The next technological revolution will take place in the aerospace industry.

On Tuesday, January 3, EPIC AEROSPACE launched the Chimera Leo 1 nanosatellite tug into orbit. This orbital transfer vehicle is capable of placing satellites into specific orbits. EPIC AEROSPACE is a young space tug startup, founded in the United States by Argentine engineer Ignacio Belieres Montero, whose goal is to place small satellites without engines or fuel into their exact orbits.  We spoke with Luca Estebenet, the company’s operations leader, about what’s coming in the aerospace industry, reducing the costs of access to space, and promoting greater accessibility and participation in the sector.

How did EPIC AEROSPACE get started?

At its core, EPIC is a last-mile delivery company in space.

This means that our focus is on transporting cargo from wherever a large rocket or launch vehicle—such as those from SpaceX or Blue Origin—drops it off, to its final destination in space.

You can think of it as an Uber in space, allowing you to get from the airport to your home on demand.

In fact, it’s a fairly new business, driven by the fact that the cheapest rockets on the market—such as those built by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos—are getting bigger and bigger, while the satellites being launched today are getting smaller and smaller.

Our solution is simple. We enable small satellites to be launched in clusters on large rockets, and then still reach their final destination via our orbital transport spacecraft.

Until now, the aerospace industry has been dominated by major players linked to the public sector. How are nanosatellites disrupting the aerospace market?

Exactly. The space industry bears a striking resemblance to the computer industry in its early days. However, it’s clear that the computer industry far outpaced the space industry in terms of growth. Not to mention, if we look at the last few decades of human history, computing was the queen of technology and its growth was exponential. In fact, if we look at $AMZN, $AAPL, $META, $GOOG, and $MSFT, their combined market capitalization is around $7 trillion (20 times Argentina’s GDP), and they are the most valuable companies in the world—all of which are related to computing.

Why did computing grow so much more than the space race?

This was mainly because the space program grew through government funding (rather than private initiative), which made the industry very conservative, expensive, bureaucratic, and risk-averse.

Computing, on the other hand, advanced thanks to private investors and market forces. This combination of private innovation and economies of scale reduced the cost of this technology by a factor of 1,000, and that revolutionized the world. That, above all, is what made the evolution of computers much faster than that of satellites and the conquest of space.

How has the aerospace industry managed to accelerate its growth in recent years?

In 2002, Elon Musk founded the first private space company and sparked a revolution that has since spread worldwide. Elon managed to reduce launch costs by a factor of 20, and this led to the emergence of dozens of startups dedicated to lowering the costs of access to and logistics in space.

The aerospace industry, driven by Elon Musk, has created a vast ecosystem in which dozens of companies are building businesses that are already unicorns today and many will become unicorns in the future. Some of the companies leading the market include: SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Relativity Space, Firefly, Planet, etc.

It is very clear that the next revolution will take place in the aerospace industry (both in the commercial and strategic sectors).

What are the functions of nanosatellites?

Nanosatellites serve multiple purposes: space observation, Earth observation, and weather monitoring. They also play a significant role in the fields of communications, maritime operations, GPS, sensors, and more.

How do nanosatellites make space more accessible?

Small satellites are democratizing access to space, as they make it possible to operate one’s own satellites—whether privately or by developing nations that are beginning to innovate in the industry—at a fraction of the cost of a large satellite.

How is South America in general—and Uruguay in particular—positioned within the aerospace industry?

South America as a whole is exceptionally well-positioned for the upcoming space revolution. We have a large pool of skilled workers who are fully trained and ready to tackle major projects and drive innovation. Furthermore, the labor force in South America is more cost-competitive than in the U.S. or Europe, which puts us at a double advantage given that this is a capital-intensive industry.

For its part, Uruguay is the best-positioned country for entrepreneurship in terms of trade and tax relations. In Uruguay, we find strong, reliable institutions that understand the direction the world is heading and the support businesses need to operate and build healthy enterprises that generate more revenue than they spend.

What operations do you have in Uruguay today?

Our operation in Uruguay consists of a 400-square-meter factory located in ZONAMERICA. We have a facility specializing in hardware manufacturing processes. We also have office and warehouse space. This infrastructure enables us to market, import, and export our products seamlessly.

There’s no doubt about it—we plan to continue growing in Uruguay. From the moment we first set foot in ZONAMERICA, we felt like we were in a world-class industrial park. From the facilities to the people who helped us embark on this great adventure.

To learn more about Epic Aerospace, click here.