Company

Founded by space entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich and his partner Lev Khasis in Santa Clara in 2017, Momentus was born out of countless discussions with satellite operators looking for rides to destinations which weren't commercially being offered. Our mission is simple: we want enterprise and existence to flourish in space and we know that creating truly efficient in-space transportation will make that possible.

Rooted in breakthrough technologies, our transportation services will be powered by deep space resource utilization, ushering in a new era of movement within our solar system.

We know that daring problems require daring solutions. While our competitors take more conservative, proven approaches, we are experimenting with never-been-done-before technology to solve the greatest challenges of our time. Our team knows that working at Momentus means more than building innovative technology, it means creating an entirely new market in the space economy. We are level-headed, business-minded strategic thinkers intent on providing immediate value while simultaneously preparing for the vast possibilities of the future. If this sounds like you, we should talk.

Our People.

We know that daring problems require daring solutions. While our competitors take more conservative, proven approaches, we are experimenting with never-been-done-before technology to solve the greatest challenges of our time. Our team knows that working at Momentus means more than building innovative technology, it means creating an entirely new market in the space economy. We are level-headed, business-minded strategic thinkers intent on providing immediate value while simultaneously preparing for the vast possibilities of the future. If this sounds like you, we should talk.

Get on board
  • Mikhail Kokorich
    President & Founder
    Before Momentus, Mikhail Kokorich founded a number of other New Space companies: Dauria Aerospace, Helios Wire and Astro Digital. He studied as physicist in Novosibirsk State University, did his EMBA in The Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, and graduated from the Stanford Executive Program.
  • Lev Khasis, PhD
    Chairman & Founder
    As former Senior Vice President at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. with a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and a PhD in Economics, Khasis is uniquely positioned to guide Momentus to success.
  • Joel Sercel, PhD
    Chief Technology Officer
    Sercel is a world recognized authority in technical innovation and space technology with a PhD from Caltech in microwave plasma propulsion and over three decades of success in engineering and leadership across multiple disciplines. A former Principal Engineer and Project Manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with 15 years of entrepreneurial success Sercel has a long history of leading first in space and advanced technology. When at JPL, Sercel formulated the NSTAR project which lead to the first deep space application of ion propulsion and the Dawn spacecraft flying to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres. Sercel is a three time NASA Innovative Advance Concepts (NIAC) Fellow and a leading expert on how to harvest water from planetary bodies and use it for space transportation services.
  • Yuqi Wang
    Aerospace Engineer
    Yuqi joins the team as an experienced propulsion engineer who has worked at SpaceX and earned his masters degree from UCLA.
  • Christian Sallaberger, PhD
    Board Member
    Sallaberger is Chairman of the International Space Exploration Committee of the IAF, initiated the Canadian Planetary Exploration Program and is a professor at Toronto University. He earned degrees from the University of Waterloo, the University of California at Berkeley, and received his doctorate from the University of Toronto.
  • Charlie Feng
    Aerospace Engineer
    Feng is an experienced propulsion engineer with a thirst for problem solving across the digital and physical worlds. He has worked at Sandia National Laboratory, Busek Co. Inc. and earned his masters degree from Michigan University.
  • Philip Mainwaring
    Head of Propulsion
    Mainwaring brings extensive engineering experience across aerospace propulsion and software. He has worked at Firefly, Esgee Technologies, and earned his masters degree from Penn State.
  • Mark Crawford
    Aerospace Engineer
    An accomplished aerospace engineer, Mark has worked with TransAstra Corporation providing thermodynamic and numerical simulation, design, and systems engineering support for their research into space resources and asteroid mining. Previously he worked at M4 Engineering Inc where he was involved in R&D for nonlinear dynamic simulation of aerospace structures subject to unstable flow. He received his MS in mechanical engineering from UCLA in 2016.
  • Negar Feher
    VP of Product and BD
    Negar is an ambassador in bringing diverse capabilities to new space markets with an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford University and over a decade of experience in the space industry. She was instrumental in establishing services to support startups seeking to validate and test their spacecraft systems.
  • Aliki Loper-Leddy
    Program Manager
    Aliki brings engineering experience from detailed spacecraft design to systems engineering. She has a background in Geostationary Satellite Design and spacecraft development at SSL. She earned her BS in Aerospace Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
  • Matt Parman
    Aerospace Engineer
    Matt is an experienced mechanical engineer with broad experience across the domains of thermal and structural design and analysis of space hardware. He has worked on RF electronics and antenna arrays at SSL and is working on his Masters degree in Space Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
  • Aaron Mitchell
    Systems Engineer
    Aaron is an accomplished propulsion and systems engineer with experience working on a wide variety of spacecraft designs. Previously at NASA-JPL, he focused on designing in-space propulsion systems for interplanetary missions. He earned his BS in Astronautical Engineering from University of Southern California.
Investment

Momentus closed an $8.5M seed round in November, 2018. The funds will immediately be applied towards an in-orbit technology demonstration of our in-space rocket scheduled to launch in the 1st quarter of 2019. We are excited and honored to be backed by such distinguished company.

  • Prime Movers Lab
  • One Way Ventures
  • Liquid 2 Ventures
  • Mountain Nazca
  • Y Combinator