As an Apollo generation kid in the Washington D.C. area, Mark Matossian (AeroEngr MS 鈥�93, PhD 鈥�95) remembers watching the live moon landings on television, then wandering outside at night squinting at that very same celestial body, trying to see the lunar module. 鈥淭hat time ignited鈥onder,鈥� says Matossian, head of program management and production at Google鈥檚 Skybox Imaging. 鈥淚t was then that I connected with space.鈥�
And that connection partly grew through his time at CU-Boulder. 鈥淚 came to CU for the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, and the school was one of the best places in the country for astrodynamics,鈥� says Matossian. 鈥淢y focus was in the area of satellite constellations鈥攏etworks of satellites working together. The director at the time was George Born, who was a giant in precision orbit determination鈥攈e was kind enough to take me in and give me a teaching assistantship. I was then able to secure my own NASA fellowship, which was pretty unheard of at the time.鈥�
That helped create the basis for what Matossian does today at Skybox Imaging, a Google project providing commercial high-resolution Earth observation satellite imagery, high-definition satellite video, and analytics services.
鈥淭hese satellites are about the size of a dorm fridge with an excellent optical telescope inside,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚nstead of spending hundreds of millions on a single spacecraft, we can build many of these smaller spacecraft for a significantly lower individual cost.鈥�
These small, high-performance satellites orbit the earth every 90 minutes, collecting numerous images of the same place every time they go by. Computers and smart algorithms are then used to analyze the images to detect changes or interesting phenomena. 鈥淭his can be a big help for NGOs to insurance analysts and even commodities traders,鈥� says Matossian.
鈥淥ne of the really cool things that we were able to squeeze in is a space launch opportunity for some university 鈥榗ubesats.鈥� These are very small satellites that essentially hitchhike to space on one of our rocket launches.鈥� Matossian saw an opportunity for CU, but the timing was very tight. 鈥淲e were really impressed.聽 The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and the Aerospace Engineering Sciences department quickly put together a fantastic proposal to launch their MinXSS FM-2 spacecraft for solar X-ray spectrometry observations.鈥�
The MinXSS team is now looking forward to a ride to space with Skybox later this year.
To Matossian, Skybox is also special because it is a landmark to the aerospace community. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting because there is the traditional aerospace side of the community that can sometimes be very conservative, but there鈥檚 a little revolution going on where people are trying to grow these small inexpensive satellite efforts into greater capabilities,鈥� says Matossian. 鈥淲ith the successful 鈥榚xit鈥� of Skybox to a Google acquisition, Skybox is the first of these 鈥楴ew Space鈥� ventures to secure venture capital funds and validate that financing model for venture capitalists. Of course, now as part of Google, we are accelerating on the path to realize the vision of the venture.鈥�
In addition, according to Matossian, the work has the potential to open up many industries. 鈥淟et鈥檚 say you have a large agricultural company and they鈥檙e very hungry for field data but they don鈥檛 have imagery analysis people on their staff. Soon, they will be able to utilize satellite imagery without a big investment in satellite imagery analysts. It鈥檚 not just the democratization of satellite imagery鈥攚hich is exciting in itself鈥攊t鈥檚 also the combination of satellites and machine learning that can really lead to better decisions.鈥�
Matossian has worn a few hats at the famed search company鈥攎ost recently working in the Google Access group as the senior program manager on a solar- powered UAV payload project. Previously, he had worked on highly proprietary product development efforts on the Android and mobile payments teams, 聽 and his initial responsibility was for worldwide manufacturing of most of the IT equipment that fueled Google鈥檚 global data center expansion.
Matossian says his time at Google has been hard work but, admittedly, a great deal of fun and an experience he relishes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not for the faint of heart, but Google is on the cusp of many things changing our world. I鈥檝e always wanted to be a part of efforts like that.鈥�
Editor鈥檚 note: Distinguished Professor George Born, Mark Matossian鈥檚 mentor, died January 14, 2016. Read more about Professor Born on page 43.