“Space has always been at the centre of my career. Muon is really the culmination of that path,” said Jonathan Dyer, Co-Founder and CEO, Muon Space.

Previously working as Chief Engineer at Skybox Imaging, Dyer had a front-row seat to what the future of space could look like – building large numbers of highly capable spacecrafts with far more agility than the traditional aerospace approach. “We proved that you could build and deploy small satellites at scale with real performance,” and that experience never left him.

After Skybox, Dyer stayed in touch with several of his past colleagues, and a few of them ultimately became co-founders of Muon. But the idea for Muon wasn’t just about recreating that past success – it was also shaped by some of the limitations he continued to see in the industry.

“I had been advising on a number of other space projects, [and] it became clear that despite the general perception that space had become easier, there were still huge gaps – not in building a payload or writing flight software, but in putting together an end-to-end system.

“There’s a real difference between building a satellite and delivering a high-value data product from space, and we saw that disconnect over and over again. That’s what drove us to launch Muon Space – to build an integrated platform that could bridge that gap and support science-driven, operational missions from day one.”

Navigating the new space ecosystem

Muon Space’s mission is to support customers across the entire lifecycle – whether they’re highly experienced in aerospace or coming in with no background at all.

When it comes to competition, Dyer sees a clear gap in the market. Traditionally, this kind of full-stack delivery has been handled by the big primes – Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin – who’ve built systems for government customers for decades under billion-dollar, cost-plus contracts. But those models don’t scale down well. “They don’t operate below a billion-dollar threshold, and they certainly don’t scale to deploying large numbers of satellites.” That’s a fundamental issue if you’re trying to build constellations or systems that are both cost-efficient and operationally flexible.

Dyer sees the company as a kind of “new space prime” – tackling the same end-to-end challenge, but with a fundamentally different approach.

Other companies are doing pieces of this. Rocket Lab, for instance, is one Dyer mentioned – it’s a very capable company with real presence in the market. SpaceX also has the building blocks, noted Dyer, but it tends not to engage in anything below a certain scale.

Then there are others who focus on narrower offerings – satellite bus manufacturers, for example. While Muon Space occasionally compete with them for specific deals, it’s a different proposition.

“We’re not just selling spacecraft – we’re offering a complete mission solution.” That’s a meaningful distinction, and it shapes how the company positions itself in the industry.

Orbiting market challenges

Muon Space started in the middle of COVID, which was an interesting environment to launch a company, noted Dyer. Because of that timing, it naturally developed into a hybrid, remote-friendly organisation. That has presented some challenges, but over time it’s become something of a strength. “It’s now a superpower – we can tap into talent from across the country and beyond, in a way that just wouldn’t be possible for a purely local, in-person company.”

Since its founding, it’s also had to navigate several waves of fundraising dynamics. Venture capital interest has gone through cycles – periods of intense activity followed by sudden pullbacks.

That’s something all companies have had to grapple with, but for Muon Space, managing fundraising through those shifts has been a significant focus.

There’s also the broader layer of government influence that comes with operating in space. Regulatory considerations are always present, and the company has to stay aligned with evolving government priorities – whether that's funding emphasis on climate monitoring or shifts in defence spending. “We’re constantly tuning our business strategy to where the policy winds are blowing,” which is both a challenge and an opportunity.

One of the things that has really helped the company is the inherently dual-use nature of what it’s building. From day one, it was intentional about creating a commercial business, but has always known that its capabilities have strong national security applications as well. That duality gives them resilience. “We can move fluidly between commercial and government markets as the macro environment changes,” and that flexibility has been invaluable as the company continues to grow.

We have lift-off!

Muon Space recently completed a $146 million Series B to scale satellite constellations for government and commercial missions. It was a major milestone – and, as you’d expect, it’s fuelling growth across the board.

“We’re very quickly growing the team,” said Dyer, but that’s just one piece of it. A significant focus right now is scaling up its manufacturing capacity. It’s always been highly vertically integrated – it built a lot of its own hardware, particularly on the spacecraft side – and this funding is allowing the team to expand that capability in a meaningful way.

“We’re building five satellites this year, but we need to be scaling up to 100 per year in the next couple of years.” That level of production requires a different level of infrastructure.

One of the things Dyer has been most excited about is the launch of its first FireSat Protoflight satellite, which went up in March 2025. This initiative aims to transform global wildfire detection, monitoring, and response.

“It’s a huge topic right now and for us, it goes beyond just the technical achievement. It’s deeply tied to our founding mission: to deploy space systems that have a meaningful, positive impact on life here on Earth.

Mission-focused applications

One area where Dyer sees a lot of potential in is weather intelligence. It covers a wide range of applications, both civil and commercial, but also national security. There is a significant ongoing data gap in this space that the company seems eager to help fill. It has several projects underway related to weather intelligence, which it plans to announce in the coming months.

These projects will serve as strong examples of what the team is aiming to achieve.

One of the company’s customers is Sierra Nevada Corporation, a major prime contractor. The mission it is working on for them focuses on electronics intelligence. Essentially, it involves detecting and locating radio frequency sources all over the Earth. GPS jammers are becoming a major global issue and in many conflict zones, and even around airports, GPS signals are increasingly being denied due to widespread jamming.

Another interesting application is tracking illegal fishing flotillas, particularly in Southeast Asia. These vessels operate at night and extract fish from protected areas illegally. Many communicate using marine radios, which Muon Space can detect and track to identify where these boats are operating.

Charting new frontiers

The company has been building and launching spacecrafts at pace. This year, it has successfully launched two satellites and plans to launch three more in October. Recently, it acquired a propulsion company, and integrating this technology has been a key focus.

Additionally, it is opening a new facility approximately 30 miles from its current location. It is around ten times larger and will support its scaling efforts. Bringing this facility online is a major priority.

There is also a strong emphasis on hiring as the team expands – it’s currently around 150 people strong. On the commercial front, it is actively pursuing several significant deals, some of which it plans to announce over the summer.

In summary, launching satellites, expanding facilities, and securing new contracts are the main priorities driving the company’s progress.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe