TRAVERSE CITY - ATLAS Space Operations in Traverse City has raised $15-million in their growth investment round.
The company is planning to grow as the demand for space data continues to increase.
With the help of their satellites, they collect data from space to help their customers better fulfill their needs.
“The network business is very geography dependent because spacecraft operate in different orbits. And from the different orbits, you have different requirements of connecting…. Taking pictures in, in visual and hyperspectral and in radar,” says John Williams, ATLAS Space Operation CEO.
With the different types of data collected, ATLAS’ software is what makes them unique. And Partnerships they have with companies like Amazon Web Services allows them to continue to expand and grow within other regions.
“We have great support from a local Michigan community. We have repeat investors in Boomerang and Beringia and Capital Network, and we have new investors in Michigan,” continues William.
One of those investors sees the demand for space-based data and how it affects us back on Earth.
“It’s really about to take off. It’s been happening for a while. What’s happened in the last few years is it’s really going to continue to happen over the next few years. The power of small satellites has gone up a lot,” shares Casey Cowell, Principal of Boomerang Catapult.
And with that power-they are able to collect what customers are looking for.
“For example, if you’re an investor and you’re wondering how various agricultural crops are going to do in the coming year, if you can look at satellite imagery…. They could be the kinds of things that… see exactly how is a crop progressing,” Cowell says.
As investors continue to fund Atlas Space Operations, jobs and opportunities continues to develop for northern Michigan.