Raycho Raychev, CEO and Founder of EnduroSat: “We dream of witnessing the outcome of next generation’s visionaries’ work based on the space infrastructure we are currently building”
I met Raycho four years ago, when EnduroSat and Space Challenges have already started gaining traction. Every year the management and the commercial teams of the company I worked in used to gather for a two-day interactive conference, where we also invited inspiring guests from a variety of sectors. That year, our theme was ‘Transforming the future together’, and Raycho seemed a perfect fit: full of big dreams and inexhaustible energy, spontaneous, educated, with a great sense of self-irony and sense of humor, a founder of a company with a promising future and an exotic (for us) business in the space industry. I still remember the electrifying atmosphere in the hall when he stepped on stage and started telling his story: the energy, the twinkle in my colleagues’ eyes, and their admiration from his incessant vigor and perseverance, which has helped him build his business from zero. We are happy to have him at Launchee not just because he is literally our dream space guest, but also because of the exciting facts he shared about the future of space, technologies and innovations from the radars in Bulgaria.
How would you describe yourself to someone who doesn’t know you and hasn’t heard anything about EnduroSat?
I am a founder of a space company, a fan of science fiction and an optimist.
What is exactly EnduroSat’s business? Quite often you share interesting collaborations and participations with international partners in the fields of innovations, engineering, and space.
EnduroSat creates a new generation satellites, and our ultimate goal is to make Space more accessible to the next generation’s entrepreneurs, explorers, scientists and technologists. Our own products offer a shared satellite service, which allows space companies, agencies and universities to launch their own payloads (cameras, censors, IoT systems, experimental equipment) to low Earth orbit.
Our plan is to significantly simplify space missions, leaving our clients’ focus entirely on their own technologies and services without wasting a huge amount of time and resources into creating their own satellites and launch them into space.
What does it mean to work in the space sector?
This is a very fast-growing industry and it is obvious that Space has an ever growing impact on the economy. It is already of strategic importance for the development of the world economy. Working in the space sector is a challenging task and requires years of hard work. It is a global sector, and often quite conservative when it comes to new players as there is zero tolerance for mistakes. This makes it even more challenging and interesting.
I think there is nothing more exciting than the feeling brought by the act of creating and making a difference. We strive to make Space accessible with our satellites, and we dream of witnessing the outcome of next generation’s visionaries’ work based on the space infrastructure we are currently building. One can’t help going to work with a big smile with this challenge ahead…Problem-solving day after day, constantly educating yourself, being ready for a failure every single moment, pursuing your goal and knowing that the results might be visible after years of hard work – these are part of the Space rules.
Endurosat is hiring. What people are you looking for?
Our company has significantly grown in the last few months. We have opened some really appealing and challenging positions. We are primarily looking for new colleagues experienced in radio engineering, embedded and hardware design. We have also created an internal team of space systems engineers.
If all that I have described so far as a mission and essence of our work resonates with you, and you love Space, perhaps EnduroSat is the right place to apply. This is where you can find more about our current open positions: https://www.endurosat.com/careers/
How will you convince a good IT professional that EnduroSat is the better choice compared to another technological company offering similar conditions?
During our years of practice we have reached the conclusion that it is not necessary to convince professionals to become part of our team. People are either prepared for long-term challenges and want to develop because they love Space, or they should better not apply.
Tell us about Space Challenges mission and what is the application process for the young cadets program?
The Space Challenges program is organized annually and it is one of the biggest educational programs in the field of space science and high technologies in Europe. We invite a range of leading professionals, scientists and engineers from the space industry worldwide, who teach and offer practical experience to 40 students and young technical experts in Bulgaria. The educational program provides hands-on experience to its Space Cadets (this is how we call the participants) and part of them join EnduroSat as interns or are immediately hired in the company. Our aim is to demonstrate to the young students the real opportunities to develop in the contemporary space industry, so that they can plan their future careers.
I feel proud of the fact that many of our Space Cadets have continued their education in leading learning centers and universities, some have created their own companies or joined the EnduroSat team. The program aims at catalyzing the establishment of a real and adequate space industry in Bulgaria.
You have mentioned some new and exciting projects in 2021. Would you share them with us?
Indeed, we are preparing to launch several satellites into Space, created entirely by our team. Our first mission will be in Kuwait, and we have created and organized it together with a strategic client and partner of ours. The satellite’s launch is planned for May 2021. This is when we also expect the launch of our first shared satellite mission – SPARTAN (May/June 2021). The next shared satellite mission is planned in December. All three of them will be launched with SpaceXFalcon 9. We are looking forward to a very dynamic year!
