Isa Fritz
Space Industry Leader and Artist
Professional Resume
Isa is an inquisitive technical leader with expertise in both the startup ecosystem and traditional aerospace. She is excited to grow companies and product lines, develop teams, and manage complicated, mathematically backed strategy.
Speaking Engagements
More details on technical talks, public speaking and pitch competitions can be found here. Please feel free to contact for future speaking event inquiries.
STEM Volunteering and Art
Giving back to the community - whether through volunteering or through art - is a major component of Isa's ethos. Connect for more details.
Professional Resume
About:
Isa Fritz is an inquisitive technical leader with expertise in both the startup ecosystem and traditional aerospace.Through her consultancy (Calico Star, LLC) Isa offers engineering, product and business development support. Her engineering skillsets include systems engineering, orbital mechanics, mission design, spacecraft propulsion architecture, and manufacturing. She has managed numerous commercial spacecraft and has experience in mission planning, orbit raising and maneuvering, spacecraft mechanical testing, and product development. Isa also loves learning, dancing, and playing video games. She still wants to be an astronaut when she grows up.-Education:
-Masters of Science - Purdue University; School of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
-Bachelors - Carthage College: Physics and Astronomy (Major), Mathematics and Spanish (Minors)-Career:
-Chief Technology Officer - GeoJump: Oct '21 - Dec 2022
Cofounder and CTO of GeoJump, the first company to officially come out of the new incubator, SpaceFund Labs. GeoJump attempted to revolutionize the way we access GEO, the most profitable place in the solar system.-Director, Product Strategy and Development - Benchmark Space Systems: Apr' 20 - Sept' 21
Oversaw the technical development of multiple propulsion system roadmaps and assisted in program management and proposal efforts for the company.-Principal Engineer, Advanced Projects - Tesseract: Nov 2018 - April 2020
Employee #7 of a chemical propulsion company, delivering full propulsion solutions for smallsats and large landers/OTVs. Tesseract and Benchmark had a successful merger in April 2020.-Systems Engineer, Orbital Dynamics and Spacecraft Architecture - Maxar: June 2010 - Nov 2020
Supported the organization in multiple roles, ranging from Mission Analysis Director for complicated orbit raising missions to Skunkworks - NewSpace product development for the SSL/MDA and Maxar organizations.
Speaking Engagements
Professional and personable speaker with a focus on making difficult content and conversations accessible for everyone.Upcoming Events:
October 2023 - Judge for NASA Space AppsPrevious Events:
- September 2023 - Science and a Movie: The Martian @ Pacific Science Museum - Volunteering Event on the science behind the movie
- March 2023 - SATELLITE CONFERENCE - Assisting the NewSpace Business Pitch Competition
- 2022/09/25 - NewSpace 2022 - "Into the Unknown: Space Manufacturing and Servicing" - Panel: Moderator
- 2022/09/24 - NewSpace 2022 - "Beginner's Guide to Building a Space Startup" - Panelist
- 2022/05/02 - Via Satellite - "Boosting Smallsats to Geostationary Orbit With GeoJump’s Isa Fritz"
- 2022/04/21 - Moon Society - “Space Access for All – Building out the Future of Space Utilizing Lunar Flyby Trajectories”
- 2022/03/22 - SATELLITE Conference - Startup Space Competition; took 2nd place in Conference wide pitch competition
- 2022/02/09 - Emerson Corporation - "Women Impact Network event: interview with Isa Fritz - Rocket Scientist and CTO of GeoJump"
- 2020/06/30 - Women In Space Speaker Series - "Lessons Learned in Failure"
Volunteering and Art
Whether through conversations with K-12 students, speaking about failure to the general public, imaging celestial bodies (Above, Fox Fur Nebula - I. Fritz), or creating art and stories Isa values the importance of giving back to the community.Please reach out for more details and to engage with potential volunteering opportunities. (mailto:isafritzbrand@gmail.com)