BALTIMORE – Negar Feher is the new CEO of Silicon Valley space technology startup Orbital Outpost X.
OOX announced Jan. 30 that Feher, who has held management and technical roles at Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, Momentus Space and SpaceRyde, would bring her “proven track record in scaling startups to commercial operations” to the company. In addition, Feher “served as a catalyst for early revenue generation” and secured key partnerships in her previous posts, according to the OOX news release.
Feher opted to join OOX because of its “impressive and diverse team of talent.” Plus, OOX takes “a fresh look at problem solving that starts with the customer and not some cool tech that a technologist has developed and is trying to find a market fit for,” Feher told SpaceNews by email.
OOX develops components, systems and subsystems for commercial space stations. The Mountain View-based company announced a $5 million convertible note in May from Space Infrastructures Ventures of the Netherlands.
Space Stations and Fuel Depots
Space Infrastructure Ventures chairman Jose Alonso said in a statement, “Negar’s experience in shaping innovation, sparking growth, and driving profitability energizes and elevates our team. With her leadership, we look to accelerate a suite of key enabling technologies that are designed to enable orbital outposts” like space stations and fuel depots.
OOX also won a $175,000 NASA Small Business Technology Transfer award in 2022 to merge virtual and augmented reality to train astronauts to work with space instruments, tools, vehicles and structures.
“I see OOX developing new universal technology standards that are sorely lacking in the space ecosystem,” Feher said. “Today every company develops a unique widget for every interface between their hardware, software, structures, etc.”
In contrast, OOX is developing a universal interface to transfer fluids, electricity and data. The Secure Quick Connect Interface Device, known as SQuID, is designed to “make interfacing, mating, transfer of fluids and secure transfer of data seamless,” inexpensive and secure, Feher said. OOX technology features “embedded software and sensors capable of being networked together into systems for Internet-of-Things applications in space as well as on Earth,” she added.
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