Stellar AerospaceJoin the Team

The Future,
Today.

Stellar Aerospace builds space technology for the benefit of all humanity. We start with the hardest bottleneck, getting to orbit, and build a fully reusable rocket that makes it cheap, routine and fast. Based in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

What We Focus On

Stellar Aerospace was founded by Rishu Sheth, who leads the company as CEO and Chief Engineer. Stellar began as a high school project, and the first design work on The Guinea Pig dates from that time. Eric Gong is Chief Operating Officer (COO), and the team includes 25 more people across propulsion, structures, avionics, software and operations.

What We
Work Toward

“The Future, Today” is how we work: we do not wait for the future of spaceflight to arrive, we build the pieces of it now, one flight at a time.

  1. 01

    Expand Access to Launch

    Our first job is getting more satellites to orbit, more often, for less. Lightning is a fully reusable rocket priced at a flat $5,000 per kilogram and built to fly twice a week, so a satellite flies when it is ready, not when a seat opens up.

    Lightning
    Stellar rocket climbing on its nine engines
  2. 02

    Use Space as a Tool for Humanity

    Satellites already run navigation, weather forecasting, communications and disaster response. Cheaper, more frequent launch lets more people build those tools, and lets them be replaced and improved faster.

    Our Roadmap
    Satellites leaving the Chameleon rack above Earth
  3. 03

    Make Life Multiplanetary

    Reusable rockets are the first step to living and working beyond Earth. Our long-range concepts include a nuclear thermal tug that reaches Mars in about three months and a capsule that lands on Mars and returns to Earth.

    Stellar Shuttle Concept
    Stellar Shuttle concept approaching Mars
  4. 04

    Explore, and Bring the Answers Home

    Science done in space helps solve problems on Earth, from climate and agriculture to materials and medicine, while teaching us more about the universe we live in. Routine access to orbit is what makes that research affordable.

    Future Projects
    Shuttle concept capsule under parachutes before splashdown

How We
Build

We prove each idea at the smallest scale that can answer it. The Guinea Pig flies our engine, guidance and payload systems to 100 km. Spark takes them to orbit. Lightning turns them into a launch service. Every step is paid for by what we learned on the one before.

See the Three Phases

Work with Us

We are hiring across propulsion, structures, avionics, software and operations, and talking with investors and partners now.

Explore Careers