Get an inside scoop from our flight operations team about their most rewarding missions and what launching a Swifty truly entails

 

Ever wondered what it’s like to work in the field for a fast-growing Earth imagery startup? In this blog, we interview a member of our Flight Operations team to get the inside scoop on what a day in the life of launching Earth imagery robots looks like. 

But first, we’ll explain why the Flight Operations team is essential to allowing us to offer frequently updated, ultra high-resolution Earth imagery at scale to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges such as urbanization and climate change. 

 

The Importance of the Flight Operations Team

Near Space Labs designs, builds, and deploys proprietary Earth imaging robots called Swiftys. Our flight operations team is responsible for launching our Swiftys, ensuring each flight mission goes as planned, and recovering the platforms after they land. During a mission, Swiftys fly 65,000-80,000 feet in the air for around 5-7 hours capturing high-resolution imagery of the most populous cities in the US. After a mission, the imagery is programmatically processed, QA’d and made available on our XYZ Tile Service. 

Our Flight Operations team allows us to be very nimble and strategic in our captures – launching from nearly anywhere at any time of the day. We’ve built, and are continuing to expand, operational hubs across the US so we can quickly scale and capture a wide range of locations simultaneously. These hubs also allow us to rapidly react to catastrophic events such as hurricanes or tornadoes. By sending the team that’s in closest proximity to the affected area, we can capture near real-time data of the conditions on the ground post-catastrophe and make this data available to help emergency response, recovery, and mitigation efforts.  

Our trained and skilled Flight Operations team is a major factor in ensuring we capture high-quality data refreshed every 90 days. To sum it up – without them, Near Space Labs wouldn’t function! Already interested in joining our Flight Operations team? Visit our job board for more information. 

 

Interview with Michael Robles, Flight Support Specialist 

Michael Robles joined Near Space Labs in October 2020 as one of our first official Flight Technicians on our Texas team and has recently been promoted to a Flight Support Specialist. In this interview, Michael explains his day to day experience in the field as well as one of his favorite memories being on a launch.  

 

Questions and Answers: 

NSL: Why did you want to join NSL’s flight operations team? 

Michael: “Almost two years ago now, I found out about Near Space Labs and was super intrigued by the position because it seemed like an experience that not many people get to have. Being able to travel and see different places around the country for work seemed like an ideal job for me.” 

 

NSL: What is your favorite part about being on the Flight Operations team?

Michael: “My favorite part about this job is that everyday is a different adventure. I never have the same experience twice and it makes me excited for every single launch because you always wonder what you’re going to see or experience next.” 

 

NSL: Can you describe a day in the life of being in the field?

Michael: “So while the experiences are all different, the processes we do to launch and recover the Swiftys are all the same. The day starts with completing a standard checklist to ensure we have all of our equipment ready to go before heading out to the launch zone. Once we arrive, we complete a different launch checklist while getting the Swifty platform ready. This means checking to make sure signals are working, our robot is functioning properly, and the balloon is inflated and ready to fly. 

“Once everything’s set, we launch the balloon and then, depending on how long the flight is, will head immediately to the recovery location to recover the platform. Once we have the Swifty in hand, we take it back to our office to start uploading all the data we captured. Then, we start prepping for the next flight!” 

 

NSL: Can you describe your favorite flight mission or a funny/ exciting moment you’ve had while doing a launch?

Michael: “Haha, that’s a great question. I could tell you dozens of exciting or funny stories we’ve had during a launch but I’ll go with this one. One time, we were recovering a Swifty next to a farm and were told not to mind the cows – that they are friendly and wouldn’t bother us. Wrong! We got to the platform location and as we were retrieving the Swifty, we noticed more and more cows watching us and getting closer. We didn’t think much of it but as we started walking back to the car they started to stampede towards us! We had a fence in between us, but still when you see dozens of giant cows running toward you, you run the other direction. We made it to the car, took some pictures of the cows, and laughed all the way back to the office.” 

 

NSL: What challenges does this job have? 

Michael: “I honestly can’t really complain about the challenges of this job, because it balances the reasons I love the job. There may be some long travel days, but I enjoy traveling. You have to be good at directions, so you don’t get lost, which is challenging sometimes when we’re in more remote parts of the country! You also always have to be on top of your game and be ready for anything because as I mentioned before, no days are the same.

“On a personal career level though, as I’m moving into my new position I’m going to be challenged everyday by learning how to best support our other Flight Technicians and still maintain working in the field.” 

 

NSL: Anything else you want to add? 

Michael: “I’d like to say, I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to join the Flight Operations team. I came in with minimal experience, quickly learned it all, and now am starting to train new Flight Technicians. There is a lot of room for growth in this company, and I encourage you to apply if you’re looking for an exciting and far from boring job!” 

 

Join our Flight Operations Teams

Since the start of Near Space Labs in 2017, we’ve been rapidly expanding our team across the country. “The most rewarding part about building the teams across the US is seeing the collective addictive passion for our mission at Near Space Labs from those that have been here since the start to those who have just joined the team,” says Nicole Radovcich, Head of Flight Operations. “I can say with confidence that what we do within Flight Operations, in the role of Flight Technician particularly, is so unique that anyone who joins our team will become easily excited about stratospheric balloons. It is really hard not to. When a team is focused on one mission with passion fueling the way, there becomes an overwhelming drive to succeed from everyone on the team. So much so, that the only option is to succeed. As cheesy as that may sound, my experience has shown that to be overwhelmingly true.” 

Our Flight Operations team members are adventurous, meticulous, detailed oriented, and highly motivated people helping to provide universal access to high-quality data about our planet to decision makers, researchers, and more. Visit our job board below to learn about our open positions.