2 min read<\/p>\n
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Thrusters](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jpegpia25329.width-1600-e1742934902826.jpg?w=1024\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nThe Double Asteroid Redirection Test required extreme precision in mission planning to achieve its mission of impacting an asteroid. The founders of Continuum Space worked on astrodynamics relating to this mission, which they used to inform their product.<\/em><\/div>\nNASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nPlanning space missions is a very involved process, ensuring orbits are lined up and spacecraft have enough fuel is imperative to the long-term survival of orbital assets. Continuum Space Systems Inc. of Pasadena, California, produces a cloud-based platform that gives mission planners everything they need to certify that their space resources can accomplish their goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Continuum\u2019s story begins at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Loic Chappaz, the company\u2019s co-founder, started at JPL as an intern working on astrodynamics related to NASA\u2019s Double Asteroid Redirection Test. There he met Leon Alkalai, a JPL technical fellow who spent his 30-year career at the center planning deep space missions. After Alkalai retired from NASA, he founded Mandala Space Ventures, a startup that explored several avenues of commercial space development. Chappaz soon became Mandala\u2019s first employee, but to plan their future, Mandala\u2019s leadership began thinking about the act of planning itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because the staff had decades of combined experience at JPL, they knew the center had the building blocks for the software they needed. After licensing several pieces of software from JPL, the company began building planning systems that were highly adaptable to any space mission they could come up with. Mandala eventually evolved into a venture firm that incubated space-related startups. However, because Mandala had invested considerably in developing mission-planning tools, further development could be performed by a new company, and Continuum was fully spun off from Mandala in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Thrusters](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jpegpia25329.width-1600-e1742934902826.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>Planning space missions is a very involved process, ensuring orbits are lined up and spacecraft have enough fuel is imperative to the long-term survival of orbital assets. Continuum Space Systems Inc. of Pasadena, California, produces a cloud-based platform that gives mission planners everything they need to certify that their space resources can accomplish their goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Continuum\u2019s story begins at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Loic Chappaz, the company\u2019s co-founder, started at JPL as an intern working on astrodynamics related to NASA\u2019s Double Asteroid Redirection Test. There he met Leon Alkalai, a JPL technical fellow who spent his 30-year career at the center planning deep space missions. After Alkalai retired from NASA, he founded Mandala Space Ventures, a startup that explored several avenues of commercial space development. Chappaz soon became Mandala\u2019s first employee, but to plan their future, Mandala\u2019s leadership began thinking about the act of planning itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because the staff had decades of combined experience at JPL, they knew the center had the building blocks for the software they needed. After licensing several pieces of software from JPL, the company began building planning systems that were highly adaptable to any space mission they could come up with. Mandala eventually evolved into a venture firm that incubated space-related startups. However, because Mandala had invested considerably in developing mission-planning tools, further development could be performed by a new company, and Continuum was fully spun off from Mandala in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n