NEWS | MAY 15, 2023
US-based space infrastructure company ThinkOrbital announced Frank Tybor as their new Chief Technology Officer. Frank joins ThinkOrbital from his previous role as Chief Engineer and VP of Energy Storage Technologies at Energy Vault (NYSE:NRGV). Prior to his role at Energy Vault, Frank served as a Launch Engineer and Principal Engineer at SpaceX where he spent several years leading the development of the SpaceX landing drone-ships, Crew Dragon Recovery, and guiding the development of Starship.
“Frank is just the kind of scrappy, creative, problem-solver we need to direct our in-space electron beam technology, the ThinkWeld, ThinkInspect and ThinkPrint toolkit, and to operationalize our mission,” said ThinkOrbital Co-founder and President, Colonel Lee Rosen, US Air Force, retired and a former SpaceX VP of Mission and Launch Ops. “Our vision to deliver scalable, autonomously assembled, affordable infrastructure in-space to ignite the new space economy just got a huge boost thanks to the addition of Frank, as we complete the design, build and launch of two in-space demos over the next 14 months.”
Frank Tybor in front of landed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
Sebastian Asprella, Co-founder and CEO at ThinkOrbital added, “ThinkOrbital has been collaborating with industry partners to reimagine how the sector can approach the next technological leap in space. Based on our recent Phase I studies as part of the US Space Force Orbital Prime effort, we realized it all starts with having the right tools to build in space and that is where our welding and assembly comes into effect. Frank has been a great industry peer in guiding us through some initial development of the ThinkWeld technology and we’re delighted to officially have him onboard.”
“ThinkOrbital is working on a revolutionary product with the ThinkPlatform, which can provide more pressurized, habitable volume with one Starship launch than the entire International Space Station,” Frank Tybor, CTO at ThinkOrbital said. “We are building some of the essential ‘picks-and-shovels’ of the space sector — ThinkOrbital’s tech will be a key enabler if we want to make future lunar and Mars missions a success. NASA, industry partners, and other agencies have all been super enthusiastic about what we are doing here, and so am I. I’m excited and honored to be part of such an innovative, forward-looking, and capable team with ThinkOrbital, and believe we are well positioned to bring in the next era of in-space construction and manufacturing.”
Frank Tybor and ThinkOrbital’s President Lee Rosen, during their time at SpaceX.
About ThinkOrbital
ThinkOrbital Inc. is a scalable space infrastructure developer and operator, advancing autonomous in-space assembly and welding capabilities to deliver large-volume cost-efficient space platforms. The ThinkPlatform is a single-launch configured multi-mission space platform, envisioned to serve private and public sector needs such as satellite servicing, space debris removal, in-space manufacturing, research missions, on-orbit storage & refueling, and space tourism. Learn more: thinkorbital.com.
NEWS | MAY 15, 2023
US-based space infrastructure company ThinkOrbital announced Frank Tybor as their new Chief Technology Officer. Frank joins ThinkOrbital from his previous role as Chief Engineer and VP of Energy Storage Technologies at Energy Vault (NYSE:NRGV). Prior to his role at Energy Vault, Frank served as a Launch Engineer and Principal Engineer at SpaceX where he spent several years leading the development of the SpaceX landing drone-ships, Crew Dragon Recovery, and guiding the development of Starship.
“Frank is just the kind of scrappy, creative, problem-solver we need to direct our in-space electron beam technology, the ThinkWeld, ThinkInspect and ThinkPrint toolkit, and to operationalize our mission,” said ThinkOrbital Co-founder and President, Colonel Lee Rosen, US Air Force, retired and a former SpaceX VP of Mission and Launch Ops. “Our vision to deliver scalable, autonomously assembled, affordable infrastructure in-space to ignite the new space economy just got a huge boost thanks to the addition of Frank, as we complete the design, build and launch of two in-space demos over the next 14 months.”
Frank Tybor in front of landed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
Sebastian Asprella, Co-founder and CEO at ThinkOrbital added, “ThinkOrbital has been collaborating with industry partners to reimagine how the sector can approach the next technological leap in space. Based on our recent Phase I studies as part of the US Space Force Orbital Prime effort, we realized it all starts with having the right tools to build in space and that is where our welding and assembly comes into effect. Frank has been a great industry peer in guiding us through some initial development of the ThinkWeld technology and we’re delighted to officially have him onboard.”
“ThinkOrbital is working on a revolutionary product with the ThinkPlatform, which can provide more pressurized, habitable volume with one Starship launch than the entire International Space Station,” Frank Tybor, CTO at ThinkOrbital said. “We are building some of the essential ‘picks-and-shovels’ of the space sector — ThinkOrbital’s tech will be a key enabler if we want to make future lunar and Mars missions a success. NASA, industry partners, and other agencies have all been super enthusiastic about what we are doing here, and so am I. I’m excited and honored to be part of such an innovative, forward-looking, and capable team with ThinkOrbital, and believe we are well positioned to bring in the next era of in-space construction and manufacturing.”
Frank Tybor and ThinkOrbital’s President Lee Rosen, during their time at SpaceX.
About ThinkOrbital
ThinkOrbital Inc. is a scalable space infrastructure developer and operator, advancing autonomous in-space assembly and welding capabilities to deliver large-volume cost-efficient space platforms. The ThinkPlatform is a single-launch configured multi-mission space platform, envisioned to serve private and public sector needs such as satellite servicing, space debris removal, in-space manufacturing, research missions, on-orbit storage & refueling, and space tourism. Learn more: thinkorbital.com.
