technical Innovation: Switching-Comparable Efficiency Without The Drawbacks
Polaris’s core innovation lies in a patented optocoupler-enhanced linear topology that achieves ultra-low output noise, compact footprint, and high-power conversion efficiency, a major challenge using incumbent technologies. Traditional linear regulators offer low noise at the cost of efficiency, while higher efficiency switching regulators introduce significant levels of conducted and radiated electromagnetic interference (EMI), in addition to requiring a large bill of materials and bulky inductors. Polaris’s switching-free approach delivers buck and boost conversion capabilities with efficiency levels typically 20-100% relative greater than a linear regulator, depending on the voltage step, while still enjoying the unbeatable low-noise and compact footprint benefits of a linear solution.
The flight test boards were assembled by Flash PCB and rigorously tested for thermal and mechanical compliance under space launch ground tests. “By decoupling EMI from high-efficiency DC power delivery, we offer a compelling solution for sensitive payloads in space, quantum systems, RF instrumentation, and medical electronics,” Lumb added.
Broader Implications
This on-orbit demonstration, supported by the ISS National Laboratory, Aegis Aerospace, the US Department of Defense and the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, provides essential performance data for our technology in the space environment. The mission will yield operational metrics that system engineers can reference when selecting components for integration into next-generation platforms where performance, power integrity, and compactness are non-negotiable.
About Polaris Semiconductor
Polaris Semiconductor designs and manufactures advanced DC voltage regulators optimized for ultra-low noise, compact integration, and high efficiency across aerospace, defense, instrumentation, and high-performance computing sectors. Based in Alexandria, VA, the company’s mission is to push the boundaries of what’s possible in analog power design.
More information: www.polarissemiconductor.com
