Arthur McMiler
Defense and space technology company Voyager Technologies has named Sam Patel, former SpaceX senior Starship operations director, as strategic adviser and advisory board member.
Voyager said Friday that Patel’s role will focus on strategic systems like Golden Dome, for which the company is working to scale up its ability to produce multi-use technologies.
Dylan Taylor, Voyager chairman and CEO, said that Patel’s mindset reflects the company’s “neo-prime” approach focused on harnessing technology and innovation for agile, rapid and flexible service delivery on mission-critical programs.
“Sam is a builder who can turn technology and innovation success into large-scale operational reality, just as he did with the SpaceX Starbase,” the company’s head noted.
Patel’s SpaceX Career
Patel had a stint of over 13 years with SpaceX. Reporting directly to company CEO Elon Musk, he provided launch engineering operations and infrastructure support not only for the Starship program but also for Falcon 9. His SpaceX career started in 2012 as a launch engineering intern, after which he moved onward as launch engineer and promoted later as lead launch engineer, before eventually taking on senior roles at the company’s Starship operations.
He holds an aerospace engineering degree from the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a master’s degree in space systems from the Florida Institute of Technology.
