Dual Acquisition Announced by Slingshot Aerospace
Slingshot Aerospace has announced a dual acquisition that it expects will fast track its ability to drive the space economy towards sustainability.
“By merging the unique capabilities of Numerica and Seradata with those of Slingshot, we are creating a first-of-its-kind, unified platform."
Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder and CEO, Slingshot Aerospace.
The dual acquisition includes Numerica’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division and UK-based Seradata. Numerica’s SDA division includes the only commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) to geosynchronous orbit (GEO) daytime and nighttime optical sensor network for satellite tracking. Seradata brings the company’s SpaceTrak satellite and launch database into Slingshot’s portfolio and establishes the company’s footprint in the UK/European market.
“We are constantly improving our customers’ abilities to monitor, simulate, and optimize their space flight operations,” said Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder and CEO, Slingshot Aerospace. “By merging the unique capabilities of Numerica and Seradata with those of Slingshot, we are creating a first-of-its-kind, unified platform - providing our customers with the most holistic and robust insights available. In addition to more than tripling the size of our team over the last year, we are rocketing forward with this game-changing suite of products that enable a more sustainable and responsible approach to space operations today and in the future.”
Satellite operators across the commercial, civil, and defense sectors currently rely on siloed tools and data that significantly limit the efficiency of day-to-day operations. This dual acquisition accelerates the development of Slingshot Digital Space Twin, a virtualization of the space operating environment that fuses data together from multiple sources, providing an accurate live, historical, and future representation of objects in orbit, space weather like geomagnetic storms, and the radio frequency spectrum. These acquisitions also enhance the world’s first space traffic coordination solution, Slingshot Beacon, used by satellite operators to cut through the noise of conjunction alerts and facilitate coordination to prevent collisions.
The Numerica Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division acquisition includes:
An autonomous global network of proprietary sensors and software comprising more than 150 sensors and 30 telescopes across 20 locations around the globe with advanced data processing capabilities.
New team members including research scientists, orbital analysts, software engineers, and applied mathematicians.
Numerica SDA offices in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, Colorado, where Slingshot will continue to operate and expand.
The global sensor network—with locations in the USA, France, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Australia, Namibia and Chile—precisely observes tens of thousands of objects from satellites to debris and provides around-the-clock optical tracking, regardless of the presence of daylight. These sensors can track satellites and debris as small as 10 cm in size and autonomously deliver vital information to operators in real-time. Integrating this comprehensive data into Slingshot Aerospace’s products further enhances data fidelity, empowering space operators to confidently make mission-critical decisions.
“Some of the brightest engineering minds in the space industry built our advanced technologies over several decades,” said Jeff Poore, President, Numerica. “Slingshot’s acquisition of Numerica’s Space Domain Awareness division will create a suite of highly differentiated products that will help our space customers operate more safely and efficiently than ever before.”
The Space Domain Awareness division of Numerica will be fully integrated into Slingshot Aerospace. The Air and Missile Defense divisions of Numerica will continue to operate as usual.
The Seradata acquisition includes:
Seradata’s SpaceTrak, the industry’s most authoritative database and analytical system, covering all launches and satellites since Sputnik in 1957, plus future planned spacecraft/launches
New team members, including expert space industry researchers and analysts who will continue to develop SpaceTrak.
A base of operations in the UK, expanding Slingshot’s capacity to serve customers globally.
Seradata’s SpaceTrak database is relied upon by industry-leading organizations around the world, including governments, space agencies, aerospace manufacturers, launch providers, satellite operators, insurance companies, universities and space researchers that need trusted data to drive informed decisions.
“Combining what Slingshot and Seradata have each built creates an incredibly robust knowledge graph that will provide the space industry with world-class decision support, data and analytics,” said Tim Fuller, Managing Director, Seradata.
(Images provided with Slingshot Aerospace news release)