Technology News

Minh Nguyen and John Avera, Co-Founders of xOrbita, on Building the Newest "Air Traffic Control" Infrastructure for Space

xOrbita, a space technology company co-founded by Minh Nguyen and John Avera, is deploying a constellation of AI-powered CubeSats to address what the co-founders call the space economy's most overlooked threat: sub-centimeter debris. Photo courtesy of xOrbita (xOrbita co-founders Minh Nguyen and John Avera) Inside xOrbita’s New Venture The $600 billion global space economy faces an invisible crisis. While operators have deployed thousands of satellites into Low Earth Orbit, they are essentially flying blind against a lethal population of more than a million debris objects, ranging in size from 1 to 10 centimeters. These fragments are small enough to evade ground-based tracking systems, yet large enough to destroy a satellite at orbital velocities. “The one-to-ten-centimeter range is being worked on by everyone right now, but that's typically where their technology hits a wall,” says Minh Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of xOrbita. “Sub-centimeter debris is the real problem, and most detection companies ignore it because they can't track it. There are an estimated 120 million objects measuring less than one centimeter, compared to just a million objects measuring more than one centimeter. That difference scares me, especially when I remember they're all flying through space at 10 kilometers per second.” xOrbita rises up to solve this space challenge. The company is building a constellation of CubeSats equipped with Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) sensors and onboard AI to identify previously invisible threats in real-time. Unlike ground-based infrastructure, which provides periodic catalog updates, xOrbita processes data directly in orbit and transmits only actionable intelligence. This cuts bandwidth demands by orders of magnitude and delivers alerts to customers in seconds, not hours. “Current space surveillance can reliably track objects larger than 10 centimeters, but that's only the tip of the iceberg,” co-founder and Chief Technology Officer John Avera notes. “At 10 kilometers per second, even a one-centimeter object delivers enough kinetic energy to end a mission.” Avera adds that xOrbita's Analytical Planning Stack turns detections into real operational decisions: “We're not just detecting debris. We're generating collision probabilities and autonomous maneuver recommendations. Operators move from emergency reaction to managed, predictable maintenance.” A Leader in the Space Industry xOrbita's business model is intentionally cyclical: each layer strengthens the next. Government-funded research and development enables the early deployment of proprietary sensors, which generate unique sub-10cm debris data. This data trains higher-accuracy AI models, attracting commercial operators willing to pay for automated collision avoidance. More customers fund more sensors, increasing orbital coverage and lowering marginal costs, which in turn tightens the loop. But the flywheel does something more important: it positions xOrbita not as a point-solution vendor, but as the full stack of Space Situational Awareness (SSA). “We are the full stack of SSA,” Nguyen explains. “Some companies try to own tracking. Others focus on analysis. Others sell collision-avoidance software. We do it all, and the structure of our business model enables us to do it better than anyone else. The more parts of the system we own, the faster and more accurate the entire ecosystem becomes. That's what makes us uniquely dangerous in this market.” At the same time, John Avera brings a distinctive combination of military leadership and enterprise engineering to the team. A Colonel in the Army National Guard, with prior roles at Global Payments, Booz Allen Hamilton, and IBM, he has led teams of over 150 engineers in delivering production software to edge devices. His research at the Air Combat Command Federal Laboratory (ACC Fed Lab) has been featured in Popular Mechanics, Aviation Today, and Defense News. "The space economy is shifting from exploration to commercial operations," Avera mentions. "That shift requires solving the debris problem. We're building the infrastructure layer that makes sustainable space operations possible: the air traffic control system for Low Earth Orbit." Please visit xOrbita’s website for more information. About xOrbita xOrbita is a space technology company developing real-time orbital debris detection and collision avoidance for the rapidly expanding Low Earth Orbit economy. By processing data directly in orbit and transmitting only actionable insights, it develops low-cost, scalable technologies that enable global participation in monitoring and safeguarding Earth’s orbital environment. As a result, it delivers fast, automated collision risk assessments and maneuver recommendations that help operators protect assets, extend mission lifetimes, and enable safer, more sustainable space operations.