Max Polyakov Is Taking Over the Space Industry, Buying Dragonfly Aerospace
Max Polyakov is Unstoppable as He Buys another Space Company, Dragonfly Aerospace
Ukrainian space entrepreneur Max Polyakov is truly a man on a mission. In his latest move, he has purchased Dragonfly Aerospace, a South African firm with innovative satellite imaging technology, through his investment company Noosphere. This newest acquisition puts him on track to build his desired vertically integrated business empire.
Dragonfly Aerospace Is an Exciting Company
Dragonfly specializes in the production of satellite cameras that can produce high-quality images in a range of resolutions and spectrums. The South African firm focuses on producing cameras for microsatellites and has achieved great early success by catering to the needs of this niche market.
The Dragonfly team has over 20 years of first-hand experience working with satellites. However, amazingly they only started developing their imaging technology in 2016. They quickly put the space industry on notice when they successfully demonstrated their cameras on the nSight-1 satellite in 2017.
Their ability to take high-quality cameras to market quickly has led the South African company to win some big clients. They have managed to sign contracts with satellite makers NanoAvionics and Loft Orbital, and Pixxel.
What Are Dragonfly’s Future Plans?
Over the short term, Dragonfly will continue producing satellite cameras and provide their imaging technology for EOSDA’s (one of Max Polyakov’s companies) first satellite. The maiden voyage is set to launch in 2022. Now that both companies are owned by Noosphere, the two of them will be working closely and are already in talks for Dragonfly cameras to be used in a 7 EOSDA satellite constellation.
Dragonfly’s cameras will be used to help EOSDA satellites monitor the Earth to improve global agricultural practices and the overall health of the planet. The unique insights that their cameras can yield will play a role in developing the world’s food supply.
While the South African firm already manufactures impressive cameras, they have plans to produce microsatellites weighing up to 600kg. Dragonfly’s management said the goal was to start with imaging technology and then move to satellite manufacturing.
Dragonfly has spent the last year increasing their staff from a humble 15 to well over 100. Even more impressive is their new 32,000 square feet facility located in Cape Town, South Africa. The brand new facility will give Dragonfly the ability to produce up to 48 satellites per year and work on 16 of them simultaneously.
Dragonfly also has big plans to broaden its customer base. Currently, Dragonfly is generating all of its revenue in Europe and Asia. European markets have always been responsible for most of the firm’s success, but in recent years Asian market has been growing as well. What remains elusive is access to the US market. Dragonfly’s management team believes their South African location has made it difficult to form relationships with the US. They hope that as their new owner Noosphere is Silicon Valley-based, they will help them land some big American clients.