Luminate Spotlight: SCOUT ushers in a new era of space safety
Via the Rochester Business Journal
SCOUT is one of 10 startups from around the world working with the Luminate NY accelerator at NextCorps in downtown Rochester. These companies are helping to write the next chapter in Rochester’s history as the world’s center for optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI).
Each company in Luminate’s cohort 5 received an initial investment of $100,000 and is participating in the six-month program, which helps speed the commercialization of their technologies and businesses. On October 19, at Finals 2022 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, the companies will compete for up to $2 million in follow-on investment. Funding for the $25 million program is being provided through Empire State Development’s Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative.
“Each Luminate cohort is pushing the boundaries for how OPI technologies are applied to create world-changing products and services,” said Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, managing director of Luminate. “SCOUT is leveraging optics technology to address safety issues in space, essentially giving spacecraft the eyes to better navigate and avoid threats beyond the earth’s atmosphere. Its work at the Luminate accelerator will help them speed this much needed technology to protect space operations.”
We caught up with Eric Ingram, Co-founder and CEO of SCOUT, to discuss how the company is helping to improve the safety of the rapidly evolving space industry.
Tell us about your company.
SCOUT is an acronym: Our SCOUT-Vision systems help SpaceCraft Observe and Understand Things around them. As a spaceflight hardware, software, and data provider, we are developing solutions to improve the safety and vision of U.S. assets in space.
We offer dual-use, autonomous imaging solutions for rendezvous and proximity operations, satellite servicing, space traffic management, and orbital debris detection. By providing on-orbit distributed space sensing, we greatly improve Space Domain Awareness and ensure responsible use of the space environment.
