KAIST Space Institute Seminar Series (6/18 목, 14:00~15:00, Dr. Daniel Ceperley) > 공지사항

KAIST Space Institute is pleased to host Dr. Daniel Ceperley, Founder and Chief Operation Officer of LeoLabs, a U.S.-based Space Situational Awareness (SSA) company that tracks satellites and space debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) through a global network of ground-based radar systems.

We look forward to your participation in this seminar.

□ Date and Time : Thursday, June 18, 2026, 14:00~15:00
□ Venue : Seminar Room, 1st Floor, E13
□ Speaker : Dr. Daniel Ceperley (Founder and Chief Operation Officer of LeoLabs)
□ Seminar Title : Founding LeoLabs: The Journey from Grad School to Startup  

Speaker Bio:

Prior to co-founding LeoLabs, Dan worked at SRI International, a notfor-profit research laboratory, where he was the Program Director for Space Debris Tracking, the Deputy Director of the Ocean and Space Systems Center, and the supervisor for the Allen Telescope Array, which is a radio astronomy facility in northern California. Dan got his start in the space industry working on the design of the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph (TPF-C) as part of a research program supporting NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work investigated the optical performance of advanced concepts for imaging Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. Dan is also a Technical Advisor to Space for Humanity. This non-profit seeks to greatly increase the number of people who have experienced space flight and thus promotes the greater use of space. He holds a Ph.D. and MS in Electrical Engineering from U. C. Berkeley and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Abstract :

The space industry is going through a revolution. The annual rate of satellite launches is doubling every 2 years, satellite capabilities are rapidly improving, and space has become an important part of everything we do on Earth. LeoLabs was founded to deliver a new generation of space situational awareness infrastructure to enable countries and companies to operate safely and sustainably in space. One member of the founding team, Dan Ceperley, went from researching space telescope designs in graduate school, to running a radio telescope array while at Stanford Research Institute International, to starting LeoLabs to build satellite tracking facilities around the world. He built the team and raised over $100M USD in the process. This presentation will discuss the changes in the space industry, LeoLabs’ technical capabilities, and one founder’s journey from graduate school at UC Berkeley to starting LeoLabs.