Andrew Gunther

A hundred percent. And this is one of the crazy things. I mean, even in a startup like an aerospace startup, the dev cycle on hardware is super long. So, you know, a lot of the hardware was designed and locked in and figured out before a lot of people got hired. Like the hardware was decided before I even got hired.

A hundred percent. And this is one of the crazy things. I mean, even in a startup like an aerospace startup, the dev cycle on hardware is super long. So, you know, a lot of the hardware was designed and locked in and figured out before a lot of people got hired. Like the hardware was decided before I even got hired.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. So there's a lot of, you know, by the time these things go up, like, you know, you've got three new generations of NVIDIA dev boards that have come out. You're running like Ubuntu 1804 in space for the next, you know, half decade.

Yeah. So there's a lot of, you know, by the time these things go up, like, you know, you've got three new generations of NVIDIA dev boards that have come out. You're running like Ubuntu 1804 in space for the next, you know, half decade.

It's like L-L-L-L-T-S. Long, long, long-term support. Yeah.

It's like L-L-L-L-T-S. Long, long, long-term support. Yeah.

Yeah, because you got to test the hell out of it before it goes up. And it's so interesting to kind of see this boon of aerospace startups. Like, before I came to OSK, like, I didn't work in aerospace. Like I said, I was at AWS. And I also had the draw of like, I want to work on space stuff. Like that sounds awesome.

Yeah, because you got to test the hell out of it before it goes up. And it's so interesting to kind of see this boon of aerospace startups. Like, before I came to OSK, like, I didn't work in aerospace. Like I said, I was at AWS. And I also had the draw of like, I want to work on space stuff. Like that sounds awesome.

And seeing this smashing of startup culture and aerospace, like you have this culture that wants to move incredibly fast and this culture that's traditionally very slow, trying to like figure out like where, where does this all meet in the middle? How do we speed this process up, become more agile? And that was to me like one of the most interesting things to observe.

And seeing this smashing of startup culture and aerospace, like you have this culture that wants to move incredibly fast and this culture that's traditionally very slow, trying to like figure out like where, where does this all meet in the middle? How do we speed this process up, become more agile? And that was to me like one of the most interesting things to observe.

Oh man, there's so many great questions to unpack here. So I'll try and go at it one at a time. So one of the saving graces to some degree is that as we launch more satellites, they're all based on the same hardware designs, like very minor, minor revisions between them, right? Like you have a satellite that works, like don't mess with it. Continue to launch more of the same.

Oh man, there's so many great questions to unpack here. So I'll try and go at it one at a time. So one of the saving graces to some degree is that as we launch more satellites, they're all based on the same hardware designs, like very minor, minor revisions between them, right? Like you have a satellite that works, like don't mess with it. Continue to launch more of the same.

So but then also on the flip side, right, when the first one goes up and we realize like, ah, we really should have done some things differently as we learn the iteration cycle is even slower. So there's a lot of things that we have to kind of deal with on ground and we're making notes for what the next gen hardware is going to look like. additional concerns.

So but then also on the flip side, right, when the first one goes up and we realize like, ah, we really should have done some things differently as we learn the iteration cycle is even slower. So there's a lot of things that we have to kind of deal with on ground and we're making notes for what the next gen hardware is going to look like. additional concerns.

And when you talk about, you know, what kind of packages are we going to use? That's a huge concern of ours, right? Again, it's running 1804 in space. We're trying to do machine learning and data analysis. A lot of those libraries move very fast. They're very quick to drop support for older operating systems. So, you know, we have to make the call as a small team.

And when you talk about, you know, what kind of packages are we going to use? That's a huge concern of ours, right? Again, it's running 1804 in space. We're trying to do machine learning and data analysis. A lot of those libraries move very fast. They're very quick to drop support for older operating systems. So, you know, we have to make the call as a small team.

Are we going to compile these ourselves? Like, are we going to build our own versions of these dependencies to maintain them? So we're very cognizant, especially on the onboard data processing side of what libraries we pull in. I mean, more so than anywhere I've ever been, because not only is maintenance a concern, size is a huge concern. Pushing software updates to space is hard, right?

Are we going to compile these ourselves? Like, are we going to build our own versions of these dependencies to maintain them? So we're very cognizant, especially on the onboard data processing side of what libraries we pull in. I mean, more so than anywhere I've ever been, because not only is maintenance a concern, size is a huge concern. Pushing software updates to space is hard, right?