D-Orbit, an Italian space tech scale-up operating in the fields of space infrastructure, logistics and orbital transportation, has announced the creation of a joint venture, D-Orbit USA, effective July 10, 2024, with Mike Cassidy, Mark Krebs, Miles Gagic, Danny Field and David Harrower to strengthen its presence in the US satellite bus market.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, D-Orbit USA is part of the D-Orbit Group and is focused on the design, manufacture and sale of satellite buses. The team is comprised of aerospace executives with extensive experience in rigorous and comprehensive aerospace program qualification and acceptance testing honed through work with SpaceX, Amazon’s Kuiper project, OneWeb, and others. D-Orbit USA’s foundation is strengthened by D-Orbit’s experience, evidenced by 13 successful ION orbital missions, and a team of over 300 professionals across highly specialized engineering and quality areas dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of innovation and performance.
The D-Orbit USA team has extensive experience in space engineering. Mark Krebs has led the attitude control, flight dynamics and vehicle integration teams on projects such as Starlink and Kuiper. Miles Gajic has developed avionics, flight and ground software for various space programs including Amazon’s Kuiper, SpaceX’s Starlink, Capella Space and the first low Earth orbit satellite for the PlanetIQ project. Danny Field was a principal engineer at OneWeb, Raytheon and General Atomics, where he designed all the primary and secondary structures for OneWeb’s Gen1 satellites. David Harrower has extensive experience with low, medium and geostationary Earth orbit satellites and network applications through his work at Terran Orbital, Kymeta Corporation, VT iDirect and Comtech. Mike Cassidy was CEO of Apollo Fusion, which built over 77 electric propulsion systems for many of the leading US aerospace satellite suppliers.
“We are incredibly excited about our team and the flight track record that has resulted from D-Orbit’s 13 successful orbital missions,” D-Orbit USA CEO Mike Cassidy said in the memo. “We believe this collaboration will enable us to respond quickly to our customers’ needs and provide highly competitive solutions.”
D-Orbit chose to establish the joint venture in the United States in response to space industry projections that suggest significant growth from an estimated value of approximately €500 billion at the end of 2023 to more than €1 trillion by 2030.
Luca Rossettini, CEO of D-Orbit Group, added: “The establishment of D-Orbit USA marks an important milestone in our strategic expansion into the US market. Combining the experience of our US-based team with D-Orbit’s heritage, we are well prepared to deliver innovative, reliable and cost-effective solutions. This joint venture underlines our commitment to serving the growing needs of the space industry and strengthens our position as a global leader in space infrastructure and logistics.”
D-Orbit is poised to accelerate its growth following the successful completion of its Serie C funding round, which ended with a first close of around €100 million at the end of 2023. The round, the largest ever for a European space technology company, follows a stellar year for D-Orbit, which saw triple-digit growth in annual revenue between 2021 and 2023, the award of contracts with EU institutions worth tens of millions of euros, and seven further successful missions with its ION orbital transport vehicle. D-Orbit is headquartered in Italy and has offices in Portugal and the UK, in addition to the US. (Photo: Christopher Michel – Mike Cassidy, CC BY 2.0)
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