Lodestar: guarding the galaxy
Lodestar is a space defence startup on a mission to give allied nations a sovereign ability to protect and defend their space infrastructure. It provides a satellite defence service for governments, powered by “bodyguard” satellites designed to shield critical assets used for navigation, communication, and finance, from threats. Its autonomous and mission-responsive capabilities can engage with unknown orbital targets and execute any operation required to safeguard the space infrastructure that is critical to national security.
“When you understand that whoever controls space controls Earth, our dependence on undefended satellites becomes a stark liability. We have spacecraft worth as much as aircraft carriers on orbit without a single escort. That’s a problem we couldn’t ignore,” explained Neil Buchanan, Co-Founder and CEO of Lodestar.
Before co-founding the startup, Buchanan had already led several deeptech teams and had represented the UK twice at the SpaceX Hyperloop Global Finals with the country’s most advanced prototype. His experience has also seen him build supersonic rockets that have been awarded by the European Space Agency, as well as fundraising millions of pounds to be able to bring ambitious frontier technologies to life.
With an experienced CEO at the helm, Lodestar is set to change the course of space defence forever.
Focusing on Lodestar
“We’re tackling one of the most overlooked vulnerabilities in modern civilisation: the defence of space infrastructure,” explained Buchanan.
The journey into founding Lodestar began with research into spacecraft armour, and particularly, how 3D printing shields could protect satellites from hypervelocity debris impact.
He described how this research has led to the current iteration of Lodestar: “Together with my co-founder, Thomas Santini, we quickly realised that the threat of junk satellites colliding paled in comparison to the activities being carried out by bad actors on orbit – a slow and quiet escalation over the past decade that most people have no idea is happening.”
Ignoring the lack of defence of the multitudes of spacecraft currently in orbit was something the co-founders simply could not do.
“Fundamentally I believe that our industry has failed those in uniform whose job it is to protect and defend the space-based infrastructure we all rely on,” he explained.
In the last couple of years, conflict around the world has worsened. When technology is constantly evolving, the way conflicts are fought is adapting. This has remained relatively quiet, with the vast majority not discussing these new techniques publicly, until recently. Buchanan commented on how this has impacted the startup: “In the West, talking about space as a future warfighting domain has been a taboo for the last decade, which has been the biggest gift we could have given to those adversaries. Different to other commercially focused space companies – we’re unapologetic in our mission to build capability that will deter conflict in space through strength.”
The space race
According to Buchanan, Lodestar is the only company that is building an end-to-end protection stack for space assets – from detection, to intelligence, to active response.
“There are plenty of companies trying to rebrand commercially-focused technologies for military use cases – and it just doesn’t work. Defence missions demand fundamentally different design choices around resilience, responsiveness, and sovereignty,” he said.
In comparison, what Lodestar is doing is starting with these use cases in mind. “We’re building an ecosystem of in-house and third-party capabilities to win at space control, using our AI software to fuse them onto credible satellite platforms that can be mobilised today.
“We believe in partnering to win – and we know the real competition isn’t other startups, it’s the adversary.”
The gravity of growth
Put poignantly by Buchanan: “Space is hard – and space defence is even harder.”
Working on technology not for this planet is difficult, especially as access to testing in space isn’t the easiest to gain access to, especially on a regular basis. And that’s before considering the defence aspect.
“We’re tackling a generational problem in one of the most politically sensitive and technically complex arenas imaginable,” Buchanan said.
“We’ve had to earn trust with government customers, build credibility from scratch, and develop cutting-edge capabilities while navigating polarised debates around space militarisation. We’ve briefed people in the Pentagon and in Westminister, at every stage staying laser-focused on the mission and assembling a team that thrives under pressure.”
As a startup in a high-pressure industry like defence, it requires building a lot of trust between the business and customers. As detailed by Buchanan, building the product and credibility, all whilst navigating discussions around space as a warfighting domain can be a huge challenge.
However, with the challenges come the highlights. And for Lodestar and Buchanan, the team is what makes the challenges worth their while.
“It’s all about the team … building a mission-driven culture full of high-agency people has been our greatest success.
“Watching our engineers push beyond their limits, take ownership, and grow into leaders has been amazing. We’ve even flown team members in zero gravity to test our technology – a surreal but exciting moment.”
The team is a key element in making sure a startup succeeds, and Buchanan has surrounded himself with some of the greatest in the industry. And interestingly enough, Lodestar is looking for more greats. Buchanan plugged: “And we’re hiring, so if this sounds like your kind of environment, we want to hear from you.”
Shoot for the stars
The future is looking bright for Lodestar, and the stars are closer than ever before. Buchanan admitted: “We’re gearing up to launch our first satellite later this year – a major milestone that will kick off live data collection to accelerate our computer vision systems.”
This step signals a turning point in Lodestar’s journey. The satellite launch will mark the transition into operational capability and represents a critical enabler for the startup’s next phase of growth.
Discussing what else is coming up for Lodestar, he mentioned: “We’re also wrapping up our current fundraise, growing the team, and expanding our US footprint. We’ve got some exciting partnerships and customer announcements coming soon – stay tuned.”
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe
