Knowing where you are.
Positioning, timing, and guidance beyond terrestrial GPS — space-based PNT, onboard navigation, and rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO).
Primer
What is orbital infrastructure?
Orbital infrastructure is the set of persistent systems that let operators work in space after launch — navigation, sensing, autonomy, and logistics. Launch gets you to orbit. Infrastructure lets you operate there.
01The four rails
The foundational capabilities of the orbital economy.
Operating in space — not just reaching it — requires four categories of infrastructure. We call them the four rails.
Knowing what's around you.
Space domain awareness (SDA): detecting, tracking, and characterizing objects and activity on orbit as it grows more crowded and contested.
Acting without the ground.
Onboard decision-making — collision avoidance, station-keeping, tasking, and coordination — that lets large fleets operate without constant ground control.
Moving and maintaining.
In-space servicing, maneuver, refueling, relocation, and end-of-life handling — keeping assets useful and orbits sustainable.
02Key terms
A plain-language glossary.
Space domain awareness.
The ability to detect, track, characterize, and predict objects and activity in orbit — from active satellites to debris. The sensing layer behind safe, secure operation.
Positioning, navigation & timing.
The services that tell a spacecraft where it is, where it's going, and precisely when — increasingly delivered in space rather than relying only on terrestrial GPS.
Rendezvous & proximity operations.
Maneuvering one spacecraft close to another to inspect, dock, service, or relocate it — a prerequisite for in-space logistics.
Commercial and defense.
Technology that serves both commercial and government or defense customers from the same core capability. GenLab is defense-forward but dual-use.
Low Earth orbit.
The region roughly 160–2,000 km above Earth where most modern constellations operate — the most crowded and fastest-growing operating environment.
A coordinated fleet.
A group of satellites working as a system. At scale, constellations must be continually replenished and increasingly must coordinate autonomously.
03Frequently asked
Common questions.
How is orbital infrastructure different from launch?
Launch is transportation — getting mass to orbit — and it's now largely solved and commoditizing. Orbital infrastructure is everything required to operate once you're there: navigation, sensing, autonomy, and logistics.
What are the four rails of the orbital economy?
Navigation, sensing, autonomy, and logistics. Together they are the foundational systems that let operators work in space, the way roads, power, and signaling underpin an economy on the ground.
Why does autonomy become mandatory?
Human-in-the-loop ground control doesn't scale to thousands of coordinated spacecraft. As fleets grow, onboard autonomy for avoidance, station-keeping, and tasking becomes a requirement, not a feature.
What does dual-use mean in space?
The same core capabilities that enable commercial operations also serve allied national-security needs. GenLab is US-anchored but global — across the United States, Germany, Japan, and NATO partners.
Go deeper
The thesis behind the four rails.
Why launch is solved, operations are not, and where the orbital buildout goes next.