Space is booming. The industry is projected to grow to $1.4 trillion by 2030. From private launches to satellites, government to commercial uses, there are many faces to this growing industry. We sat down with Jason Kim, chief executive officer of Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing Company, to talk about the small satellite sector – what is happening with small sats today and where they are going tomorrow.
Jason Kim
Tell us about Millennium Space Systems?
Millennium was founded shortly after 9/11. We saw the need for high-performance small satellites to support high-stakes critical missions. These national security missions not only require performance but rapid delivery. And, that’s what we do – deliver small satellite prototypes and constellations in incredibly fast timelines to support missile warning and defense, ISR, advanced space and science across different orbits.
We currently have about 37 spacecraft in development, and we have 10 satellites on orbit – all with 100% on-orbit success. And we are backed by Boeing. We work closely with Boeing to support things like additive manufacturing, digital engineering and manufacturing to ensure we rapidly deliver small sats.
There are a lot of small sat providers out there. What is different about Millennium?
Different small satellites meet different needs. At Millennium, we’re focused on national security space missions. That requires a level of performance that you can’t find in just any small satellite. We design and build our small satellites to be high-performance so they can meet these critical missions, where lives are at stake.
How far has the small sat industry come over the last decade?
We’ve come a long way! Millennium flew a small satellite – Rapid Pathfinder – about a decade ago – when small sats weren’t really a consideration. Fast forward to today and we’re now in a “buy-in-bulk” environment for small sats. There’s a much greater use for smaller satellites today because we’ve been able to advance technology to the point we are building high-performance small sats. That’s why many architectures are relying on proliferated constellations.
Something we’ve really been able to progress is dual-use technology, space qualifying and testing commercial tech to deliver solutions faster to our customers. For example, our batteries use the same cells that you’d find in your electric car. The large-volume commercial industry, including the automotive sector, has driven piece-part component quality, reliability and safety to the point that we’re able to use them for space applications.
Another area that has really advanced is onboard processing. Machine Learning and AI have advanced significantly over the last 10 years. To a very large extent, we’re now able to have satellites do the work – process data and provide it directly to where it needs to go. Traditionally, all data is first sent to a ground station to be processed and then sent to where it’s needed.
Speaking of dual-use technology, the Department of Defense is focused on commercial industry to help speed up innovation. How does that affect Millennium?
Traditional aerospace companies have been delivering innovative technology that we all rely on today – think GPS – for more than a century. At Millennium, we actually use commercial products, tools and technology. The difference is we know how to space qualify the latest commercial technologies and apply them to national security space missions. It’s part of what keeps us agile and flexible.
Do you think vertical integration is key to that agility and flexibility?
Millennium is 80% vertically integrated and that’s definitely helped us ensure the quality of our product and ensure delivery timelines. I think the biggest pitfall is thinking it’s best to pull everything in-house, and that’s not always true. You have to be smart about how and when to vertically integrate – what really makes sense to build in-house versus pull in a vendor.
What’s the next big thing for small sats?
We’re at the cusp of the additive manufacturing evolution. With Boeing, Millennium is already working on a number of 3D parts, but we will soon move to thousands of parts. The opportunity space is tremendous, and there are some really cool things coming that will only continue to drive down the costs.
As I mentioned, Millennium Space Systems is grounded in national security space. Our customers need high-performance systems on orbit faster than ever before, and they need them at the best possible value. That’s where additive manufacturing can make a huge impact. We’re seeing a decrease in cost of 30% and much faster timelines to print structures.
We have seen many industries move toward greater sustainability practices. What is the small sat industry doing in this area?
Environmental, Social, and Governance is critical to our collective future in space. We’ve committed to ESG for several reasons, namely it’s important that space remain accessible and useable, it’s important to the people who work at Millennium and it’s important to our customers.
There are many aspects of ESG we’re implementing today – additive manufacturing, green and sustainable fuels and debris mitigation. We’re also focused on diversity, equality and inclusion. We’ve grown a lot over the last year so what we’re currently focused on is incorporating Boeing best practices to improve DE&I within our team.
