Pierce Aerospace Accepted Into 2020 Cohort of U.S. Space Force Accelerator

Hyperspace Challenge Seeks Secure, Autonomous Tech Solutions for Space

October 22, 2020, ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Pierce Aerospace announced today that it has been accepted into the 2020 cohort for Hyperspace Challenge, a business accelerator run by the Air Force Research Laboratory and CNM Ingenuity for the U.S. Space Force.

The goal of Hyperspace Challenge is to accelerate collaboration and partnership between the U.S. government and the startup community in order to drive innovation in space.

This year’s cohort theme, Trusted Autonomy, has brought together startups that can provide the government and participating military agencies with secure, trustworthy autonomous and automated solutions for space.

“To date Pierce Aerospace has been known for our work in the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry, specializing in our niche of dual-use Remote Identification technology development to serve both government and commercial stakeholders.

Acceptance into this program announces our intent to provide identification management technology and capabilities well beyond low-level airspace. We’re on the verge of a new era of hyperconnected systems and identification must be established in order to obtain situational awareness and advance trusted autonomy in all domains – from our backyard to deep space.”  – Aaron Pierce, CEO Pierce Aerospace.

Pierce Aerospace has made advances in local broadcast Remote ID technologies for UAS and continues to develop identification management technology for assurance, authentication, and verification of unmanned systems. The goal of these technologies is to support unmanned system OEMs, unmanned system service suppliers, like Unmanned Traffic Management, and counter drone technologies.

The company is actively working to apply and adopt these innovations for enhancing trusted autonomy between space systems. Pierce Aerospace’s Flight Portal ID has been used to positively identify friends from foes in live-fire US Army experiments when integrated with Northrop Grumman and Liteye counter UAS systems.

Hyperspace Challenge pairs startups with government contractors, working across a wide range of government agencies, such as the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and NASA, so cohort participants have the opportunity not only to learn how to navigate the government contracting process, but to build more relationships within the government ecosystem. Since the program was launched in 2018, almost 70 percent of participating companies have received government contracts worth over a combined $7 million in revenue.

“The national space community collectively recognizes that the industry could be truly transformed with the growing use of spacecraft capable of automatically handling complex tasks. But complex tasks require complex mechanisms to complete them,” said Captain Roger Anderson, Deputy Program Director for U.S. Space Force Accelerator Programs. “This year’s cohort will be critical in the effort to determine if autonomous technology is truly up to the task.”

Cohort participants will spend the next two months learning how to do business with the federal government and will work with participating government customers to develop proposals. These companies will participate in virtual customer discovery sessions with government scientists and compete for cash prizes via a live pitch event at the Space Startup Summit on December 3.

For more information about Hyperspace Challenge please visit hyperspacechallenge.com.

About Pierce Aerospace

Pierce Aerospace is a niche Remote ID service provider focused on practical and robust integration of Remote ID services into the unmanned ecosystem. As an industry leader, Pierce Aerospace serves on the Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team, ASTM F38 UAS Remote ID Committee, and the FAA’s Remote ID Cohort. Funds from the US Air Force and the State of Indiana have supported Pierce Aerospace’s Flight Portal ID suite of Remote ID technologies. Flight Portal ID was nominated as Indiana’s Innovation of the Year by Techpoint and was awarded first place in Remote ID technology by AUVSI’s Xcellence’s Awards. Pierce Aerospace is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, The Racing Capital of the World. www.pierceaerospace.net

About Hyperspace Challenge

Hyperspace Challenge was created in 2018 by the U.S. Air Force and CNM Ingenuity to accelerate partnerships between the government and startups and shift space innovation into hyperdrive. The accelerator, which is now directed by CNM Ingenuity in conjunction with the new U.S. Space Force, runs annually and cultivates networks in an innovation ecosystem prioritizing connection and community over bureaucracy. To date, the accelerator has supported 24 small businesses and startup companies from across the U.S. and Canada.