AWS chooses 14 startups for its third space accelerator program

COLORADO SPRINGS — Amazon Web Services said April 18 it picked 14 U.S. and European startups to join its third annual space accelerator program kicking off in May to boost ventures with solutions for improving space sustainability.

The four-week program provides technical and business support for early-stage space companies looking to develop their businesses using the cloud.?

Each participant is eligible for up to $100,000 worth of technical services from Amazon’s cloud subsidiary. The event will culminate July 19 in a demonstration day in San Francisco.

This is the first time AWS has called for applications with proposals for addressing a specific theme, according to AWS director of aerospace and satellite Clint Crosier, although he said space sustainability is a broad area of focus.

“Therefore, we were mindful to consider a broad definition of the term — anything addressing the safe, prosperous, and sustainable future in space; as well as using space insights to address sustainability challenges here on Earth,” Crosier said via email.?

The winning startups this year are developing businesses across areas including environmental monitoring, aerospace manufacturing, propulsion, satellite operations, and space logistics.

The AWS Space Accelerator 2023 participants are:

• New Castle, Delaware-based?Delta-V Analytics, which has developed software for automating satellite constellation operations.
• Vienna, Austria-based in-space propulsion provider?GATE Space.
• Lille, France-based?GRASP?with plans for satellite instruments and products that would tackle climate change and improve air quality.
• Torrance, California-based in-space manufacturing venture?In Orbit Aerospace.
• Seattle, Washington-based?Integrate Space, which is building a logistics project management platform for complex space development and deployment tasks.
• Space-based signals intelligence provider?Kawa Space?of San Francisco, California.
• Houston, Texas-based near-real-time space analytics provider?Little Place Labs.?
• Subsurface exploration and resource extraction specialist?Lunasonde, based in Tucson, Arizona.
• Kansas City, Kansas-based?Raven Space Systems, which is 3D-printing reentry capsules designed to return cargo from space.?
• Autonomous space robotic systems developer?Rogue Space Systems, based in Laconia, New Hampshire.?
• Austin, Texas-based?Nominal, which is developing software to help companies test and deploy complex space hardware.?
• Albuquerque, New Mexico-based electromechanical propulsion developer?Space Kinetic.
• Violet Labs, a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based startup building a cloud-based software integration for complex hardware engineering.
• Xona Space Systems?of Burlingame, California, which is building a small satellite navigation constellation.

A total 34 startups have participated in the AWS Space Accelerator over the last three years, including this latest cohort.