Apex Emerges From Stealth, Announces Aries Satellite Bus Platform

California-based spacecraft manufacturing company Apex has emerged from stealth with over $7.5M in funding and introduced its Aries satellite bus.

There are three key elements required to get to space: the ride to space (the rocket), the sensor/camera/life support module/etc (the payload), and the spacecraft platform (the bus). As the cost to launch satellites and spacecraft to orbit has declined drastically over the last several years, an exponentially increasing number of new commercial and government payloads have entered operation.

These payloads, which range from earth observation cameras to next generation communications, require spacecraft platforms, known as satellite buses, to operate. Satellite buses contain all of the subsystems needed for space operations: flight computer, navigation, power, propulsion, de-orbit capabilities, and more.

Aries Satellite Bus will Accommodate a Wide Variety of Missions

Responding to this massive increase in demand, Apex manufactures spacecraft for both commercial and government customers. Apex’s first product, the Aries satellite bus, is a 227 pound spacecraft platform capable of holding a customer payload as large as 207 pounds. Apex sells the Aries platform to companies operating in low earth orbit, flying payloads for a wide variety of missions, ranging from earth imaging to communications. The Aries platform is available off the shelf or can be configured to meet specific mission requirements.

As the cost of launch continues to decline and more payload businesses emerge, Apex offers spacecraft platforms that move at the speed of our commercial and government customers, removing satellite buses as a bottleneck from the process of our society’s expansion to space.

Apex, based in Los Angeles, closed its initial $7.5M round of financing, enabling the company to ramp up hiring and production timelines. The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from XYZ, J2, Lux Capital, and Village Global.

The executive team, Ian Cinnamon and Max Benassi, lean on their extensive experience across aerospace, dual use, and deep technology companies to bring their vision of Apex to life. Ian, Apex’s CEO, previously led his venture-backed company Synapse through its growth and acquisition by Palantir. CTO Max previously scaled aerospace manufacturing at SpaceX before operating as Director of Engineering at Astra.

(Source: Apex news release and company blog. Courtesy images)