Finding the right parts for your satellite is time-consuming and inefficient: matching specs consumes a lot of engineering man-hours. Why can't it be as easy as shopping for a laptop, cell phone or flight?

SOLUTION

We've launched a satellite parts search engine: https://satsearch.co. Satsearch will deliver parametric-search for the space industry for engineering, procurement and market analysis.

We are building a set of open-source & open-data tools to break open the traditionally conservative space sector. Satsearch belongs to this set of tools. We have open-sourced a number of simulation libraries: https://github.com/openastro.

TEAM

I am an Aerospace Engineer with 10+ years of experience developing software for mission analysis, trajectory design and mission planning. I've directly faced the pain of trying to find parts for mission concepts that I've worked on. I am founder of the thriving Tudat library (http://github.com/tudat) and I'm finalizing my PhD from Delft University of Technology. My co-founder, Alberto, is a software developer (iOS and Node primarily) with a PhD in Bioengineering from Politecnico di Milano.

WHY WE'RE APPLYING

We're bootstrapped and could use the money offered through YCF. More than that though, we think that YC is ideal for what we're trying to build, given that they've recently supported teams building launchers and small-satellites. We would greatly benefit from access to and mentorship through the YC network.