Laura Crabtree spent a good chunk of her childhood watching rocket launches on tv, and her whole skilled profession launching rockets, first at Northrup Grumman after which at SpaceX.

Now, the former senior missions operations engineer at SpaceX is the co-founder and chief govt of a new LA-based space startup known as Epsilon3, which says it has developed the working system for launch operations.

“The tools I had wanted did not exist,” mentioned Crabtree. So when she left SpaceX to pursue her subsequent alternative, it was a no-brainer to attempt to develop the toolkit she by no means had, the first-time entrepreneur mentioned. “I started looking at ways in which I could help the space industry become more efficient and reduce errors.”

Joining Crabtree in the new enterprise is Max Mednik, a serial entrepreneur whose final firm, Epirus, raised at the least $144.7 million from traders together with 8VC, Bedrock Capital and L3 Harris Technologies, and Aaron Sullivan, a former Googler who serves as the chief software program engineer. Mednik labored at Google too earlier than turning his consideration to entrepreneurship. His earlier companies ranged from monetary companies software program to authorized companies software program, however Mednik additionally had an curiosity in aerospace. His first job presents out of faculty had been with SpaceX, JPL and Google.

Part of a rising community of SpaceX alumni launching companies, Epsilon3, like its fellow vacationers First Resonance and Prewitt Ridge, is creating a product round a side of the design, manufacturing mission administration and operations of rockets that had beforehand been dealt with manually or with bespoke instruments.

“They make mission management software for the launchers and for the satellite companies that are going to be the payload of the rocket companies,” mentioned Alex Rubalcava, the founder and managing associate of Stage Venture Partners, an investor in the firm’s latest seed spherical. “It’s not just the design and spec but for when they’re actually working what are they doing; when you’re uplinking and downlinking data and changing software.”

Rubalcava acknowledged that the market for Epsilon3 is fully new, however it’s rising quickly.

“This was an analysis based on the fact that access to space used to be really expensive and used to be the provenance of governments and 10 or 20 commercial satellite operators in the world. And it was limited by the fact that there were only a handful of companies that could launch,” Rubalcava mentioned. “Now all of a sudden there’s going to be 30 different space flights. Thirty different companies that have rockets… access to space used to scarce, expensive, and highly restricted and it’s no longer any of those things now.” 

Image Credits: Relativity Space

The demand for space companies is exploding, with some analysts estimating that the launch companies business might attain over $18 billion by 2026.

“It’s a very similar story and we all come from different places within SpaceX,” mentioned Crabtree. First Resonance supplies software program that strikes from prototyping to manufacturing; Prewitt Ridge supplies engineering and administration instruments; and Epsilon3 has developed an working system for launch operations.

“You’ve got design development, manufacturing, integration tests and operations. We’re trying to support that integration of tests and operations,” mentioned Crabtree. 

While First Resonance and Prewitt Ridge have purposes in aerospace and manufacturing broadly, Crabtree’s eyes, and her firm’s mission, stay fastened on the stars.

“We’re laser focused on space and proving out that the software works in the highest stakes and most complex environments,” mentioned Mednik. There are purposes in different areas that require complicated workflows for industries as various as nuclear plant building and operations, vitality, mining and aviation broadly, however for now and the foreseeable future, it’s all about the space enterprise.

Mednik described the software program as an digital toolkit for controlling and enhancing workflows and procedures. “You can think of it as Asana project management meets GitHub version control,” he mentioned. “It should be for integration of subsystems or systems and operations of the systems.”

Named for the planet in “Babylon 5,” Epsilon3 might turn into an integral half of the rocket missions that finally do discover different worlds. At least, that’s the wager that companies like Stage Venture Partners and MaC Ventures are making with their early $1.eight million funding into the enterprise.

Right now, Epislon3’s early prospects are coming from early-stage space firms which are utilizing the platform for stay launches. These would be firms like Stoke Space and different new rocket entrants. 

“For us, space and deep tech is hot,” mentioned MaC Ventures co-founder and managing associate, Adrian Fenty. The former mayor of Washington famous the mixture of Mednik’s serial entrepreneur standing and Crabtree’s deep, deep experience in the area.

“We had been looking at operating systems in general and thinking that there would be some good ones coming along,” Fenty mentioned. In Epsilon3 the firm discovered the mixture of deep space, deep tech and a thesis round growing verticalized working techniques that ticked all the bins. 

“In doing diligence for the company… you just see how big space is and will become as a business,” mentioned Michael Palank, a co-founder and managing associate at MaC Ventures predecessor, M Ventures alongside Fenty. “A lot of the challenges here on Earth will and only can be solved in space. And you need better operating systems to manage getting to and from space.”

The view from Astra’s Rocket 3.2 second stage from space. Image Credits: Astra