 Good afternoon, brilliant humans, and welcome back to stunning Stanford University here in Palo Alto, California. My name's Savannah Peterson, delighted to be spending International Women's Day with you this year, broadcasting live all day long here for theCUBE at Women in Data Sciences Worldwide Conference, annual conference. We've had three guests already on the show today that have absolutely blown my mind and inspired me and we are starting off the afternoon just as hot. Sam, welcome to the show. Sam is with Starfish Space. I'm really excited. You and I both talking about the fact that we are admittedly nerds. I hope I'm not throwing one of the best super nerds and big space nerds. So I'm super pumped. I've been looking forward to this segment all day. I know we're gonna get into it, but give us a little bit about your background. Tell us about Starfish. Yeah, so I've been interested in space ever since I was in the fifth grade, so I always knew I wanted to go into space of some form. I didn't exactly know engineering quite yet, but then when I got to college, my dad was like, yes, you need to do a good career, the good career path, so just choose wisely. I really appreciate that he left it open for me and he was always very supportive of whatever I wanted to do. So I decided to combine my love of space and engineering and to aerospace engineering, and so I attended the University of Michigan for undergrad. I got an aerospace degree master's as well following that undergrad. So I did the four plus one program, but I did it in three and a half years and then plus one. So early grad and then I went off to Starfish. That's my first job as a new grad. So fifth grade you mentioned, what happened in fifth grade that got you interested in space? I guess I'll have to shout out to my teacher here. They made us do this project about the solar system as I'm sure a lot of people do, and we had to choose a planet. And I still remember I chose Neptune and I was just, it was gorgeous. It looks like a blue gem. And I had all of these pretty pictures and I learned about the planet and the gas giants are just so different from us. That just blew my mind. I had no idea before that point. What was your teacher's name? I don't remember, but I remember this project. That's all right, that's all right. No, I was going to say that that's so cool. Actually just a personal shout out to all the teachers out there, especially in those early stage years, don't always get all the love, recognition, and certainly don't get the compensation they deserve. But here they are inspiring folks like you. So you've got your aerospace engineering. This all makes a lot of sense. How did you know you wanted to go work for Starfish? What attracted you there? So of the companies I interviewed, I think Starfish, the founders just had incredible energy. And I really have to thank them because they were very supportive and not just of me during the interview process, but even afterwards, post-interview, they told me that if you don't want to join our company, that's okay, but here are some life tips for you. And I just thought that was very unique. That's very unique. Oh, I just got goosebumps. What a good culture of empowerment there. It was an incredible culture. And so I talked to a couple more people and the people at Starfish, I truly think I'm blessed because they are some of the most supportive and incredibly talented people that I know. And they're also humble. They're like PhD people. I think Trevor has a PhD and then Austin went to Stanford himself. So, but they never show off how incredibly brilliant they are. You know, work speaks for itself to a degree. And I think if they're attracting people like you, they're showing off how brilliant they are in the most subtle and humble way possible, which is, which is really exciting. Just in case some of our audience isn't familiar, what does Starfish Space do exactly? Yes, so we're a, we're a startup and we aim to provide satellite services. So we just launched our Otterpub spacecraft this past June, 2023. Exciting, congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you. And we have a couple more missions planned. We ultimately want to get to an Otter servicing vehicle. That'll be our final end goal. And then we want to expand that to be an entire constellation and fleet of Otters. So we want to provide services like life extension, debris removal, maybe even like in the future, in space manufacturing and assembly. So really. Wow, that's really cool. So you're, Starfish is all about supporting existing space systems. And cleaning up space, because we do know that is a huge problem. It's a ginormous problem. And I think if we don't act now, especially with the ease of launching satellites these days, it's so easy that even, I don't want to downplay these university students, but it's university students have the opportunity to launch their own CubeSats into orbit. So that just shows how available it is. Anyone can launch a spacecraft if they really want to. But that means that there's so many spacecraft in orbit now. And we really have to do something or there's higher risk of like them colliding, creating more space debris. And in the future, if we don't act, I think we could be trapped on earth because then if we try to get to the moon or to get to Mars, it'll be hard to navigate around all of this debris. Oh my gosh, what a future forward thinking. I've never thought about the space debris actually imprisoning us here on this planet. But you're absolutely right. And there's a lot of expensive technology up there floating around too. So it's kind of an egregious, it seems like the definition of that, that especially this is why we can't have nice things, over these nice things. And now they're all just flying around everywhere, kind of willy nilly. And we definitely need companies like Starfish to address that problem. What's your favorite part about working at Starfish? Yeah, I think I really love my role. So I'm a satellite systems engineer, which is an engineer that kind of monitors all of the aspects of the satellite. But right now I'm actually working on operations. And I never thought I would be working on operations. So I'm running tests that I then get to send to the spacecraft, run on the spacecraft to see whether our hardware is functional, if our software looks good. And I'm doing this for the Otterpup1 mission that launched. So it's just super cool to code something and then have data collected from the spacecraft and know that that's my code that did that. What did it feel like the first time you sent that test up to space? Yeah, I think Austin, Trevor, and then my boss, Jesse, they all, they all were super supportive. I was the one who was nervous. They were like, I know your code is excellent, we've reviewed it, you've got this, Sam. But I was very nervous. And it was incredible and surprising that it worked. But also it makes sense that it worked because we go through a very iterative process and we make sure that we have enough data to validate that the test is successful, but also that everything's functioning on ground before actually sending anything to our very expensive spacecraft. Yeah, very expensive edge device in this scenario, which is pretty, which is crazy to think about. I love that they knew it was going to be great, but I know what you mean. And the fact that you were nervous just means you care. Nervous just mean we care. It doesn't mean we don't think we did a good job. But now I do it on the daily. You just say that casually. Are you just like out on a date and you're like, oh, by the way, I'm just sending tests up to satellites all day long. That is awesome. Is it still magical to you? It's still magical, every time. Yeah, I would imagine it kind of has to be. It's so, it's so cool. Space was one of the catalysts for high-performance computing in the rise of processing power and a lot of the things that we do. Yes. Why is space and data science so important right now? Yes, I think, especially with space, it really transforms the way that we view these technologies because I think there's a lot of discussion on whether AI is good or bad. I think space provides a platform for us to see what AI can really do. So our spacecraft, we're actually wanting to run it all autonomously. So it would go to our client satellite and dock with it or connect with it, kind of like interstellar here. Yeah. And all autonomously in an affordable manner. So I think data is really key to that. I think data is really key. So this is a question I wasn't expecting asking, but you just spawned it. Do you think we'll have autonomous docking before we have autonomous driving? Oh. I hope so because that would be our company successful. So I hope so, but I know Tesla is working fast. Yeah, I mean, I think that what a great race to have happening both on space and on the ground here is the ability to do things more safely and more efficiently and more cost effectively. Yes, absolutely. Which is exactly what you're doing with those. So awesome. We're both huge space fans. What expites you most about where we're at in our exploration today versus where we might be going in the future? Yeah. I think it's really exciting to be in this point in our journey of space, because I think before we had like Challenger, we had the space missions, but right now we haven't decided on what our collective next goal is. And this is something I learned about in my master's program actually. We don't have end goal yet. And we did, for example, for the moon, we had a goal of getting to the moon and then we had a goal of getting to Mars. But I think right now, people and different, depending on which company you're at, they have a different goal. So as a collective society, we haven't decided what our next goal is. So it's really exciting to be at these crossroads. And I think I would really like to see us explore exoplanets more. I would really, I know it's really difficult to do, but I think we can learn a lot. And it's always been something at the back of physicist's mind, but I think if we decide to do it, then we can really do anything. If we can get to the moon, that we thought that was impossible, we thought it was impossible. Totally agree with you. Yeah. Yeah. And so what do you think we could learn from the exoplanets? Yes, I think, well, we have the question of how did life start. There's so many questions in space that are not exactly facts, like the Big Bang. That's actually still a theory. It's not facts. And so I think with pushing for exoplanet exploration, we can gain a lot of data on, and hopefully information about how different planets formed, how we have life here on Earth, and maybe even how the universe started, why we're here. There's just so many questions. Casual questions that no one's ever asked before. I mean, I love that. I think it's certainly something that probably inspires you every day is to answer some of these questions. What motivates you? I mean, I think we're both excited about space and we're nerds, but it's not always easy being a woman in data science. It's not always easy building products that are implemented not on this Earth, I can imagine, and you're also working for a startup. So there's a lot of challenges. What drives you when you get up in the morning? I think I always have this desire to see our industry, aerospace, advance and do really cool things. The industry itself is super cool. Just that in itself is, it's enough to get me up in the morning, but then what really keeps me going when things get hard, for example, is the end goal of I'm actually doing something that will answer questions for people and it could even improve humanity. For example, the microwave was invented. I know we were talking about that earlier. So it's really unexpected discoveries in space that improve humanity down here on Earth. 100%. Microwave GPS? Yes, GPS. I mean, there's so many things when people, space programs cost billions of dollars or whatever. They also are the only programs that enable solutions for our planet and humanity at good. I mean, climate change, there's gonna be so many different things that we learn through this. So I'm sure that there's gonna be a lot of opportunity for Starfish to support a lot of these different endeavors and help with that cost efficiency. I'm curious, since you are a rising star in this space very clearly, but have finished your education at least at this stage and are actively in the workforce, what's your advice for a young woman considering a career in data science or space? Yes, I think my advice is never say no to opportunities. Always seek out as many opportunities as you can because you never know where it'll get you. Like I never thought that my CubeSat mission that I was part of in undergrad would probably get me this job at Starfish. I think that it really made me learn the key skills that aren't taught in classrooms that allowed me to get a full-time offer, for example. So never say no to any opportunities. And then I actually also did, I did an internship that it's related to space, but it was more in like trace gas, atmospheric, sustainability research, and that was that Goddard. Oh, cool. Yeah, thank you. And so that led me down this interest of data because my project was with machine learning and AI algorithms, and we took the data from trace gases of our atmosphere. NO2 specifically for me is what I focused on, and we took that, we ran it through machine learning algorithms, and they produced really beautiful pictures and graphs that would take humans like weeks and weeks to make. So, that's so cool. And all of those things combined helped me get opportunities like today, I'm here speaking at a data science and space conference merging two fields that are so incredibly important. And a lot of people don't realize they're related, but this intersection is something I didn't think I would be at. Is this a milestone moment for you in your career? Absolutely. I feel that in my chest actually I'm just sitting here looking at you, I'm really proud of you. Congratulations. That's so exciting. You mentioned never say no to an opportunity, and so how would you, what would your advice be to those folks who are just getting started who maybe don't even know how to find those opportunities? Yes, I think everyone's really willing to help. So, talking to professors is really great. Talking to colleagues, networking with professionals, and even if they say no to an offer now, keeping in touch later because you never know, maybe you could help them in the future and then maybe they could help you. Yeah. These things that I think I didn't realize as a freshman, I would go to these networking events and get really exhausted. Everyone would say no to me at the time, and it would just be really demotivating, but then as I grew older I realized, no, I should keep doing these things because eventually they will lead to opportunities, so. I think that's actually a really great point of advice you said was just get used to rejection. Yes. But also don't be afraid to keep asking because you can't get what you don't ask for and you're going to learn, hopefully you learn from every one of those rejections and even like when you were applying at Starfish, they said, hey, here's some thoughts just in general, no matter what your call is. That would have been a slam dunk for me to say yes to the job in that scenario, so I'm not surprised you did that. That's beautiful. We are here celebrating International Women's Day. You are obviously a very empowered woman and it's great to see that you have both the support of your team and clearly your family as well. What would be your advice to some allies who are watching today on how they can support women like us in our industry? Yes, I think in aerospace and also in data, the ratio is still not equal. I'm a private pilot in training and so the ratio there is incredibly different so it's mostly male dominated but I think it's really important for allies, for example, my flight instructor and my best friends at university and my family. All of these people always were supportive of me. When things got rough, they would encourage me through rough patches, they would sit me down, talk to me, so I think just talking to people who are going through hard times and telling them, no, you can do this, it's difficult but you can and you will, you just have to get up and do your best. So I think just really being there for the people and women in your life who might be considering these opportunities but who might be too scared to try or just might be going through a rough patch, yeah. I love that and congrats on your flight lessons, that's rad. Thank you. How far down the process are you there? So I was really close to getting my VFR which is like the first certification but I actually, I moved to Starfish so then I stopped for a while and I'm hoping to pick it up in Seattle. That is so exciting while there's just a little bit of aviation history in Seattle so I'm sure you can find some fields to practice in. Final question for you here. Are there any women who have helped you on your journey that you'd like to thank today? Oh, that's an incredible question. Thank you so much for asking me that. My mom is probably one of the strongest people I know and whenever times get rough I think of her and I'm like, if my mom can struggle, she came from India, my family moved here from India. If they can come here and my mom can get a job in America with having minimal English experience then I should be able to do anything and then my best friends, I want to call up for Nika, Katina and Shui because you guys are incredible and truly I don't think I would have survived undergrad because aerospace is super hard without you guys so big shout out to those people. I love it, Sam. Thank you so much for being here with us today. You're an absolute gem. I look forward to interviewing you many times and hearing about the many accomplishments across what will be certainly a decorated career and thank all of you for tuning in to our fabulous coverage here alive all day at Women in Data Science Worldwide Annual Event at Stanford University here in Palo Alto, California. My name's Savannah Peterson. If you're not inspired yet, I don't think anything's gonna inspire you. Thanks for tuning into theCUBE. Your leading source for Enterprise Tech.