{"id":17398,"date":"2022-04-04T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/xplore-acquires-assets-of-kubos-flight-software-company-as-it-ramps-up-for-first-space-mission\/"},"modified":"2022-04-04T22:50:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T14:50:00","slug":"xplore-acquires-assets-of-kubos-flight-software-company-as-it-ramps-up-for-first-space-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/xplore-acquires-assets-of-kubos-flight-software-company-as-it-ramps-up-for-first-space-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Xplore acquires assets of Kubos flight software company as it ramps up for first space mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"424\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/220224-xleo-630x424.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-678823\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/220224-xleo-630x424.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/220224-xleo-768x516.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/220224-xleo.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>An artist\u2019s conception shows Xplore\u2019s satellite platform in low Earth orbit. (Xplore Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Redmond, Wash.-based Xplore says it\u2019s acquired the assets of Kubos Corp., the creator of cloud-based mission and flight control software for satellites.<\/p>\n<p>Xplore\u2019s co-founder and CEO, Jeff Rich, said in a news release that Kubos\u2019 Major Tom software platform would be used for Xplore\u2019s first space mission, due for launch as early as this fall, \u201cand for all future missions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Financial terms of the acquisition were not released \u2014 but Xplore is taking on key Kubos employees, including co-founder and ex-CEO Tyler Browder, as part of the deal. \u201cI\u2019m delighted to join the Xplore team as business development director for mission operations,\u201d Browder said. \u201cIn my new role I will continue to build and grow the Major Tom platform into an expanded service offering.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"532\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/MajorTom_DashBoard_Border-630x532.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-688487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/MajorTom_DashBoard_Border-630x532.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/MajorTom_DashBoard_Border-1260x1064.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/MajorTom_DashBoard_Border-768x649.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/MajorTom_DashBoard_Border.jpg 1506w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>This screenshot shows Major Tom\u2019s flight control dashboard. (Xplore \/ Kubos Graphic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Founded in 2017, Xplore aims to provide \u201cspace as a service\u201d \u2014 a business model that offers data products, sensor tasking, mission operations software and payload hosting to customers. The company is developing the hardware for its missions, including Xcube nanosatellites and Xcraft satellite platforms, at its 22,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Redmond. <\/p>\n<p>Its first planned mission is designed to put hyperspectral and high-resolution video imagers into low Earth orbit. Xplore has said future missions could go to farther-out destinations, including the moon, Mars, Venus and asteroids.<\/p>\n<p>Xplore hasn\u2019t yet specified the precise timing or venue for the first launch, nor has it identified a launch provider.<\/p>\n<p>Kubos was founded in Texas in 2014 and moved its headquarters to Lake Oswego, Ore., during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, it reported raising $2.88 million in an investment round led by Boost VC.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s Major Tom platform enables satellite operators to perform ground station scheduling, satellite tasking and telemetry monitoring via the cloud. <strong>(This Kubos video explains how Major Tom works.)<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kubos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Kubos-MajorTom-Explainer_v3.1_15mb-1.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe are a customer-focused commercial space company that is now both a customer and developer of Major Tom,\u201d Lisa Rich, Xplore\u2019s co-founder and chief operating officer, said in today\u2019s news release. \u201cAs users, developers and stakeholders, the ability to easily connect and set up command and control systems for satellites and constellations is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lisa Rich said the acquisition should help Xplore \u201ccontinually improve the features and capabilities of our flight-ready mission control system from the inside out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also hinted that this might not be Xplore\u2019s last acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are actively working on new partnerships, and [we] invite founders and businesses to share new acquisition opportunities with us that fit our strategic vision,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows Xplore\u2019s satellite platform in low Earth orbit. (Xplore Illustration) Redmond, Wash.-based Xplore says it\u2019s acquired the assets of Kubos Corp., the creator of cloud-based mission and flight control software for satellites. Xplore\u2019s co-founder and CEO, Jeff Rich, said in a news release that Kubos\u2019 Major Tom software platform would be used [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20,442,4426],"class_list":["post-17398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-xplore"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}