Epic Aerospace, A Y Combinator Space Startup, Is Building A Satellite Transportation Network

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The barrier to entry for commercial space activity remains prohibitively high for entrepreneurial efforts to take place routinely. Jeff Bezos spoke at the Yale Club in New York City, highlighting the immense financial obstacles needed to make commercial space entrepreneurship a regular pursuit. In his February 19th address to the audience, he stated that right now, “You can’t have a Mark Zuckerberg of space today,” because the “price of admission is too high.” While Bezos’s comments occurred earlier this year, he ought to know that there is a ‘Mark Zuckerberg of space’ furiously working to make his impact on space. His name is Ignacio Alejandro Belieres Montero. Montero, a 21-year-old Stanford University dropout, has started Epic Aerospace, a space transportation network startup. Epic Aerospace manufactures space tugs that are used to help insert satellites into their proper geosynchronous orbit. The San Francisco- and Buenos Aires-based company has recently closed their seed round.

The geostationary insertion market is estimated to be roughly $3.1 billion, as mentioned in TechCrunch. A more detailed analysis of the small satellite market supports the article’s estimation. The formal definition of a small satellite is one that weighs between 100 to 500 kilograms. According to Euroconsult, there were 322 small satellites placed into orbit across 44 launches. Assuming that the majority of these small satellites were not the primary, but the secondary payload, ridesharing occurred in these launches. Spaceflight’s price listing for satellite rideshare launches to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is useful for calculating the market size. The lower bound of the 2018 small satellite market, assuming each one weighed 100 kg, is $2.7 billion. The upper bound of the market at 500 kg/satellite is $4.5 billion. The size of the market also allows for other competitors to emerge, such as Atomos. Momentus, another YC-backed space tug startup, has entered into partnership agreements with SpaceX and Relativity Space to position small satellites into custom orbits with their space tugs.

Epic Aerospace is building reusable space tugs to meet the needs of small satellite operators. A space tug is a small spacecraft dedicated to moving other spacecraft from one orbit around the earth to another. NASA first explored the concept of reusable space tugs in the late 60s and early 70s. However, further development was canceled due to the decline of funding of the space agency’s national budget. Decades later, private space companies are now pursuing this technology at scale. Epic Aerospace aims to develop chemical-propelled inexpensive space tugs that dock to satellites and reposition them in low-earth orbit (LEO). Once the startup has proven the reliability of the tugs placing satellites in LEO, then they will use the tugs to place satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO). The space tugs get transported into space via a traditional two-stage launch vehicle and then deploy to maneuver satellites into their final orbit. The tugs will then refuel and repeat the process until the end of its operational life. These space tugs are the first step in Montero’s endeavors in space.

Beyond his expertise in rocketry, the most impressive things about Montero are his recruiting ability and vision for the future of commercialized space activity. Montero’s startup is currently a twelve-man team with over thirty-five years of experience in the aerospace industry. The team’s expertise spans 200 engine tests, three medium-size launch vehicles, and two Argentinian flagship satellites. It’s a testament to his ability to recruit, but more so, his vision of commercial aerospace activity. With strong space tugs in operation, small satellite design costs can be reduced. They don’t have to have their propulsion systems anymore to maneuver to their desired orbits after launch. Satellite manufacturers and operators can increase their focus can be spent on improving the communication, imaging, and other capabilities of satellites.

“My overall goal is to build a transport network in space. Soon, anyone will be able to launch a satellite into space. At Epic Aerospace, we want to build the physical layer for a network of satellites in space,” says Montero.

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