LeoLabs is building the living map of objects and activity in low Earth orbit (LEO)—where satellites, debris, and emerging threats are multiplying at an exponential rate. In a recent episode of the Crossing the Valley podcast, host Noah Sheinbaum sat down with LeoLabs CEO Tony Frazier to explore our origins, technology, strategy, and recent milestones—including how we are “crossing the valley” with recent U.S. Government STRATFI and TACFI awards.

Listen to the full episode on Apple podcasts or Spotify. 

Below is an abridged version of the conversation, edited for clarity and length.

 

Q: What problem is LeoLabs solving in the space domain? 

Tony Frazier: We’ve seen an exponential increase in space activity—more than 24,000 space objects tracked today, with projections of 100,000+ in less than a decade. LeoLabs maintains the largest commercial catalog of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO), which currently includes more than 10,000 active satellites and around 14,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 cm. We help keep space assets safe and secure by providing persistent detection, tracking, and AI-powered analytics through our global radar network. 

Q: How did LeoLabs get started? 

Frazier: LeoLabs spun out of Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in 2016. The founding team came from labs working on radio astronomy and space threat analysis. Ironically, while studying the northern lights, they detected noise that turned out to be satellites. That insight, along with DARPA-funded research, laid the foundation for the business. SRI had a ventures program that supported the spin-out once the team secured seed funding. 

Q: What does LeoLabs offer today? 

Frazier: We’re vertically integrated. We build and operate our own radar sensors—currently 11 radars across 7 global sites—which feed into a cloud-based orbital data catalog. This catalog processes millions of measurements daily, enabling highly accurate astrodynamics modeling. Our customers—U.S. and international governments, plus commercial operators—access this data for use cases like space domain awareness, space traffic management, and commercial launch and operations. 

Q: Who are LeoLabs’ customers? 

Frazier: About a third of our revenue comes from the U.S. government, 60% from international governments, and the remainder from commercial users. Many Allies lack the sensor infrastructure the U.S. has, so we augment their capabilities. Over 90% of operational satellites on orbit today rely on LeoLabs data in some capacity. 

Q: Tell us more about LeoLabs’ growth and early government engagement. 

Frazier: Our roots trace back to DARPA and research funded by the National Science Foundation. After spinning out of SRI, there wasn’t a clear path to program funding, so we focused on building a diverse customer base—first commercial, then international government. A major inflection point was a contract with the Japanese government in 2022. In 2024, we grew 140% year over year and started introducing next-generation radar systems. 

Q: Let’s talk about LeoLabs’ recent U.S. Government STRATFI and TACFI awards. What are they for? 

Frazier: We were selected for a $60 million STRATFI award and a $4 million TACFI award this year through SpaceWERX, which is part of the Air Force Research Lab. These are public-private partnerships that combine government funding with private capital to accelerate dual-use innovation. 

The STRATFI supports scaling our new Seeker-class Ultra High Frequency radar—designed for broader area search and persistent coverage. We built a prototype in Arizona that went from groundbreaking to tracking 10,000 satellites a day in less than six months. The STRATFI will help fund a larger version of Seeker to deploy in the Indo-Pacific region by 2027 with the goal to enhance detection of foreign launches. 

The TACFI co-funds our Scout-class radar system—a mobile platform we unveiled in April at the Space Symposium. Scout enables rapid, expeditionary deployments and is being enhanced to support adjacent missions like missile defense. 

Q: How do you balance internal product strategy with government customer needs? 

Frazier: It’s a combination. Our internal team tracks threat evolution and builds technology to close capability gaps. But we also stay closely aligned with government stakeholders through programs like the U.S. Space Force Joint Commercial Operations Cell. That dialogue helps us tailor our roadmap and gives the government confidence to co-invest. 

Q: Is LeoLabs’ technology de-risked now? What’s next? 

Frazier: We’ve de-risked our core technology. The next step is to scale our radar production and deployment. We’re seeing a growing threat environment, especially in LEO, with adversarial actors maneuvering satellites and launching megaconstellations. Our next phase is building out a globally proliferated sensor network that delivers resilient, persistent orbital intelligence for space domain awareness, space traffic management, and missile defense. 

Q: What excites you most about the road ahead? 

Frazier: LeoLabs is on track to scale a network that plays a foundational role in U.S. and Allied space security. Within a few years, we envision a future where U.S., Allied, and commercial systems tip and cue each other in real-time to maintain custody of both friendly and adversarial assets in space. That’s the future we’re building toward. 

Q: If you weren’t at LeoLabs, what other space or national security challenges interest you? 

Frazier: I’m really interested in space infrastructure. As we scale from thousands to hundreds of thousands of active payloads, we’ll need new capabilities for logistics, mobility, and maintenance in orbit. There are many companies doing exciting work there. At LeoLabs, we’re proud to be an enabler for the broader space ecosystem. 

Q: Where can people learn more about LeoLabs? 

Frazier: Follow us on LinkedIn. We post weekly insights on orbital intelligence, or what we call ORBINT. We’re always looking to connect with future employees, partners, and mission collaborators.