Startup Aethero aims to become the Intel or Nvidia of the space industry

Satellite sensors collect an incredible amount of data, but computational constraints in orbit hinder operators from processing them in space. Aethero, founded a year ago, plans to change that.

Aethero is developing peripheral computers with radiation protection for data processing in orbit and, ultimately, autonomous decision-making.

"Currently, pre-processing of space data is a big market, but we expect that as the number of orbital assets increases over the years, spacecraft autonomy will become widespread," said Aethero co-founder and CEO Edward Ge in a recent interview.

Ge founded Aethero together with his childhood friend Amit Pinnamaneni - they also own the startup Stratodyne, which creates high-altitude balloons for remote sensing. Despite being quite different directions, the founders say that both companies face similar problems.

Today's space computers use Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) with older architecture that cannot handle intensive computational tasks such as training or deploying advanced computer vision models in orbit.

"We realized that the problem is not about getting enough data from space, but about ensuring that data from the sensor in space is transmitted quickly enough to the end user, and that satellites in orbit can make real-time decisions."

During the previous round of funding, Aethero raised $1.7 million.

The startup's first generation of space computers is called AetherNxN and is based on the Nvidia Orin processor. It is designed for a 7-10 year lifespan in low Earth orbit, can fit on small platforms like CubeSats, and provides 20 times more computational power than existing options, according to Ge.

Aethero plans to release a larger second-generation computer before transitioning to its own space processor. The company says this will help reduce energy consumption and increase performance. The startup aims to produce processors in collaboration with Intel by 2026.

One of Aethero's missions will launch in June this year on the SpaceX-11 transporter to demonstrate the ability to work in space, deliver over-the-air updates for onboard computer vision models, and train computer vision models.