Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Jul 28, 2026
Orbital Operations is a privately held defense-and-space company developing persistent, high-thrust orbital vehicles for rapid-response satellite defense, interception, repositioning, and eventually in-space logistics. It is a Y Combinator Winter 2025 company founded by aerospace veterans from NASA, SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, and Relativity Space.
Primary product
Astraeus: a reusable, cryogenic orbital maneuvering vehicle intended to remain on orbit for extended periods and rapidly move between LEO, GEO, cislunar, and other orbits. Its architecture combines an actively cooled cryogenic propellant-management system with a high-thrust LH2/LOX engine.
Founded
2024
Headquarters
Huntington Beach, California, United States
Team size
10–20 (LinkedIn-derived estimate; SpaceNews reported 3 full-time employees plus interns in August 2025 and a goal of 10–12)
Work style
Flexible
Industry
29 jobs at Orbital Operations
Defense and Space Manufacturing
Sub-industry
Space defense, orbital mobility, cryogenic propulsion, and in-space logistics
Offices
Business model
Stage
Seed
Total raised
$8.8M
Latest round
Seed · Aug 2025
Latest amount
$8.8M
Aug 2025 · Initialized Capital
Leadership
Ben Schleuniger
CEO & Co-Founder
COO & Co-Founder
Head of Test & Ops / Founding Engineer
Principal Analyst / Founding Engineer
Head of Rotating Machinery / Founding Engineer
Lead Build Engineer / Founding Engineer
Investors
The company describes a high-impact national-security mission, deep technical work in cryogenics and orbital thermal systems, and a small, collaborative, execution-focused team. Public job materials emphasize fast-paced startup work and experienced aerospace builders. Specific benefits are not publicly documented in the reviewed sources.
Work style
Flexible
Visa sponsorship
Limited
Compensation
Public job listings show roughly $100,000–$200,000 base-salary ranges depending on role, plus approximately 0.10%–1.00% equity for several engineering positions. A Head of Business Development listing showed $150,000–$200,000. One listing stated US citizen/visa only; detailed benefits were not disclosed.
Pricing
Not publicly disclosed; likely program-specific government-contract, development-contract, or mission-service pricing rather than a standardized public price list.
Differentiators
Technology
Customers
Competitors
Estimated revenue
$0–$1M annually, low-confidence third-party estimate; not company-reported and likely unreliable because the source misclassified the company as an AI/SaaS business.
Astraeus remains a development program: the company described planned ground testing, a 2027 cryogenic orbital demonstration, and a later full-vehicle demonstration targeted for 2029; these milestones were not reported as completed in the reviewed sources.
SourceOrbital Operations was reported as selected for a SpaceWERX Adaptive and Intelligent Space Challenge Phase I feasibility effort. The reported award is an early concept/feasibility milestone, not confirmation of a flight demonstration or large production contract.
SourceRuntimeWire · Jul 2026
Reports Orbital Operations' selection for a SpaceWERX Adaptive and Intelligent Space Challenge Phase I feasibility effort involving Astraeus.
Orbital Operations · Aug 2025
Company announcement describing the seed funding, investors, Astraeus, expansion in Long Beach, and work with national-security partners.
SpaceNews · Aug 2025
Reports the financing, Long Beach facility, target hiring plan, planned cryogenic demonstration, prospective customers/LOIs, and defense pivot.
Payload · Aug 2025
Covers the $8.8M Initialized-led seed round and Astraeus' actively cooled cryogenic storage and high-thrust orbital-defense concept.
Orbital Operations · Jul 2025
Company roadmap describing CPMS and engine-development milestones, a 2027 orbital demo, and a 2029 Astraeus demo mission target.