One Year Later

It’s kind of crazy to realize that a year ago today was the day when I formally “took the plunge”, and left my old company to start Altius Space Machines. While it was a very scary decision at the time–I only had a tiny bit over $10k in the bank, no contracts setup in advance, no sure idea of what our first product was going to be, etc–it turned out to be exactly what I needed to do.

We’ve still got a long way to go, but here were some of the highlights that have happened since after I made the plunge:

• We’ve found, signed, and fulfilled over $200k worth of contract engineering work
• I invented Sticky Boom™ which has the potential of changing the way rendezvous, docking, and space servicing are done (and which got us mentioned in New Scientist today).
• We took that idea, won a NASA contract to mature it, and also raised about $50k to accelerate its development
• We built two generations of prototypes, got invited by NASA to show one of them off in Washington DC at the US Capitol Visitors Center, and took the other one and flight demonstrated it on a Zero-Gravity aircraft.
• And just today we got invited to present our business plan as one of the finalists at the 2011 New Space Business Plan Competition later this month.

It’s been a pretty spectacular year, and we’ve gotten a lot accomplished in a short time, especially considering that I’m still learning the ropes. That said, I don’t at all miss the 13,000 miles worth of driving I did in the second half of last year, or spending six months crashing on friends couches bouncing back and forth between California, Colorado, Utah, and Oregon.

Hopefully I’ll soon be able to start getting more active in the space technology and policy blogging scene again here on Selenian Boondocks. Thanks for the patience and support.

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Jonathan Goff

President/CEO at Altius Space Machines

Jonathan Goff is a space technologist, inventor, and serial space entrepreneur who created the Selenian Boondocks blog. Jon was a co-founder of Masten Space Systems, and the founder and CEO of Altius Space Machines, a space robotics startup that he sold to Voyager Space in 2019. Jonathan is currently the Product Strategy Lead for the space station startup Gravitics. His family includes his wife, Tiffany, and five boys: Jarom (deceased), Jonathan, James, Peter, and Andrew. Jon has a BS in Manufacturing Engineering (1999) and an MS in Mechanical Engineering (2007) from Brigham Young University, and served an LDS proselytizing mission in Olongapo, Philippines from 2000-2002.

Latest posts by Jonathan Goff (see all)

• NASA’s Selection of the Blue Moon Lander for Artemis V - May 25, 2023
• Fill ‘er Up: New AIAA Aerospace America Article on Propellant Depots - September 2, 2022
• Independent Perspectives on Cislunar Depotization - August 26, 2022