Former Disney star is betting big on space by investing in a neglected part of the industry

A former Disney Channel star is betting big on space travel by investing in a neglected part of the industry: ground infrastructure.

Bridgit Mendler, 31, known for her roles in Wizards of Waverly Place and Good Luck Charlie, spoke at the TechCrunch disrupted event Monday to discuss her startup that focuses on building critical communications between satellites and Earth.

Northwood Space aims to develop ‘a data highway between Earth and space’, providing much-needed connectivity for companies looking to enter the final frontier.

“To actually deliver benefits to people in the world, you have to invest in unsexy problems like building a ground network,” the actress-turned-CEO said.

‘Personally, I find that quite sexy and fun. It’s definitely not what most people think of when they think of the space industry.”

California-based Northwood Space is developing ground stations for mass production and is betting on its phased array-based system, Portal, which connected to its first satellite last month.

“The vision is a data highway between Earth and space,” she said.

“Space is getting easier on so many different dimensions, yet actually sending data to and from space is difficult.

“You’re having trouble finding an access point to contact your satellite.”

In recent years, Mednler has earned degrees from MIT, the University of Southern and Harvard Law, where she is not working on her doctorate.

But after spending time at the Federal Communications Commission’s new space agency, she “completely fell in love with space law.”

Northwood Space was founded in 2023 targets companies with satellites in low Earth orbit but may not have the resources for advanced communications services.

Mendler co-founded the company with her husband Griffin Cleverly, who will serve as Chief Technology Officer, and Head of Software Shaurya Luthra.

“Traditionally, if I wanted to use an antenna or location, I had to first ask, ‘Do you have availability, or has it already been leased to everyone in the world?’ Very often very important locations had already been rented out,’ says Luthra CNBC.

Over the past four months, the company has designed, built and tested its array system, comparing it to similar examples of phased array projects that have taken years to complete.

“Every aspect of this antenna, from the beamforming software to the custom electronics, has been designed in-house to optimize efficiency,” Northwood Space said.

“This will remain a critical aspect of Northwood’s manufacturing approach as we look to replicate our phased array systems, called Portals, in new locations from 2025.”

California-based Northwood Space is developing ground stations for mass production and is betting on its phased array-based system, Portal, which connected to its first satellite last month

“I think there have been technological shifts that have been quite difficult to bring to life until recently,” Mendler said at the TechCrunch event.

“So for us, that was something we were pursuing with Northwood.

“There is a solution that we know we want to build towards; You know, exponential growth needs exponential technology.

“We need some kind of exponential technology on the ground side to accommodate the growth in the space industry.”

She revealed earlier this year that the company’s name comes from a lake in New Hampshire where the idea for the company first took root while she was spending time there with her family during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While everyone else was making their sourdough starters, we were building antennas out of random crap we could find at Home Depot… and receiving data from (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellites,” Mendler said.

“For me, the ground side is important because it’s really about bringing the impact of the space to people,” she added.

Slim added that there is now a “colossal” amount of data traveling to and from satellites and that their company wants to make it more efficient to deliver the data.

“We need an approach so that these companies can collect the data reliably and in the quantities they need,” he said.

They want to be able to deliver these ground stations, “within days, not months,” with Luthra adding that it takes 18 months for an antenna to be installed.

The company wants to be in the same vein as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft’s Azure, which offers server space so companies don’t have to build their own.

“It allows space companies to be much more responsive to use cases and missions that arise,” Cleverly added, adding that the company hoped to conduct their first test of an orbiting spacecraft later this year.