Next up at #SGC2022 is Elisa Carcaillon and @gautier_brunet of @LoftOrbital. They represent two different carreer trajectories (Carcaillon went business to engineering, Brunet went engineering to business).
Carcaillon did some defense work before moving out "the ethics, maybe not"
After my own heart right there. Congrats on escaping the gravitational field of defense!
After my own heart right there. Congrats on escaping the gravitational field of defense!
@LoftOrbital is one of those space companies moving in the turnkey model that @aravind_raves talked about in his recent payload.
They purchased buses in bulk, integrates customer payloads onto them, and then also provides orbital services.
They purchased buses in bulk, integrates customer payloads onto them, and then also provides orbital services.
"The vision of Loft Orbital is to be the first operator of a heterogeneous constellation of satellites... making space accessible."
I do think this infrastructure model has a lot of promise. For all the hype around space, most users/companies don't actually care about space in and of itself, they care about how it helps their day-to-day. So there's a real niche for a company that handles the space side.
They explain that Loft is pulling in lessons/methods from the general tech industry (like Jungle) which also results in pulling a different set of employees than most space companies (age, nationality, gender, etc.)
^I guess this works because, while the tech industry is not particularly diverse compared to society at large, it is more diverse than some parts of the space industry.
*recent newsletter
Boy, I sure can garble a tweet.
Boy, I sure can garble a tweet.
"Loft's model allows customers to switch from capex and opex." Yeah that's the real power of the infrastructure business model!
They also confirm that they launched a camera for UAE. Does that mean Loft is in the #EO game? 👀
They also confirm that they launched a camera for UAE. Does that mean Loft is in the #EO game? 👀
Asked about sustainability of space (space debris, STM): Loft doesn't participate in @SSR_Rating (but is interested). They do consolidate multiple payloads on a bus, plus the infrastructure model reduces the need for redundant satellites.
Returns to example of the UAE hyperspectral (!) payload. UAE was primarily interested in imagery of their region, so Loft was able to provide imagery of elsewhere to other customers, reducing price for everyone and number of individual satellites required.
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