JAM Celestial Navigation System Wins Ski Lift Pitch Contest
The JAM celestial navigation system developed by Rhea Space Activity has won the annual Ski Lift Pitch Contest held in Taos, NM.
"The spirit of the event is to give entrepreneurs an opportunity to make meaningful connections with investors, and this year was the best yet with outstanding pitches, investors from around the country, (and) fresh snow at Taos Ski Valley."
Katie Rice, Founder of Ski Lift Pitch.
The contest, sponsored by the Ingenuity Division of Central New Mexico Community College, has representatives from New Mexico startup companies pitch their ideas to a judge during a ski lift ride to the top of a mountain. You might call it the ultimate elevator pitch. The winning startup takes home $10,000 in prize money and all the startups get to build important connections for the future of their businesses.
JAM Celestial Navigation System has Applications Beyond Space
The winning idea at this year's event was pitched by Rhea Space Activity (RSA), an astrophysics company that ideates and creates high-risk/high-reward research-and-development concepts to support U.S. national security objectives. The JAM (Jervis Autonomy Module) celestial navigation system has been developed to allow spacecraft to autonomously navigate space, without using GPS, by taking pictures of planets, satellites, asteroids, and lunar surface features. Company CEO Shawn Usman explained how RSA's JAM celestial navigation system not only has application in orbit, but also has applicability for U.S customers in exoatmospheric regimes, commercial aircraft, space-based laser communications, and in ground-based U.S. special operations missions.
Usman founded RSA in 2018 after serving for more than a decade in federal service with the U.S. intelligence community. He is originally from Honolulu, Hawaii where he grew up surfing the swells of Oahu, which naturally transitioned into snowboarding once he moved to the mainland.
"The spirit of the event is to give entrepreneurs an opportunity to make meaningful connections with investors, and this year was the best yet with outstanding pitches, investors from around the country, fresh snow at Taos Ski Valley, and, as always, tremendous energy throughout the day," said Katie Rice, Founder of Ski Lift Pitch.
"Getting to know the founders of Ski Lift Pitch, and the philosophy behind the event, was especially rewarding to me," said Usman. "Creating shared memories on the slopes with adventure-focused investors truly will help entrepreneurs in their fundraising efforts."
(Source: Central New Mexico Community College news release. Images provided by CNMCC and Rhea Space Activity)