SpaceFab

SpaceFab aims to be the world’s first interstellar mining company for precious metals.

The company's first step is to build a series of innovative and “on-demand” telescopes.

Its telescopes will allow for groundbreaking Earth observation and advances in astronomy.

SpaceFab’s telescopes work with satellites above the Earth, resulting in high-quality images of the planet and outer space.

SpaceFab will lease its telescopes to various groups, from universities to environmental agencies, taking advantage of two booming markets:

The first is the Space Observatory Services Market, a $100 million annual sector for professional and amateur astronomers.

The second is the Earth Observation Services Market, which presents a total available market of $1.6 billion annually for things like commercial mapping, agriculture analysis and weather prediction.

Then it will use these powerful satellites — and the revenue it generates from its customers — to search for asteroids containing platinum.

Once it identifies the right asteroid, it will extract the platinum and send it back to earth.

According to a Goldman Sachs report, even a small asteroid the size of a football field could contain up to $50 billion worth of platinum.

Several start-ups in the space tech sector have recently raised major capital from funding rounds:

Planetary Resources, with investors like Google founder Larry Page and Chairman Eric Schmidt, raised $49 million...

And Rocket Lab, which helps launch space rockets, raised $75 million from top-tier venture funds Bessemer Venture Partners and Kholsa Ventures.

With an initial telescope launch date of 2019, SpaceFab is already making progress:

In September 2016, the company partnered with Planewave Instruments, which agreed to design and build the optics for the satellite telescopes.

And in January 2017, SpaceFab unveiled a prototype of its device at the American Astronomical Society convention.

Team Background

Randall Chung - Co-Founder & CEO

Randy brings a wealth of domain experience to SpaceFab.

He worked for 25 years as a satellite engineer with Hughes Aircraft’s Space and Communications Group, where he focused on Spacecraft Telemetry and Control.

He then worked on digital signal processors for Hughes’ Radar System Group.

While working for Western Digital, Randy developed a billion-dollar product. He developed the world’s first single chip hard disk controller, which was used in IBM computers.

He was the founder of EdgeStream, an Internet streaming video delivery company. While there, he spent 15 years as the Chief Technology Officer, as well as time as a system and software engineer.

Sean League - Co-Founder & Engineering Director

Sean has extensive experience in the field of science.

He founded U.S. Telescopes, Inc. and has worked for several years as an astrophysicist and optical networking engineer.

Sean was previously the Vice President of Sales and Marketing Director for Daystar Filters, a company manufacturing solar filters. And has worked as an optical networking engineer with MCI Worldcom and Nortel.

Co-Investors