The revolution in launch costs and availability driven by firms like SpaceX continues to open up opportunities for spacetech startups that would not have been economically viable a generation ago. For instance, instead of one firm offering phone connectivity from space, we now have multiple startups competing to provide different levels of service to smartphones. And we also have a number of firms looking to bring their own small revolutions to building and maintaining spacecraft.
Antaris
For bringing software-as-a-service smarts to satellite building
This Los Altos, California, company, with leadership including former execs from the commercial Earth-imagery pioneers Planet, aims to optimize satellite manufacturing by applying the same digital-twin techniques that companies like General Electric use to design and maintain jet engines. The potential payoff here includes lower manufacturing costs, reduced time to liftoff, and greater reliability afterward. Case in point: Janus-1 Cubesat launched in February after what Antaris says was just 10 months of design and development, costing 75% less than peer satellite missions.
AST SpaceMobile
For making satellites that can relay not just messages but also voice and broadband to phones
Satellite-to-phone connectivity promises to fill in the last gaps in coverage maps, so a large chunk of the wireless industry is now working to make this happen. Midland, Texas–based AST brings two differentiators to this race: a partnership with AT&T and the ability to provide not just the messaging on offer from T-Mobile, Apple, Qualcomm, and AST’s fellow startup Lynk but also voice and data. AST demonstrated those last two capabilities in 2023 in tests of its BlueWalker 3 satellite; in August, it announced a fundraising round that it says will cover launching its first five commercial satellites.
Orbit Fab
For offering a fill-up high up
Robotic satellite refueling is an even more challenging task than that phrase alone would indicate: Existing satellites aren’t even designed to have their storable (and extremely toxic) propellants refueled once in space. But Colorado startup Orbit Fab aims to make that a commercial reality, and last year, it won a key endorsement in the form of Defense Department contracts to demonstrate refueling in geosynchronous orbit, some 22,000 miles up, and add its standardized refueling port to future military satellites.
Qualcomm
For building satellite-linked phone messaging on a solid foundation
The company behind the chipsets in almost every Android phone wants to provide backup messaging connectivity to those devices via satellite. San Diego–based Qualcomm has two head starts over competitors in this effort: It’s using spectrum already licensed around the world for phone usage and satellites that are already in orbit. And that satellite partner, Iridium, has more satellite-phone experience than others, dating to its pioneering but unsuccessful attempt in the 1990s to make that a mass-market proposition. [Editor’s note: On November 9, Qualcomm announced that it was ending its partnership with Iridium for proprietary satellite-to-phone communications, but said it expected that the companies would continue to collaborate on standards-based approaches to the technology.]
Rocket Lab
For beating the high cost of rocket launches
Rocket Lab has rapidly ascended to become the West’s second most-frequent launch operator after SpaceX, and a September second-stage failure of its Electron rocket seems to have put only a temporary hold on that climb. Its lightweight Electron offers affordable access to space for miniature satellites and other payloads too small for many competing rockets. Up next: continued work to recover and reuse Electron’s first stage and to develop its larger Neutron rocket, which it hopes to launch from its Wallops Island, Va., facilities sometime in 2024.
The companies behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2023. See a full list of all the winners across all categories and read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
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