SpaceX and Google both said no. Now his software is riding a SpaceX rocket next to Google’s

Rama Afullo, a Kenyan American engineer, pitched orbital data centers internally at both Google and SpaceX but was turned down. He left SpaceX in 2024 and co-founded Satlyt, a Sunnyvale and Nairobi-based startup building software for satellites to share computing jobs in space. The company has raised an $8 million seed round. On Thursday, Satlyt’s software is set to launch on a SpaceX rocket alongside Google’s Project Suncatcher prototype. Unlike SpaceX, Google, or startups like Starcloud and Cowboy Space Company, Satlyt does not plan to build its own spacecraft; instead, it builds software to run AI models on satellites, akin to VMware or Snowflake. Satlyt has already flown its software on two demonstration missions, including one with Google DeepMind’s Gemma AI model on a Momentus spacecraft, which cut transmission size of onboard software errors by over 60%. The upcoming launch will test Satlyt’s software on a spacecraft built by Indian startup TakeMe2Space, with customers NASA, Stellerian, and TakeMe2Space. Next year, Satlyt plans to demonstrate a shared computing system spanning two satellites. The seed round was led by Non Sibi Ventures, with partner and former NASA astronaut Bernard Harris. Afullo aims to be on 20% of satellites by the end of the decade.

(Source：TechCrunch)