(Bloomberg) -- The billionaire co-founder of Robinhood Markets Inc. is targeting outer space with a new Silicon Valley startup to build a network of solar power stations in orbit.

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Baiju Bhatt, who stepped down as the online brokerage’s chief creative officer in March, is the founder and chief executive officer of Aetherflux, which aims to create a constellation of satellites that will collect solar power.

If all goes well, the satellites will transmit the energy via infrared lasers to customers on Earth.

The network could eventually have thousands of satellites in low-Earth orbit, the part of space where Elon Musk’s SpaceX operates more than 6,000 of its Starlink internet satellites.

“Over time, imagine this as a constellation for energy in the same way we have Starlink for communication,” said Bhatt, 39, who is funding the startup himself.

Based in San Carlos, California, Aetherflux plans on sending a small test satellite to an elevation of about 550 kilometers (342 miles) by early 2026 aboard a SpaceX rocket.

The company is the latest in a series of space investments by Bhatt, who has a net worth of about $2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bhatt is an investor in Apex, a Los Angeles-based startup backed by investors such as XYZ Venture Capital, Toyota Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and others.

Apex produces standardized satellite frameworks, known as buses, and had its first launch in March.

Last month, Bhatt also took part in a $6.5 million seed round for space-based solar startup Reflect Orbital, along with investors that included Sequoia Capital and Starship Ventures.

Reflect Orbital wants to put mirrors in LEO to send sunlight to Earth-based solar farms after dark.

Accessing the sun’s power from orbit would also allow for smaller receivers on the ground, said Bhatt, avoiding the need for large solar farms that take up a lot of real estate.

There are others also interested in generating solar power in orbit, with researchers from China, Japan and South Korea hoping to develop technologies.

However, skeptics argue that any breakthroughs will be far in the future.

“Has extraterrestrial solar power finally found its moment?” Henri Barde, former head of the European Space Agency’s division for power systems, electromagnetic compatibility and space environment, wrote in a column published in May by IEEE. “I think the answer is almost certainly no.”

Aetherflux isn’t expecting speedy breakthroughs, Bhatt said, but should begin showing its potential once the company begins launching satellites.

Space-based solar power is still theoretical, he said. “As we make it a reality, that’s when the comparisons are going to be a lot more real.”

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