Satlyt, a new company co-founded by Rama Afullo, a former product manager at Google and SpaceX, has raised an $8 million seed round. The company, with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, and Nairobi, aims to build software that enables AI models to run on satellites.
Afullo's experiences at Google's cloud computing business and SpaceX's Starlink network convinced him of the potential for computers in space. Satlyt's software is set to launch today on a SpaceX rocket, accompanying the first prototype for Google's Project Suncatcher, a space data centre effort.
Unlike some other companies, Satlyt does not plan to build its own spacecraft. Instead, it focuses on developing software to operate AI models on existing satellites. The company has previously flown its software on two demonstration missions, including deploying Google DeepMind's Gemma AI model on a Momentus spacecraft, which reportedly reduced the size of onboard software error transmissions by over 60%.
This week's launch will see Satlyt's software on a spacecraft built by TakeMe2Space, an Indian startup. The mission involves three customers: NASA, testing cloud computing protocols in space; Stellerian, testing image processing for space surveillance; and TakeMe2Space, demonstrating the satellite's ability to host third-party software.