Assertion Not checkable as stated
Clark: Atomos technology could get humans to Mars in 30 days
“Realized that the tech for this business could also get humans to Mars in 30 days.”
Opinion
Clark: SpaceX's launch reliability is not top tier
“So firstly, SpaceX's reliability
Isn't top tier.”
Disclosure
Clark: Atomos requires roughly $160M to build spacecraft
“To develop and build the spacecraft, our total capitalization needs are going to be, you're going to widen your eyes at this, it's going to be around one hundred and sixty million dollars.”
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Clark: Atomos vehicle will reach $500M annual revenue in mid-2020s
“So our full commercial vehicle will be operational in the early to mid-twententies with five hundred million annual revenue.”
Insight
Clark: Rockets are inefficient for precision satellite placement in orbit
“Launch vehicles or rockets are only really good for getting into space. They're not good for doing the last mile, or in space, really, the last 20,000 miles. They're not very good at precision placement of assets.”
Disclosure
Clark: Atomos space tugs can complete multiple satellite transfers before refueling
“Our spacecraft, which is essentially a space tug, it rendezvous with the rocket upper stage, retrieves the satellite, and transfers it to its final destination, and we can reuse our space tug. So it would then cycle back down to the low orbit, pick up another …”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Clark: DARPA, DOD, and NASA will want Atomos IP in 5-10 years
“So all of the IP that we're developing, all of the license agreements we're securing, technology that DARPA, the DOD, and NASA will want in the next five to 10 years.”
Assertion Supported
Clark: Direct satellite orbit insertion costs over $100M versus $35M for LEO
“The average cost to access low orbit is only thirty-five million dollars. If that satellite wanted to go directly to its target orbit, which is typically an altitude of 20,000 miles, it would cost more than a hundred million.”
Disclosure
Atomos aims to launch demonstration mission by late 2020/early 2021
“We're looking to launch a demonstration mission in
End of 2020 or early 2021.”
Assertion Partly supported
Clark: One-third of on-orbit satellite failures stem from power failure
“So to put it in perspective, one-third of all on-orbit failures are satellites because of power failure.”
Assertion Partly supported
Clark: Russia has flown 30 nuclear-powered spacecraft with fission reactors
“So, NASA has flown a nuclear-powered spacecraft before that has a fission reactor, and the Russians have flown 30.”
Disclosure
Atomos: Halfway through $1M pre-seed round
“We are currently in our pre-seed round. We're about 50% of the way through our raise. It's just a one million pre-seed for some of our key business and technical risks.”
Disclosure
Clark: Jillian Manus declined investing in Atomos after the pitch
“Yeah, so unfortunately, I think Gillian got cold feet even before we had a follow-up call, and so really a week later she sent a very lovely email saying that she just couldn't wrap her head around the industry we're in and that she didn't think that she would…”
