UPLAND — From a basement to sending thousands of systems into space, NearSpace Launch is a growing aerospace industry in Indiana.
Founded in 2013 by Taylor engineering professor Dr. Hank Voss and Jeff Daly, a manufacturing expert, NearSpace Launch began with a simple idea.
What started as a class project has since grown into an aerospace manufacturer that designs, builds and launches small satellites and communications systems according to president of NearSpace Launch, Matthew Voss.
He said their clients consist of those in government, education and commercial personal located in the United States.
“We have over a thousand systems in orbit right now and 100 small sets on orbit,” Voss said. “TSAT, which was launched in 2014, was the first small satellite in Indiana to go into orbit.”
Voss spoke about the early stages of the company and how the journey began in a basement.
NearSpace now operates out of a facility in Upland.
The building has clean rooms for assembly, production lines and testing areas.
NearSpace Launch Clean Room
The company’s circuit boards are produced in Fort Wayne before being assembled and integrated in Upland.
“Jeff came from a manufacturing background,” Voss said. “He designed from the beginning to make everything efficient – so the boards are made with pick-and-place automation in Fort Wayne, and then we assemble, test and integrate them here.”
While many aerospace operations are found on coastlines, Voss said he is proud to keep NearSpace Launch located in Indiana.
He said the company believes that some of the best innovation and work can be done in the state of Indiana and it will provide for the people that surround them.
“We want to reinvest what we’re bringing in from government and commercial projects into the community – through education, jobs and local partnerships,” Voss said.
From academia to commercial work
NearSpace Launch first introduced educational satellite programs and has grown to develop contracts and research with the U.S. government and a series of off-the-shelf satellite systems for commercial use.
“It takes a longer runway to get government and commercial customers involved, but we proved ourselves in the academic world,” Voss said. “From there, we started doing more commercial and government R&D work, and those clients just kept adding on.”
Satellite communications are what NearSpace specializes in.
Satellites orbiting Earth can only connect with ground stations a few times within a day.
This limits how often researchers can receive data.
So, NearSpace used existing satellite constellations like Iridium and Globalstar to create a real-time communication network.
“Instead of building our own constellation, we adapted what was already there,” Voss said. “It’s kind of like how Uber didn’t build new cars – they used what already existed. We used the Globalstar and Iridium networks, so satellites could communicate within minutes instead of hours.”
That finding led to the EyeStar radio which are now flying on satellites and are able to be produced within two weeks.
Watch out for space debris
However, a concern does grow as the number of satellites in orbit rises.
Space debris and collision risks get higher as people are sending more things into space.
NearSpace responded to the issue and developed a solution.
They created the black box, which helps track satellites more precisely and therefore reduces the chances of collisions.
“There’s an issue right now with knowing exactly where every satellite is,” business operations and communications, Jasmin Consales said. “Our black box technology helps shrink the uncertainty window. Instead of knowing a satellite is somewhere within miles, we can narrow that down to about 20 feet.”
The precision in which the black boxes provide are vital to keeping space safe according to Consales.
“Once satellites collide, there are fragments that can threaten other missions or even the International Space Station,” she said. “So being able to track and predict those positions accurately is a big deal.”
NearSpace remains focused on expanding their manufacturing capacity while also training younger people.
“We want to help expand and train up a team that can truly develop and produce a lot of these satellites,” Voss said. “We’re on track for manufacturing not just our own systems, but also components for others in the space community – the people who are building experimental missions or their own constellations.”
As NearSpace Launch expands its workforce and technology, the company will continue to show that aerospace innovation can thrive in the middle of Indiana.