Real Alpha
Watch modeSubscribed

Sourcery · 2 min · Aug 31, 2026

The Space Force contract is a trial for a larger engagement

Bridgit Mendler says the contract funds a trial for the Satellite Control Network, with milestones that demonstrate Northwood’s system works. That proof could support a larger partnership.

Bridgit Mendler

Bridgit Mendler is cofounder and CEO of Northwood Space.

Co-founded Northwood Space, building shared satellite ground infrastructure; earlier a Disney Channel actress and singer.

  • Molly O'Shea, Host · Founder, Sourcery

    Ex-Upfront Ventures investor; has interviewed Alex Karp and Palmer Luckey.

About this segment

Bridgit Mendler says the contract funds a trial for the Satellite Control Network, with milestones that demonstrate Northwood’s system works. That proof could support a larger partnership.

From “Bridgit Mendler Gives Us the First Tour of Northwood's New HQ + Factory”, Aug 31, 2026. Watch the full episode

“it's us demonstrating our system works. We're able to do all the things that we said we were able to do.”
Bridgit Mendlerat 15:10 · Sourcery15:10

Takeaways

  1. The network helps keep government spacecraft in contact.
  2. The contract is a trial and proof point for Northwood.
  3. Milestones validate the system for future work.

In this episode

Full episode
  1. 2:45Ground infrastructure lagged because the industry split the work5:55
  2. 23:07Northwood wants revenue growth before expanding its scope3:18
  3. 26:20Ground networks use costly redundancy to guarantee reliability2:57

  4. 13:28The Space Force contract is a trial for a larger engagement2:23

  5. 17:11Northwood uses site diversity to limit the impact of outages2:19Up next
  6. 8:36Space companies still need real businesses today2:12
  7. 38:11Northwood is bringing time-critical manufacturing in-house2:23

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

  1. 13:31

    job well. Northwood recently won a nearly $50 million government contract. What does that contract go towards? Yeah. So that contract goes towards a program called the Satellite Control network, which is basically a network that is a pool of a bunch of different space missions. So the way that government has historically thought about how they manage all their spacecraft is they break out the functions. So on what they call the TT&C side, which is making sure that the spacecraft is moving where it needs to go, it's healthy through all the different stages of its operations, that satellite control network. And then the actual data for that mission, like let's say it's an imagery or it's a, you know, a comms in the field use case that's kind of handled separately. And so the satellite control network side, it's really important for

  2. 14:22

    two reasons. One, because there's just so many more spacecraft launching that they need to make sure that they can be in contact with those spacecraft at all times. But the other piece is those spacecraft are doing different things. Like, you know, I heard you talk with the impulse team, for example. All of those use cases where spacecraft are moving dynamically around in new ways in the space environment, they basically just don't have a solution for how to connect and control that spacecraft. So, you know, when we tie back to how do you succeed at doing your mission, like how do you make sure you can actually do things in space, that really ties back to the networking. So that's really what the satellite control network use case is for us. And it was kind of the beginning of a partnership with the Space Force in doing that. It's kind of like our

  3. 15:12

    trial period. You know, it's us demonstrating our system works. We're able to do all the things that we said we were able to do. And then that's kind of the catalyst for a larger engagement for those services. So, you know, I think we're very happy with how that program has progressed, both in terms of, you know, how they've continued to expand and use it, which I probably can't speak too much officially to right now. But also just, I think, you know, we've been able to knock out a number of those milestones, which is great for validating our system.