Charter, a CA-based space program management startup, has a plan to open up access to space insurance, the CEO told Payload.

Charter’s Ubik operating system manages complex space programs, recording inputs and data during the manufacturing process of satellites and other spacecraft. By marrying that tech with an AI-powered underwriting tool, the startup is hoping to automate some of the burdensome process of creating insurance policies for space assets.

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In late September, OHB Sweden, Oligo Space, Esper Satellite Imagery and Digantara were among the companies that began testing Ubik. Select project management teams at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory also are conducting beta testing.

Shoaib Iqbal, CEO and co-founder of Australian startup Esper Satellite Imagery, said in a statement that Charter “built an excellent product that is 10x’ing our engineering and mission management as we build towards a large Earth-observation constellation.”

Charter plans to begin sharing Ubik with additional organizations near the end of the year.

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We are proud to announce the appointment of Scott de Jong as our new Director of Product Engineering, effective August 2024. Scott joins Charter with a robust background in aerospace engineering and software development.

Scott was a pivotal figure over the 6+ years he spent at Rocket Lab during its earliest days, starting as one of the company's first software engineers and seeing the company through to IPO as a Software Engineering Lead. He built software for Electron, ground systems and mission control software, and led the development of bespoke systems engineering and manufacturing execution software. Scott holds a Bachelor's degree in Product Development Engineering and a Master's degree in Mechatronics.

In his new role at Charter, Scott aims to revolutionize the management of complex space engineering programs. "I'm excited to join Charter to help solve the sticky problems commonly faced in complex engineering projects in an elegant and modern way," Scott remarked. "While we've seen massive leaps in engineering efficacy due to advances in development tooling, the systems currently available to organize and manage large projects are comparatively archaic. I can't wait to change that."

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Today, the Space Industry Statement in Support of International Commitments to Not Conduct Destructive Anti-Satellite Testing has been updated, introducing 10 new signatories. You can read the statement here: https://buff.ly/3ssmd12.

SWF was delighted to coordinate this statement. We welcome the new signatories, including: Charter | ENPULSION | GHGSAT | Kall Morris Inc | Kayhan Space | LifeShip | Lumi Space | Aldoria | SpaceLocker | ThinkTank Maths Limited / Norge AS.

‍This brings the total to 36 companies from 11 countries that have signed this statement thus far, demonstrating an interest in the protection & long-term sustainability of the space environment, including the future economic development of low Earth orbit.

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Charter Space, a London startup offering program management software for satellite missions, is the product of sheer frustration.

“We haven’t seen a corresponding advancement in terms of software that you use to manage those processes,” Chan said. “A large part of the industry is still using Excel and Doors, [software] that has been around for decades. And in many cases, we don’t even use software, we use pen and paper and whiteboards.”

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