Seattle, Washington: "Satellite City"
Washington State, and the Puget Sound region in particular, is an emerging hotbed of space industry entrepreneurship and activity. With a rich tradition of aerospace excellence, a large base of hardware and software engineering talent, a robust community of entrepreneurs and investors, and visionary space leaders who call this area home, the Pacific Northwest is a center of excellence and an engine of innovation for the new, entrepreneurial space age.
In particular, the Seattle area is the global leader in small satellites and mega constellations, with several of the top satellite constellations based here. Also, as cloud computing and satellite networks converge, the top two global cloud service providers, Seattle's Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, have entered the space industry.
Below is a representative list of some of the companies, organizations, events and articles that speak to the rapidly growing space hub around Seattle and in Washington State.
Space Companies
Blue Origin – launch vehicles [Kent]
SpaceX – Starlink broadband satellite constellation [Redmond]
Amazon Kuiper - Kuiper broadband satellite constellation [Redmond]
Aerojet Rocketdyne – rocket engines [Redmond]
ARKA – satellite systems and components [Bothell]
BlackSky – satellite-powered geospatial imagery, data and analytics [Seattle]
Boeing – defense, space & security [Tukwila & Kent]
Crane Aerospace & Electronics - electrical power solutions for spacecraft [Lynnwood]
Earth and Space Exploration - spaceflight training [Seattle]
Firefly Aerospace - end-to-end space transportation [Bellevue]
GHKN Engineering - rocket engines [Kirkland]
Gravitics - space station components & modules [Seattle]
gravityLab - artificial gravity lab in orbit [Seattle]
Hemisphere Ventures - space venture capital [Seattle]
HyBird Space Systems - space propulsion [Spanaway]
Integrate - SaaS to plan and manage space missions and complex machines [Seattle]
Interlune - space natural resources [Tacoma]
Janicki Industries – tooling & assemblies [Sedro-Woolley]
JX Crystals - space power beaming [Issaquah]
Kapta Space - spaceborne radar [Seattle]
Karman Space & Defense - Systima – systems and components [Mukilteo]
Kymeta – antennas and connectivity services [Redmond]
LeoStella - satellite manufacturing [Seattle]
LiftPort - lunar space elevator [Tacoma]
Litepulse - space power as a service [Seattle]
Lumen Orbit - in-orbit cloud computing
Microsoft Azure Orbital - ground station as a service [Redmond]
New Frontier Aerospace - rocket engines
Off Planet Research - extra-terrestrial simulants [Everett]
Orbite - spaceflight training [Seattle]
Planet Enterprises - space mission design & robotics [Gig Harbor]
Portal Space Systems - orbital logistics [Bothell]
Powerlight Technologies - space power beaming [Kent]
Precursor - space weather [Seattle]
Radian Aerospace - orbital space plane [Renton]
RBC Signals – ground station services [Redmond]
Reach Space Technologies - rocket engines [Seattle]
Rocket Propulsion Systems - rocket engines [Renton]
Sienna Technologies - space materials [Woodinville]
Space Exploration Engineering - mission planning [Seattle]
Starfish Space - autonomous space tug [Kent]
Stoke Space Technologies - launch vehicles [Seattle]
The Radiation Team - radiation reliability for space systems [Renton]
Ultra Safe Nuclear – nuclear power & propulsion [Seattle]
US Electrodynamics - satellite teleport [Brewster]
Wave Motion Launch - launch services [Seattle]
Wibotic - wireless charging for lunar robots [Seattle]
Xplore - space data services [Redmond]
Ad Astra Talent Advisors - recruiting [Camus]
Avaliant – engineering services, including space [Bellevue]
SPACEAIMS - consulting & reports [Seattle]
TLG Aerospace - engineering services, including space [Seattle]
Space Organizations
Space Northwest - supporting space industry and entrepreneurship in the Pacific Northwest [Seattle]
Dept of Aeronautics & Astronautics - University of Washington [Seattle]
Space Policy & Research Center - University of Washington [Seattle]
Institute for Space Law, Data & Policy - University of Washington [Seattle]
Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium - expanding STEM with NASA programs [Seattle]
Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation - academic-industry partnerships [Seattle]
Space Entrepreneurs – 1000+ person space networking and affinity group [Puget Sound region]
Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition (PNDC) - defense & security trade group
Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA) - aerospace trade group
Aerospace Futures Alliance (AFA) - aerospace advocacy group
Space Apps Seattle - space apps hackathon in the city that unites tech and space [Seattle]
Museum of Flight - [Seattle & Everett, WA]
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - fundamental research and policy analysis [Richland, WA]
Seattle Space Gals - empowering women & gender minorities in aerospace
Northwest Research Associates - space science research [Seattle]
Pacific Northwest AIAA - aero/astro professional society [Seattle]
The Atlantis Project - tethered ring for space access [Seattle]
HuskySat - UW students building a CubeSat [Seattle]
Society for Advanced Rocket Propulsion - UW student-run rocket club [Seattle]
Space United Seattle - soccer and space enthusiasts [Seattle]
AstroPlane - astronavigation system to supplement GPS [Seattle]
Upcoming Events
Space Happy Hours - Ongoing [greater Seattle Area, plus other global locations]
Yuri's Night - April 13, 2024 [Museum of Flight, Seattle]
Course: Defense Regulations in the Space Business - April 24, 2024 [Online]
AI4Space 2024 - Jun 17/18, 2024 [Seattle]
PNDC Space Supply Chain Conference - December 5, 2024 [TBD]
Recent Events
PNAA Advance 2024 - February 5-8, 2024 [Lynnwood]
PNDC Space Supply Chain Opportunities Conference - December 6, 2023 [Tukwila]
UW Space Diplomacy Symposium 2023 - November 29, 2022 [Seattle]
OneEastside Space Innovation Summit - November 2, 2023 [Redmond]
Articles & Information
Three Pacific Northwest space companies win awards from Space Force venture fund - Geekwire - January 17, 2024
Amazon Reveals Kuiper Satellites Use Laser Links - Geekwire - December 14, 2023
Blue Origin's chief architect lifts the veil on stealth moon startup - Geekwire - October 29, 2023
Stoke Space raises $100 million for reusable rocket development - SpaceNews - October 6, 2023
NASA awards millions to boost technology innovations by small business - GeekWire - June 5, 2023
How power is blazing a trail for America’s space effort — and for nuclear startups - GeekWire - April 5, 2023
Washington State Space Facts
NASA contract awards to companies and organizations in Washington State totaled more than $1.3 billion from 2019-2023.
Washington State space startups have raised more then $1 billion.
SpaceX & Amazon have each committed more than $10 billion to their broadband internet constellations designed and manufactured in Washington State.
Blue Origin's programs include suborbital space tourism, an orbital rocket, a lunar lander, a space mobility platform, and a private space station.
More than half of all operational satellites in Earth orbit have been manufactured in the greater Seattle area.
Seattle-area space companies cover the entire end-to-end space and satellite value chain.