7 Most Exciting Space Startups
1. Planetary Resources
- Planetary Resources aims to be the leading provider of resources for people and products in space through its goal of identifying, extracting, and refining resources from near-Earth asteroids.
- In 2018, the company launched the Arkyd-6 containing a demonstration of technology designed to detect water resources in space and has completed the world’s first deep space resource exploration plan to characterize hydrated resources on near-Earth asteroids.
2. Space VR
- Founded in January 2015 by Ryan Holmes, CEO, SpaceVR is the world’s first virtual reality platform allowing users to #BeAnAstronaut and experience space firsthand from any mobile, desktop or virtual reality device.
- Through the use of 360-degree cameras, SpaceVR technology feeds footage from low earth orbit back to Earth so consumers can experience space travel in immersive virtual reality.
3. NanoRacks
- NanoRacks is democratizing the utilization of the low-earth orbit region of space. NanoRacks is a entrepreneurial company that was the first to market its own hardware and services onboard the International Space Station. By providing a commercial pathway to using the Space Station, NanoRacks have helped usher in a new chapter of the space frontier: making space just another place to do business.
- The client base includes NASA, the German Space Agency, ESA, Planet Labs, Spire, biopharmaceutical firms, Urthecast and dozens of high schools and universities
4. One Web
- OneWeb is on a mission to build the world’s largest satellite constellation to enable affordable Internet access for everyone.
5. Orbital Insight
- Orbital Insight turns millions of images into a big-picture understanding of Earth. Not only does this create unprecedented transparency, but it also empowers business and policy decision makers with new insights and unbiased knowledge of socio-economic trends.
- As the number of Earth-observing devices grows and their data output expands, Orbital Insight’s geospatial analytics platform finds observational truth in an interconnected world.
- Orbital Insight maps out and quantifies the world’s complexities so organizations can make more informed decisions.
6. SpaceX
- SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.
- SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company capable of returning a spacecraft from low Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in 2010.
- The company made history again in 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station.
- SpaceX successfully achieved the historic first reflight of an orbital class rocket in 2017, and the company now regularly launches flight-proven rockets.
- In 2018, SpaceX began launching Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful operational rocket by a factor of two.
7. Blue Origin
- Blue Origin, LLC is a privately funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington which was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos.
- The company is developing technologies to enable private human access to space with the goal to dramatically lower costs and increase reliability.
- The Blue Origin feather is a symbol of the perfection of flight. It represents freedom, exploration, mobility and progress. For thousands of years, we humans have been looking up at the birds and wondering what it would be like to fly. Now, we look up to the stars and pursue a bright future for all of us.
