Wostenberg will lead engineering as the returnable satellite company prepares for second mission launch later this year
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Outpost, the sustainable space company, announced today that Eric Wostenberg has joined its executive team as Vice President of Engineering to lead all engineering efforts. Wostenberg takes the helm of engineering at Outpost as the company prepares for its second satellite launch, and continues advancement in development of its returnable satellite.
A storied leader with more than 15 years of experience in aerospace engineering across startups and hyper-scale companies, Wostenberg has a proven track record in leading and scaling critical engineering programs at companies on the cutting edge of space exploration. He previously held the position of Sr. Director of Vehicle Engineering at Virgin Orbit, where he led a team of over 60 engineers and technicians that were responsible for the LauncherOne hardware design and analysis, the 747 air rocket release mechanism, structural test, M&P, and tooling. His notable contributions also included architecting LaucherOne's linerless composite cryo tanks and initiating a carbon-carbon development program that fully qualified a 2nd stage nozzle extension.
"Eric's remarkable experience in growing the LauncherOne program from its inception through 4 successful orbital missions, along with his invaluable contributions to the development of SpaceX's Earth-returning rocket as part of the Falcon-9 team, makes him an integral part of Outpost's journey," said Jason Dunn, Outpost Co-Founder and CEO. "At Outpost, we have an unwavering focus on building satellites that return to earth, aiming to disrupt the disposable mindset to space exploration while addressing the space debris problem. With Eric on board, we are confident that his expertise will further fuel the rapid pace of innovation our engineering team has established, while positioning us for long-term success."
Prior to Virgin Orbit, Wostenberg was an early employee at SpaceX, developing hardware for the Falcon 9 booster and Dragon spacecraft including the 1st stage aft thermal shield, early recovery systems, dragon cargo Flight Releasable Attach Mechanisms (FRAM), and internal oxygen tank cameras.
Eric Wostenberg comments on his new role, "As Outpost enters its next phase of development, I'm incredibly excited to join a world-class engineering and operations team to not only focus my efforts on bringing to market our returnable satellite product and to deliver on the promise of a sustainable space industry, but also push the boundaries of what's possible in terms of innovation."
Outpost launched its first satellite mission in June, a rapidly developed program to test the company's avionics and control systems while gaining flight heritage. In only 7 months, Outpost built two flight model satellites featuring in-house designed, and built power systems, communications, computers, harnessing and ADCS. Outpost's second satellite mission is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX's Transporter-9 in November. The NASA-funded orbital mission will conduct an in-orbit demonstration of Gaspak: a low mass, clean gas generator developed by Outpost under a NASA contract to optimize NASA's inflatable heatshield technology.
For more information, visit https://outpost.space/
About Outpost
Outpost is spearheading a new way of space development that's reusable, not disposable. With its very first product, Outpost is building reusable satellites that deliver customer payloads to space and back to Earth. By flying payloads with Outpost, users can put their product into space, iterate, and learn how they performed in space. Outpost facilitates iteration in space at a quicker pace than anything else available. The future of space (and Earth) requires a focus on low-cost reusability to create a sustainable industry. At Outpost, we are proud to be leading the charge to develop products with sustainability as the core design.
Learn more at outpost.space
Media Contact
Doug Freeman, Jones-Dilworth, Inc, 512-826-7674, doug@jones-dilworth.com
SOURCE Outpost
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