The silicon valley catchphrase “Move fast and break things up” takes on a completely different meaning in space.

Millions of debris that clog The earth’s orbit are zipping around at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour, according to NASA, meaning that even the pebble size of an object can cause catastrophic damage to a satellite in a head-on collision.

The Company LeoLabs Inc. believes that the first step to solving this problem is to be able to monitor space debris from earth. A startup today opened a radar installation in Central Otago, on New Zealand’s South island, that it claims will provide a significantly better view of the debris circling the planet.

The Kiwi space radar (pictured) can detect objects up to 0.79 inches across in low earth orbit, where most of the space debris is located. The system is the first commercial radar in the world capable of detecting debris smaller than 3.9 inches. It joins two existing LeoLabs sites in the US and will expand the number of sites the startup tracks from 13,000 today to around 250,000.

Menlo Park, California-based LeoLabs began operations in 2015 as a spin-out from Sri’s stormy international research center. The Institute is responsible, in part, for incubating the startup that created the algorithms behind Apple Inc’s Siri. LeoLabs radars are based on technology that members of its team have developed at the research Institute to help scientists better study the ionosphere.

The startup plans to make money by selling orbital data to various players in the emerging space sector. LeoLabs is focused on “satellite operators regulators, space agencies and industries that rely on satellite services,” chief Executive Dan Ceperley told SiliconANGLE.

Ceperley said the startup plans to build three more radars by 2022 for a total of six. Like the Kiwi space radar, the installations will be equipped to track small debris that is currently difficult to monitor effectively. These objects, explained LeoLabs technology Director Michael Nicholls, ” account for most of the risk of collisions in space.”

The startup’s mission is more than just helping satellite operators keep their expensive equipment in the path of space debris flight. Its radars also lend themselves to monitoring the satellites themselves, a visibility that can help mission control staff as they perform a complex orbital maneuver. So a company like SpaceX Corp., can use LeoLab radars to check that all satellites in its Internet constellation are where they should be.

In the long run, the startup is eyeing even more ambitious applications. LeoLabs believes that the orbital data it collects can be used to develop a new generation of machine learning models optimized for spacecraft launches. Satellite debris removal as one of Japan’s Astroscale Holdings Inc. builds, for example, could benefit from the ability to perform time-sensitive actions autonomously instead of having to wait on a hearth control to receive instructions. 

“Learning AI requires a huge amount of data – says Saperli. “Our radars generate this data and our cloud system archives it. There are many questions across the industry about how to maneuver large fleets of satellites (to collect data, exchange for spare satellites, and avoid collisions)… and how to conduct advanced operations such as capturing and putting debris into orbit. These kinds of issues can be solved with AI.”..

LeoLabs is backed by $ 17 million in funding from investors that include SRI, Airbus SAS and Slack Technologies Inc. a supporter of Horizon Ventures. 

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