Operations
Knowledge Base

Sidereal Logistics is a space logistics broker. We sit between clients who need to get a satellite to orbit and the complex ecosystem of launch providers, aggregators, regulators, insurers, and test facilities that make that happen.

We are not a launch provider. We do not own rockets. We are not a satellite manufacturer. We do not build hardware. We are not a mission operations company. We do not fly satellites. We are the orchestration layer — the expert guide who knows every part of the system, manages every timeline, and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks between organizations that don't talk to each other.

In addition to the aggregator relationship, Sidereal coordinates in parallel with: regulatory agencies (FAA, FCC, NOAA, DDTC), insurance brokers, legal counsel, environmental test facilities, and freight carriers. The client has one point of contact — us. We manage the rest.

• University CubeSat programs — primary early target. Grant-funded, technically capable, logistically inexperienced. High value for discovery conversations and LOIs.
• Commercial small satellite startups — more budget, higher urgency, value speed and certainty over cost minimization.
• Established small operators with repeat missions — know the process, want aggregator leverage and reliable execution.
• Government-adjacent / SBIR-funded programs — structured procurement, longer sales cycle, larger and more predictable contracts.

Primary owner of: client engagement from intake through post-launch, regulatory orchestration, timeline management, playbook execution, partner coordination on active missions.

The Playbook Hub is your primary daily tool. The wiki is your reference layer behind it. Every gate, every escalation trigger, every client communication standard applies to this role in full.

Primary owner of: outreach pipeline, discovery calls, LOI process, partner relationship building, conference presence, client qualification before formal intake.

You don't need to know how to file an FCC Part 25 application. You do need to know what it is, why it matters, and why a client who hasn't started it with 10 months to launch is in trouble. Conversational fluency means you can speak to it credibly, ask the right questions, and know when to escalate to a Mission Coordinator.

Primary owner of: internal systems hygiene, tracker maintenance, documentation standards execution, partner coordination on non-mission-specific tasks, process improvement, KB maintenance.

Your job is to make sure the OS works. The tracker reflects reality. The KB gets updated when something is learned. Documentation standards are actually followed. You are the connective tissue of the operation — which means you need to understand every process well enough to know when it's breaking down, even if you're not the one executing it.

Primary owner of: all four quality gates, all pricing decisions, strategic direction, legal and compliance oversight, final escalation authority, partner agreements.

The founder is the last line of review on every gate. No engagement advances past a gate without founder sign-off. No pricing is communicated to a client without founder approval. No legal or compliance action is taken without founder visibility. This is not a bottleneck — it is the quality control mechanism that protects the company and the client until the team has sufficient depth to operate independently.

• 4-hour response window — all client communications acknowledged within 4 hours during business hours. Acknowledgment is not a full answer — it is confirmation that you received the message and when you'll respond fully.
• 48-hour follow-up — every intake meeting, client call, or significant interaction gets a written follow-up within 48 hours. Summary of what was discussed, action items, next steps. No exceptions.
• Proactive updates — clients should never have to ask for a status update. If something changes — timeline, aggregator communication, regulatory development — the client hears it from us before they ask.
• No verbal-only decisions — anything decided in a call or meeting is confirmed in writing within 24 hours. "As we discussed" is not documentation.

• Every call gets a summary — written and sent to the client within 24 hours. Who attended, what was discussed, what was decided, what each party owns next.
• Every handoff gets a transfer receipt — physical custody of hardware is never transferred without a signed, timestamped transfer receipt. No exceptions. See Playbook 04.
• Every decision gets a written record — if a client makes a decision that affects the mission (orbit change, vehicle change, timeline adjustment), it is documented in writing and acknowledged by the client in writing.
• Tracker updated same day — the mission tracker reflects current reality. If something changes, the tracker is updated before the end of that business day.

Four moments in every engagement require explicit founder review before work advances. These are not suggestions. Skipping a gate is not a time-saving measure — it is a liability.

Three revenue mechanisms operate simultaneously:

• Service fees — direct billing for defined scopes of work, milestone-based
• Pass-through margin — markup on third-party costs booked on client's behalf (aggregator, transport, insurance placement)
• Retainer / ongoing support — monthly fee for post-launch support, regulatory monitoring, mission operations liaison

Full Mission Management fees are split across four milestones aligned to mission gates. This structure aligns payment to value delivered and keeps the client accountable to the timeline.

On costs Sidereal books and manages on behalf of clients, a margin is applied. This is standard in logistics brokerage. Specific margin rates are set by the founder per engagement and are not disclosed to clients in itemized form unless the client specifically requires cost-plus pricing (government/grant-funded clients may require this for compliance).

• Never quote a specific number without founder approval — pricing is engagement-specific and strategically set
• Never discount to win a client — sets a damaging reference price and attracts the wrong clients
• Hourly billing is not used — milestone and deliverable pricing only
• The MRA is the right entry point for uncertain clients — it filters serious from non-serious at low cost to both parties
• Scope and price for actual effort — a first-time operator with a small team requires more engagement than an experienced one. Price reflects the real cost to deliver.

Space logistics currently runs on email, PDFs, and phone calls. Incumbents operate on tribal knowledge and manual processes — no client visibility, no standardized data layer, no structured compliance workflow. Every mission starts from scratch. Documentation is rebuilt on every engagement. Status updates go out by email. Nobody has built the infrastructure layer.

The foundational layer — the internal OS that manages every mission from intake through post-launch. Built before the first client. Stress-tested through early engagements. Refined continuously.

Stage 1 generates the data, tests the workflows, and validates the service model. Every mission run through Stage 1 produces structured data that feeds Stage 2. The system is not a prototype — it is operational and used on every engagement.

Stage 2 is the live deployment of the client portal — connecting the demonstrable POC to real mission data and a production backend. The interface and experience are already built. Stage 2 is the engineering work that makes it live, persistent, and connected to the mission tracker in real time.

The Stage 2 portal is what converts Sidereal from a managed service into a platform relationship. Clients who can see their mission in real time are more engaged, more prepared, and more likely to return for subsequent missions.

The platform becomes a standalone subscription product — available to operators who want the tooling without the full-service wrapper, and to other logistics coordinators who want to use Sidereal's compliance infrastructure. The service business becomes the distribution channel for the software business.

Two technologies are on the roadmap as supporting infrastructure — both in early stage, both relevant to scalability. Neither is present-tense operational capability. Both are directional.

The three-stage platform roadmap is the near-term execution path. The longer arc — discussed and decided in the founding vision — points toward Sidereal as infrastructure rather than service. The end state is not a company that helps people get to orbit. It is the operating layer that the space logistics industry runs on.

The key risk in this arc is the Phase 1 → Phase 2 transition. Service revenue becomes comfortable and software feels like a distraction. That transition requires a deliberate decision, not drift. The decision log should have an entry when that moment arrives.

• Payload envelope — Maximum mass, dimensions, center of gravity limits
• Interface definition — Mechanical mounting, deployment switch specs
• RF requirements — Emissions restrictions during ascent, frequency coordination
• Electrical interface — Kill switches, power inhibits
• Materials restrictions — Forbidden adhesives, coatings, battery types
• Environmental test requirements — What tests, to what levels, with what documentation
• Documentation checklist — Everything required at payload review
• Integration timeline — Lead times, manifest close dates, delivery windows

• Client contracts with aggregator, not launch provider — SpaceX schedule changes flow through the aggregator. Maintain direct mission manager relationships to get real-time information.
• Dispensers add requirements — Client must comply with both vehicle PUG AND aggregator dispenser spec. Interface mismatch discovered late means redesign and potential mission delay.
• Pricing is negotiable — Aggregators don't publish fixed rates. Volume = leverage. Multiple clients on a single aggregator relationship changes the commercial dynamic significantly.
• Payload maturity matters — Aggregators prefer payloads with demonstrated design maturity. Presenting an immature payload damages Sidereal's relationship with the aggregator — our long-term asset.

• Launch vehicles (rockets)
• Launch and reentry sites (spaceports)
• The payload indirectly — the launch operator holds the license, which covers the mission including client payloads

Sidereal is not the launch operator. SpaceX, Rocket Lab, etc. hold the launch license. Our client-facing obligations:

• Ensure client payload information feeds correctly into the launch operator's FAA filings
• If payload has any propulsion, flag immediately — complexity increases significantly
• Manage the Payload Review process — launch operator confirms payload doesn't endanger vehicle or mission
• Know the payload review checklist cold: mass, CoG, material safety data, RF emissions during ascent

Every satellite in orbit operates internationally. ITU coordination runs in parallel with the FCC process — filed through the FCC on behalf of US operators. Key points:

• Formal ITU coordination can take years for complex cases
• CubeSats may qualify for simplified process under Resolution 32
• Some frequency bands carry heavy coordination burden — know these before recommending bands to clients
• Most small operators don't know ITU coordination exists. Telling them early is immediate value.

• Early identification — Part 25 vs. Experimental vs. Amateur determination at intake
• Application preparation — Template and format knowledge for FCC filings
• Timeline management — FCC authorization on the critical path from day one

• Shutter control — NOAA can order you not to image specific areas during specific periods. This is a real constraint on business models promising continuous coverage of specific regions.
• Data distribution — How and to whom you distribute data is regulated under the license
• Foreign access — Sharing data with foreign entities intersects directly with ITAR/EAR
• Archiving — May require maintaining records of what was collected and when

The 2014 Export Control Reform moved most commercial satellites from USML to CCL. EAR is less restrictive than ITAR. Most clients operate under EAR. Never assume — always verify with qualified counsel.

• Physically shipping hardware overseas
• Sharing technical data with a foreign national — anywhere, including inside the US
• Emailing a CAD drawing to a foreign colleague
• Discussing controlled technical details with a foreign person by phone
• Allowing foreign national access to controlled software or systems

Sidereal is not an export control attorney. Never position as one. But we must:

• Identify risk at intake — Ask every client about defense applications, foreign nationals, foreign launch vehicles, encryption, and whether they have a classification determination
• Maintain qualified legal partners — Space-specific export control firms, not general counsel
• Build into standard onboarding — Export control assessment is not optional and not deferred
• Protect Sidereal itself — Client service agreements must include export compliance representations. Our own contracts need export control legal review.

Collision avoidance requires the ability to maneuver. Most basic CubeSats have no propulsion. Implications:

• FCC increasingly scrutinizes whether satellites can maneuver in license applications
• Some launch providers beginning to require propulsion capability at higher orbits
• Clients without propulsion cannot actively avoid conjunctions — orbit selection must account for this
• Orbit selection advice at Phase 1 must reflect debris mitigation reality

• Space Force 18th Space Control Squadron — Provides free conjunction data messages (CDMs) to US operators via Space-Track.org
• LeoLabs — Commercial tracking, more detailed analysis
• ExoAnalytic — Commercial optical tracking network

• FCC bond proposal — $1M per satellite bond to incentivize deorbit compliance. Not yet final. Monitor closely — significant cost impact for constellation operators.
• Active debris removal — Astroscale and others developing commercial removal services. Not yet routine but regulatory requirements may eventually mandate it.
• ITU framework — Beginning to incorporate debris mitigation. International standards tightening.

Standard in all rideshare agreements. Every party — launch provider, aggregator, all payload customers — waives the right to sue each other for losses arising from the launch. Client's recourse in a launch failure is against their own insurer, not SpaceX. Make sure every client understands this before they sign.

Standard freight insurance is insufficient for space hardware. Requires:

• All-risk coverage specifically endorsed for space hardware
• No exclusions for electronic or mechanical breakdown
• Full replacement value — not depreciated value
• Specific handling requirements written into the policy

Each transition is a handoff. Each handoff is a risk point. Sidereal manages every one.

Every shipment requires calibrated data loggers inside the container recording:

• Temperature — Continuous log, typically ±1°C resolution
• Humidity — Relative humidity throughout transit
• Shock and vibration — Accelerometer data, records any exceedances
• Pressure — For pressurized containers

Logger data is reviewed immediately upon arrival. Any exceedance triggers a review process before integration proceeds. Sidereal escalates — does not proceed silently.

Identify at intake. Do not discover at the shipping dock.

• Lithium batteries — IATA Class 9 for air shipment
• Propellant — Classification varies by type
• Compressed gases — Cold gas propulsion systems
• Radioactive materials — Rare but used in some scientific payloads

• Cleanroom class and capacity (ISO 5, 7, or 8)
• Handling equipment appropriate for payload size and mass
• Technical expertise of integration staff and handling certification
• Aggregator relationship and location relative to launch site
• Physical security and access controls
• Track record — missions integrated successfully

Listen for: "As soon as possible" with no real constraint = not ready. "Approximately" for mass/volume = hasn't been measured = readiness flag.

Listen for: Propulsion = immediate ITAR/safety flag. No disposal plan = regulatory flag. Early design stage with aggressive timeline = capacity mismatch.

Hard stops: Foreign nationals + controlled technology + no TCP or counsel = stop until resolved. Foreign vehicle + no TAA = stop immediately.

Listen for: Unfunded budget = do not commit Sidereal resources yet. Already-signed launch agreement = review immediately before proceeding.

Listen for: No single decision-maker = operational chaos ahead. Small team with aggressive timeline = scope the engagement accordingly and price for higher support burden.

• Send intake document summary to client for confirmation
• Issue preliminary risk assessment if flags were identified
• If proceeding — send scoping questionnaire for any gaps
• If conditional — specify exactly what needs resolution and by when
• If declining — do it professionally with a brief explanation

The 48-hour turnaround is a signal of operational discipline. A logistics company that takes two weeks to follow up after an intake meeting is telling you something about how they'll manage your launch timeline.