A business accelerator put on by CNM Ingenuity and the Air Force Research Laboratory recently selected 13 startups for its latest cohort.
The program, called the Hyperspace Challenge, seeks companies that can help advance space technologies for the military. In addition to the startups, 11 university research teams will also participate. Hyperspace's cohort begins this month and will last six weeks.
The cohort comes as the U.S. military, alongside local organizations such as NewSpace New Mexico and Q Station, makes a concerted effort to build the local tech scene. Participants will be able to meet with government customers, receive coaching and will work with the government, per the Hyperspace Challenge's website.
"We are once again very pleased to discover companies and universities developing commercial solutions with applicability to the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Air Force and the Department of Energy that the government may not have otherwise considered through its normal channels," Gabe Mounce, deputy director of SpaceWERX at the Air Force, said in a prepared statement.
The Hyperspace Challenge launched in 2018 and is part of SpaceWERX, which aims to leverage partnerships between officials from the military, academia and private industry to help pursue new technologies for use in space.
Here are the 13 startups selected for the latest Hyperspace cohort:
- Astroport Space Technologies, Inc. (San Antonio) — a designer of materials for 3D printed construction on the moon
- Atomionics — a designer of sensors for natural resource exploration and navigation
- G-Space Inc. (Silicon Valley) — a software company attempting to enable the creation of new-age materials and manufacturing processes "by removing the effects of gravity," according to its website
- Knight Aerospace (San Antonio) — a designer and manufacturer of equipment for military cargo aircraft
- Lunar Outpost (Colorado) — a space company offering a lunar resource prospector vehicle and other technologies
- Neutron Star Systems USA Corp. — a developer of an electric propulsion systems for spacecraft
- O Analytics Incorporated — a software, data analysis and risk management company
- Obruta Space Solutions — a provider of on-orbit services and technology for satellites
- Quaternion Consulting Inc. (Herndon, Virginia) — an engineering company providing modeling, simulation, systems architecture and other services
- SCOUT — a developer of software allowing spacecraft to address the presence of other objects nearby while in flight
- TurnRock Labs (Seattle) — a robotics and automation firm providing product development and engineering services
- Varda Space Industries, Inc. (Torrance, California) — a company trying to develop a "zero-gravity industrial park," according to its website
- VegaMX (New York City) — a satellite company providing data solutions for agriculture, defense and other sectors
As part of the program, the companies will focus on several areas of technology, representing a broader set of focus areas for the Hyperspace Challenge compared to past years:
- Improving flight safety in space by more precisely tracking the trajectory of space debris using statistical methods
- Using machine learning advancements to learn about objects in space
- Developing commercial and military-focused applications and products that use microgravity
- Supporting the delivery of emergency supplies with rockets
- Using quantum sensing for detection in space
