Bridgit Mendler is familiar with reaching millions of people from her time as a Disney Channel star and singer, with notable roles in “Good Luck Charlie,” “Wizards of Waverly Place,” and “The Clique.” Now, she aims to revolutionize the way satellite data is transmitted to Earth.
Having spent several years studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Law School, Mendler is transitioning into the space industry as the CEO of Northwood Space, a startup based in El Segundo, California.
Her passion for space law was sparked during her time at the Federal Communications Commission’s new Space Bureau, an experience that deepened her interest in the field.
Northwood Space, rather than focusing on rockets or satellites, is dedicated to mass-producing ground stations, also known as teleports.
These large, typically circular antennas connect to satellites in space. Mendler envisions creating a “data highway” between Earth and space to simplify the process of sending and receiving data.
Northwood has already garnered significant attention from prominent venture investors, securing approximately $6 million in initial funding from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, and Also Capital.
Mendler is building Northwood with two co-founders: her husband, Griffin Cleverly, who serves as the startup’s chief technology officer, and Shaurya Luthra, the head of software.
Both Cleverly and Luthra bring extensive experience from Lockheed Martin, with Cleverly having worked at Mitre Corporation on communications and Luthra having spent nearly four years developing the ground station network for Capella Space.
The name Northwood Space was inspired by a lake in New Hampshire, where Mendler conceived the idea for the company while spending time with family during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During this period, Mendler and her family constructed antennas from materials found at Home Depot and successfully received data from NOAA satellites.
Mendler highlighted the importance of ground stations in bringing the benefits of space technology to people on Earth.
Cleverly pointed out that with the growth of the space industry, there is now a massive amount of data being transmitted to and from satellites. Northwood’s goal is to provide a solution for efficiently and reliably handling this data.
Northwood plans to design its ground stations for rapid production and deployment. Luthra noted that the startup aims to deliver ground stations “within days, not months,” which will allow satellite operators to avoid lengthy waits for antenna installation and configuration.
Initially, Northwood will focus on servicing satellites in low Earth orbit, targeting companies that prefer not to invest in their own ground station networks. The startup aims to alleviate the bottleneck caused by the limited availability of shared ground stations.
Luthra explained that traditionally, finding an available antenna site could be challenging due to high demand and pre-existing rentals.
Northwood seeks to provide an experience similar to renting server capacity from Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, eliminating the need for capital expenditure on ground stations.
The startup plans to conduct its first test connecting to a spacecraft in orbit later this year.
