John Gedmark is an American entrepreneur and aerospace engineer. He is the co-founder and CEO of Astranis, and was the Founding Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. [1] [2]
Gedmark was born and raised in Kentucky. [3] He graduated from Purdue's undergraduate Aerospace Engineering program in 2003,[7] and served as the President of his local Students for the Development and Exploration of Space (SEDS) chapter.[8] Gedmark earned his Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering at Stanford University.[9] While at Stanford, Gedmark co-founded the Roosevelt Institute, a public policy think tank for students, which grew to over 80 university campuses nationwide by 2012.[10]
In 2005, Gedmark and Peter Diamandis brought together commercial space industry leaders Elon Musk, John Carmack, Alex Tai, and others to promote industry collaboration. This informal industry group became the Personal Spaceflight Federation, and later rebranded to the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. Gedmark registered the new Federation as a non-profit dedicated to “resolving the regulatory, legal, political and broad strategic challenges the personal spaceflight industry faces moving forward.” [4]
Over the next five years, Gedmark served as the Federation's Executive Director and represented the shared interests of its members like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and others in Washington D.C. Gedmark was featured in Christian Davenport’s book "Space Barons" for this work. [4]
In 2015, Gedmark and Ryan McLinko founded Astranis, with Gedmark as chief executive officer and McLinko as chief technical officer. The company was founded to get the next four billion people online by building smaller, cheaper satellites for broadband internet, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. [5]
Astranis was admitted into the Y Combinator startup accelerator's Winter 2016 cohort. [6] In early 2018, Astranis announced the successful launch and operation of its first demonstration satellite, a 3U cubesat with a software-defined radio payload and a $18 million Series A fundraising round from Andreessen Horowitz. [7] [8] Astranis raised a Series B financing round of $90 million in 2020, [9] a $250 million Series C financing round in 2021, and a follow-on round of equity and debt financing of $200 million in 2023. [10]
Astranis launched its first commercial satellite in 2023, which had a malfunction in an externally-supplied solar array but which remained on orbit. [11] The company signed a launch contract in April 2022 for SpaceX for another batch of four satellites, which is expected to launch in 2024. [12] [13]
Private spaceflight refers to spaceflight activities undertaken by non-governmental entities, such as corporations, individuals, or non-profit organizations. This contrasts with public spaceflight, which is traditionally conducted by government agencies like NASA, ESA, or JAXA.
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider and satellite communications company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase near Brownsville, Texas. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and ultimately developing a sustainable colony on Mars. The company currently produces and operates the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Dragon, and Starship as a hybrid between a rocket and a spacecraft.
Andreessen Horowitz is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management, with $42 billion as of May 2024.
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a private spaceflight industry group, incorporated as an industry association for the purposes of establishing ever higher levels of safety for the commercial human spaceflight industry, sharing best practices and expertise, and promoting the growth of the industry worldwide. Issues that the Commercial Spaceflight Federation works on include, but are not limited to, airspace issues, FAA regulations and permits, industry safety standards, public outreach, and public advocacy for the commercial space sector.
Falcon Heavy is a heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit, and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX.
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Astranis Space Technologies Corp. is an American company specializing in geostationary communications satellites. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Satellize is the first private Indian company to have a satellite in space. In December 2018, their first satellite was launched into space via SpaceX. They launched their second satellite, AISAT for a customer, AMSAT India on board the fourth stage of the PSLV-C45.
India's Space Industry is predominantly driven by the national Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The industry includes over 500 private suppliers and other various bodies of the Department of Space in all commercial, research and arbitrary regards. There are relatively few independent private agencies, though they have been gaining an increased role since the start of the 21st century. In 2023, the space industry of India accounted for $9 billion or 2%-3% of the global space industry and employed more than 45,000 people.
Sriram Krishnan is an Indian-American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. He is a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship is a non-profit program in the United States that provided paid internships and executive mentorship to exceptional undergraduate and graduate students seeking careers in commercial space for nearly a decade. The fellowship was created in memory of Matthew Isakowitz, an American aerospace engineer and early contributor to the field of commercial spaceflight who died at the age of 29.
Qianfan, officially known as the Spacesail Constellation and also referred to as G60 Starlink, is a planned Chinese low-Earth orbit satellite internet megaconstellation to create a system of worldwide internet coverage created by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST). The project was started in 2024 as a rival to the Starlink satellite constellation installed by SpaceX, and plans to be constituted of over 15,000 satellites by the project's end.
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