How a small start-up has declared war on space debris

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos - they all want to launch more and more satellites into orbit over the next few years. But the satellites will have to share space with an ever-growing amount of space junk. The start-up Okapi Orbits has recognized an opportunity in this danger.

More than 13 years ago and about 800 meters above northern Siberia, two satellites collided in Earth orbit. The collision between the U.S. communications satellite Iridium 33 and the 16-year-old Russian reconnaissance satellite Kosmos 2251, which had already been shut down, had such force that it tore the two objects into thousands of pieces. To this day, they float through space, posing a great danger to other satellites.

This was the first collision of two satellites in Earth orbit - but not the last. Space debris is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. The space agency ESA speaks of about 34,000 debris objects with a width of at least ten centimeters, in addition to 128 million objects with a diameter of more than one millimeter. All potential hazards for satellites orbiting the orbit.

The start-up's business figures look rather meager

And at the same time, a business opportunity for a small start-up from Germany: Okapi Orbits has developed software that predicts when a satellite is at risk of colliding with space debris - and subsequently calculates an evasive maneuver for the satellite. It's an idea that could pay off: After all, more and more satellites are to be launched into orbit in the coming years. SpaceX alone wants to expand broadband Internet connections with 12,000 satellites, and Amazon also wants to provide better Internet coverage for remote areas with around 3,000 satellites by the end of the year. But Okapi Orbit's business figures do not indicate this market potential: According to the Federal Gazette, for example, the start-up was over-indebted by almost 59,000 euros at the end of its fiscal year in September 2020.

So, for the start-up to have a chance of surviving in the market in the long term, it needs more investors and more customers. The future of Okapi Orbits - and thus of the universe - is in the hands of Kristina Nikolaus. The 28-year-old co-founder is responsible for management, working with customers and collecting investor funds at the start-up. Or as she says herself, "I'm on the road a lot, on the phone a lot and juggling numbers."

"Year after year, the amount of junk in space keeps increasing"

Kristina Nikolaus, Okapi Orbits

So far, she has attracted several business angels as backers, such as Ingo Lunge, a member of the supervisory boards of Thyssen Krupp and Eon, and Michael Oxfort, who himself managed the satellite operator Black Bridge for four years. In addition, Okapi Orbits has built up a good network within the industry and is part of the "New Space Initiative," a support program of the Federation of German Industries (BDI). But it was not easy for Nikolaus at first to bring such a technically complex start-up closer to investors, he says. "I therefore focus less on the technical details than on the benefits when I pitch."

The amount of scrap in space is increasing

And that's easy to understand, even for outsiders who know space only through "Star Wars," "2001" and "Star Trek." "Year after year, the amount of junk in space keeps increasing," Nikolaus explains. A collision between a satellite and space debris would mean that the satellite would be irrevocably destroyed and would also fly through space as space debris. In this way, it would in turn pose a danger to other satellites. The amount of scrap in space would therefore grow exponentially. "In addition, a satellite is an expensive investment for the operator. If it suffers a total loss, it's similar to a hotel operator having his hotel burn down," says Nikolaus.

Okapi Orbits wants to help satellite operators protect themselves from this financial risk, so it sells subscription software that uses a vast collection of data from space to predict how likely a satellite is to collide with space debris. If there is a risk, the software calculates an evasive maneuver. The customer can then decide with the click of a mouse whether or not to agree to the maneuver.

The market for Okapi Orbits is smaller companies

"So far, we are relatively alone in the market with this idea," says Kristina Nikolaus. Many satellite operators would previously have had to laboriously write software themselves. "All customers have to do is install ours, which takes five minutes." Until now, Okapi Orbit would sell its service primarily to customers operating smaller satellites. These would be used for such things as Earth observation or data exchange between physical objects.

There is a programming interface between the Okapi Orbits software and the satellites that enables the avoidance maneuvers, he said. "The calculation of these maneuvers is highly complex," the co-founder said. It is possible, she said, because of the many data points Okapi Orbits has. Some of that space data comes from commercial providers, she said, and some is freely available. The Okapi Orbits founders already had access to much of the data because of their research at TU Braunschweig.

"Space has always fascinated me."

Kristina Nikolaus, Okapi Orbits

The university is known for its aerospace engineering faculty. But Nikolaus wasn't studying anything to do with satellites or Earth orbits there four years ago; instead, she was studying management with a technical focus. One day, the then 23-year-old discovered a job application on the university bulletin board: Three space engineers, Christopher Kebschull, Jonas Radtke and Sven Müller, were urgently looking for a fourth team member with business expertise for their company "Okapi Orbits". After all, it was about nothing less than making the fight against space debris palatable to investors.

Nicholas' interest was piqued. "Space has always fascinated me." In addition, the young woman had had enough of working in large corporations like Daimler, where she had previously gained experience. She had indeed learned a lot of entrepreneurial craft there. But in a start-up like Okapi Orbits, she says, the structures are much leaner. "I can control processes directly and see what impact my work has on the company and my employees," says Nikolaus.

She is currently responsible for 15 employees - and for the future of a still young start-up with more liabilities than equity. But one that has certainly made a name for itself since its founding - thanks in part to its proximity to Braunschweig Technical University. The university has enabled the founders to quickly network in the industry. Unlike outer space, the industry is not infinitely large, but rather familiar. "The market is not as developed as you think," Nikolaus says. The startup has even exchanged ideas with SpaceX engineers.