Satlyt Raises $8 Million, Launches AI Satellite Software on SpaceX Mission
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Oct 1
Satlyt Raises $8 Million, Launches AI Satellite Software on SpaceX Mission
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Oct 1
Summary
$8 million in seed funding will help Satlyt deploy AI software on a SpaceX launch Thursday, riding with Google’s Project Suncatcher prototype and a TakeMe2Space spacecraft.
Satlyt sells software rather than satellites, aiming to let multiple spacecraft share computing jobs in orbit and cut costly downlinks by processing data and resolving anomalies onboard.
A Momentus test earlier this year used Google DeepMind’s Gemma model to shrink software-error transmissions by more than 60%, savings Satlyt says can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per satellite annually.
NASA, space-surveillance startup Stellerian and TakeMe2Space are the first customers on this mission, while Satlyt plans next year to link two satellites into a shared orbital cloud.
The startup is betting on near-term satellite efficiency gains rather than full-scale orbital data centers, even as SpaceX and Google push broader space-computing ambitions.