Who is Slingshot Aerospace?

On behalf of the Slingshot Aerospace team, welcome to our blog! Here we will be sharing news about our company and the exciting technology we’re building, stories from our customers and partners, technical articles from the research our incredible team is working on, and much more. First, I’d like to share with you a bit about who and what Slingshot Aerospace is, and why the company was created.

I proudly served in the U.S. Air Force for 21 years where I logged over 1,500 flight hours onboard ground surveillance aircraft, commanded experimental spacecraft missions, and led the development of space control technologies for the Department of Defense. During my Air Force career, I met fellow combat-tested veteran Thomas Ashman.

Thomas and I discovered first-hand how viewing the earth from above can be so powerful, especially when augmented with technology. During our time in the military, we recognized that aerial sensors - such as satellites, airplanes, and drones - generate petabytes of data every day, but it was impossible to quickly analyze and use the information in a meaningful way. 

We knew that fusing these complex data sets, leveraging machine learning, and applying advanced analytics would allow organizations to unlock the power of this information to save time, resources, and even lives. Thomas and I invited experienced CEO and technologist David Godwin to join our mission, and together we created Slingshot Aerospace.

Each of us brings a unique background to the table. As a U.S. Air Force Officer, I became a combat-tested leader with expertise across battle management, space operations, and advanced technology development. Thomas served as Chief of Analysis, Correlation, and Fusion in the U.S. Air Force at the Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC), and has more than 13 years of experience as an Air Force officer having served in a variety of disciplines including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. David is a seasoned entrepreneur, leader, and big data architect with more than 25 years of experience in product development and technical leadership with four successful startups.

Since its founding in 2017, incubation at TechStars, and Seed funding, the company has grown to also include a team of passionate domain experts for astro, remote sensing, and GIS; PhD data scientists, Air Force Ops, Intel, and Engineering veterans; expert software engineers; and other leaders from their respective fields. Most of the team works out of one of our two offices in either Austin, TX or Los Angeles, CA.

Our Board of Advisors also consists of world-renowned experts including TED Fellow and Space Environmentalist Moriba Jah (NASA, U.S. Air Force, JPL, University of Texas), Astronaut Susan Helms (NASA, U.S. Air Force, Concho), Chuck Beams (U.S. Air Force, Vulcan Aerospace, SmallSat Alliance), and Karen Diener (NGA, Digitalglobe, ManTech).

David, Thomas, and I  have strived to create a team- and mission-based culture that fosters collaboration and creativity through these core values:

Integrity: We always take accountability for our actions and do what is right, even when no one is looking.

Transparency: We proactively share information to ensure that every Slingshooter has the awareness and alignment they need to execute with confidence.

Curiosity: We are perpetual learning machines who courageously experiment and constantly innovate.

Teamwork: We seek solutions, not blame, and treat everyone with respect while taking initiative to selflessly work together to meet the needs of our customers and company.

Stewardship: We care for our people, our planet and space by using our technology, capital, and human resources responsibly.

Trust: Trust is the cornerstone of every relationship we have and we intentionally build it through every interaction, big and small.

The Slingshot Aerospace team aims to change the way organizations across industries leverage data from earth and space with situational intelligence. The vision of the company is to help teams perceive the past with more clarity, comprehend the present faster, and predict the future with greater precision to create a safer, more sustainable world. To put it simply, we want to bring clarity to complex environments and empower better, faster decision making.

Teams within the government, commercial, and emergency management sectors all need the right information at the right time in order to make an impact. For example, defense agencies using Slingshot Orbital can better track satellites and safeguard from those who try tampering with critical communications. Insurance companies using Slingshot Earth can detect damage and process claims at a record pace when families need it most. Emergency management teams powered by situational intelligence can dispatch aid quicker than ever. Armed Forces can safely and strategically navigate critical missions using Slingshot Edge technology. 

You can learn more about the technology we’re building on our Products page and how we’re helping organizations across industries by visiting our Commercial, Government, or Emergency Management pages. Subscribe to our newsletter if you want to stay informed of new articles and updates from Slingshot. We’re excited to share more details throughout our company’s journey!