PROBLEM<p>Finding the right parts for your satellite is time-consuming and inefficient: matching specs consumes a lot of engineering man-hours. Why can't it be as easy as shopping for a laptop, cell phone or flight?<p>SOLUTION<p>We've launched a satellite parts search engine: https://satsearch.co. Satsearch will deliver parametric-search for the space industry for engineering, procurement and market analysis.<p>We are building a set of open-source & open-data tools to break open the traditionally conservative space sector. Satsearch belongs to this set of tools. We have open-sourced a number of simulation libraries: https://github.com/openastro.<p>TEAM<p>I am an Aerospace Engineer with 10+ years of experience developing software for mission analysis, trajectory design and mission planning. I've directly faced the pain of trying to find parts for mission concepts that I've worked on. I am founder of the thriving Tudat library (http://github.com/tudat) and I'm finalizing my PhD from Delft University of Technology. My co-founder, Alberto, is a software developer (iOS and Node primarily) with a PhD in Bioengineering from Politecnico di Milano.<p>WHY WE'RE APPLYING<p>We're bootstrapped and could use the money offered through YCF. More than that though, we think that YC is ideal for what we're trying to build, given that they've recently supported teams building launchers and small-satellites. We would greatly benefit from access to and mentorship through the YC network.
A few more details due to the character limit:<p>BACKGROUND<p>There are a slew of new applications that can benefit from space technology, e.g., "internet everywhere", IoT (M2M messaging), asset tracking etc. Rapid growth of the small-sat sector and robust consumer electronics have precipitated a drastic drop in the cost of space-based infrastructure.<p>BUSINESS MODEL<p>We'd love to put together something like the Red Hat business model: delivering enterprise-level, open-source software under SLAs. With satsearch specifically, we plan on delivering a comprehensive analytics report (likely monthly) that allows suppliers to monitor what's being search for and how the market is evolving (under a subscription model).<p>We've already had a number of inbound requests from suppliers to be listed in satsearch. We are in advanced negotiations with a major space agency (direct procurement), a supplier that wants our structured data for market analysis, a university small-satellite team and two governmental organizations seeking to raise the profile of their space clusters.<p>Besides directly serving the space industry, we have supported an indie game developer in adopting our libraries for a new space-based strategy game. We have also had discussions with a company interested in leveraging our tools for tech transfer.
Are we talking about the commercial/military space sector, or about the burgeoning public/research/cubesat sector? I can't help but feel like the former doesn't really have an incentive to make things more efficient given the way the contracts typically work, while the latter might be more interesting.
I think you have to better explain the key difficult or problem for those who try to build satellites.<p>This sounds cool at first glance, I think you have to elaborate a lot more on the user pain intensity and who they are.