Space propulsion developer Morpheus space Today it unveiled its first software product, a mission simulation and design platform called Journey.
The product has been in development for nearly two years, Jim Giannakopoulos, product manager for Morpheus, said in a recent interview. It’s drawn from a typical propulsion sales process: Customers come to Morpheus and ask whether the startup’s range of electric propulsion systems can meet their mission requirements. But the process is highly technical, categorized, and manual.
“We realized that was a disincentive,” Giannakopoulos said. “Empowering our users can be as simple as giving them the control center to virtually simulate their entire mission themselves, analyze it, optimize it and see which propulsion system meets it.” [their] needs.”
Journey collects all the data that is typically distributed between Excel sheets, Python, and other systems, and quickly prepares the task and designs the system. In the software, customers can enter custom system measurements, maneuvers, launch date and other requirements. The software is designed to be easy to use even for non-technical users, with templates for common attributes such as satellite size.
It is worth noting that the Journey platform does not only match customers with Morpheus’ payment systems. Depending on mission requirements, it may also recommend third-party chemical propulsion systems, as well as various subsystems such as attitude, control, and communications systems.
The first product on the platform is called Preliminary Mission Design (PMD) and the company also plans to roll out high-precision Advanced Mission Design (AMD). The platform is designed to take the customer from mission concept through end-of-life deorbit operations.
Morpheus has five to six early customers using the PMD product to guide their early mission and system design; AMD will launch in the next two weeks in closed beta. Morpheus, which has offices in Germany and El Segundo, California, was founded in 2018. Last September, the startup closed a $28 million funding round led by Alpine Space Ventures.