Leo Aerospace
High altitude smallsat launcher
Suspended operations in March 2021, per its CEO to SpaceNews, after failing to raise further funding. Leo Aerospace operated in the launch sector of the space industry, was headquartered in United States, was founded in 2017, reached Seed stage.
Leo Aerospace at a glance
| Status | Shut downchecked August 2026Suspended operations in March 2021, per its CEO to SpaceNews, after failing to raise further funding. |
|---|---|
| Sector | Launch |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Stage | Seed |
| Team size | 1-10 |
Record last updated August 2026 · how we verify · spotted something outdated? Tell us.
Timeline & funding
- March 2021Company
- December 2018Achievement
- 2017CompanyFounded
Mission
A dedicated microsatellite launch service reaching any low Earth orbit with no fixed ground infrastructure.
Leo Aerospace tried to launch microsatellites from a hot air balloon. The rockoon concept has a reusable balloon platform, Regulus, lift the rocket above the thickest atmosphere, roughly the first eighteen kilometres, so the rocket itself can be small enough to be affordable; the balloon does the draggiest part of the climb.
Five Purdue students started it in 2017 and moved it to Los Angeles. In December 2018 it fired a high-power rocket off its balloon platform over the Mojave Desert, a first the FAA had to work out how to license. That remained its only demonstration.
In March 2021 the chief executive told SpaceNews the company had decided to shut things down, citing fundraising difficulty and market timing. Rockoon physics keeps payloads tiny, and by then the smallsat market had consolidated around rideshare. Investors passed, and the company folded quietly two years after its only flight.
Team
- Dane Rudy · Founder
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