Aethero

Aethero, formerly operating as OrbitsEdge, is a McLean, Virginia-based space computing company founded in 2019 that develops radiation-hardened edge computing modules for satellites and spacecraft — enabling onboard AI inference, data processing, and autonomous decision-making directly in orbit rather than transmitting raw data to ground stations for analysis.

The company's flagship SkyMicro platform integrates commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system-on-chip processors — including NVIDIA Jetson-class GPUs and ARM-based SoCs — within radiation shielding enclosures and power management architectures designed to survive the high-energy particle environments of LEO and MEO orbits. By processing imagery, signals, or sensor data onboard, operators can selectively downlink only actionable results rather than full raw data streams, drastically reducing the contact time and bandwidth required from ground station networks — a critical constraint as constellation sizes grow to hundreds of satellites.

Aethero's target applications span defense and intelligence (onboard change detection, target recognition, SAR processing for NRO/Space Force customers), commercial EO (cloud masking, ship/aircraft detection at the edge), and scientific missions requiring low-latency autonomous response. The U.S. Space Force's proliferated LEO architectures and the NRO's commercial imagery programs both create pull for vendors able to deliver space-qualified AI hardware outside traditional defense prime supply chains.

The company emerged from the Y Combinator W21 cohort and has secured contracts with DoD customers. Competitors include Unibap (Sweden, iX5-100/iX10 space AI modules), SpaceCubics (Japan, radiation-tolerant FPGA+CPU modules), D-Orbit's ION carrier computing services, and Kubos/Xplore for on-orbit processing software. The trend toward larger constellations and spectrum-constrained downlink budgets makes edge computing an increasingly strategic layer of the satellite value stack.