Starburst Aerospace has partnered with companies from Texas and South Korea on the Care in Space Challenge. The trio of firms has announced the inaugural class of six startups.
Starburst, an El Segundo aerospace and defense startup accelerator and strategic advisory practice, will bring the six members of the class into its 13-week accelerator program to help move their ideas to fruition.
Starburst’s partners in the initiative are Axiom Space Inc., a commercial space station company based in Houston, and Boryung, a Seoul-based investment and management company.
The Care in Space Challenge seeks to advance the future of space health and the next generation of pharmaceutical, bioscience and medtech development in space.
The program aims to accelerate the development of space health and health-adjacent solutions to increase access to space, solve human health care-related problems and create novel health care solutions in space for terrestrial use.
The challenge, to be held annually, supports early-stage entrepreneurs and their startups as they develop solutions.
The 2022 Care In Space Challenge winners are: Advanced TeleSensors, based in Austin, which builds a cardiac monitor; Deep Space Biology, which is located in Atlanta and is developing an artificial-intelligence-driven platform for biological discoveries in space; Myelin-H in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, which is developing a neuromorphic software for terrestrial and space health; Nano PharmaSolutions, based in San Diego, which is working on drug solubility through nano-formulation; ViBo Health in Westwood, which is designing personalized predictive healthcare using smart health tracking; and Xtory, which is located in Boston and is enhancing human performance through extended reality and interactive storytelling.
The founders of the companies receive $100,000 in equity financing and mentoring from Axiom.