Fleet Space’s Growth Continues with Multiple Strategic Appointments

Fleet Space Technologies, a global leader in space-enabled mineral exploration, is continuing its exponential growth with four strategic appointments across the business. These additions are the latest development in Fleet Space’s exponential growth from 2023, when the company closed a A$50M series C funding round, doubled its evaluation to A$350M, and scaled its groundbreaking satellite-enabled mineral exploration technology, Exosphere, globally - leading to Fleet Space being named Australia’s fastest growing company by the Australian Financial Review at the close of the year.

The catalyst for Fleet Space’s growth has been the development of a global team of industry leaders who are passionate about the company’s mission to accelerate the exploration of Earth and beyond to create a more sustainable and prosperous future for humanity. Fleet Space’s flagship Exosphere technology - the world’s first satellite-enabled mineral exploration solution - is rapidly becoming an essential part of the exploration industry’s toolkit, with over 35 exploration companies using the technology to complete 250+ surveys across 5 continents, including Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, and Core Lithium.

In support of the company’s ambitious vision and continued innovation pushing the boundaries of exploration, we are thrilled to announce the following additions to the team from the United States and Australia:

• Jack Muir, Head of Machine Learning - Jack joins Fleet Space with a distinguished academic background exploring how advanced geophysics and machine learning can help enhance humanity’s understanding of the Earth’s subsurface. After receiving his PhD in Geophysics from the California Institute of Technology, he was appointed a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Oxford in the UK where he did pioneering research on the application of machine learning in the field of seismology using physics-informed neural networks. Prior to receiving his PhD and research at Oxford, Jack was instrumental in securing major grants at Caltech to advance research focusing on the application of next-gen seismological techniques for ground motion prediction. He received his MS in Geophysics from Caltech and PhB in Physics from the Australian National University.
• ‍Lisa Johnson, Head of Systems Engineering - Lisa joins Fleet Space with over 15 years experience pushing the boundaries of systems engineering and satellite integration to solve some of the most pressing challenges related to humanity's exploration of space. Before joining Fleet Space, Lisa led systems engineering and mission planning for Planet Lab's next generation Earth observation satellite network and worked closely with NASA on Planet's user terminal contribution to the Communications Services Projects (CSPs). They also held several engineering roles at industry leading space companies including Loft Orbital Solutions, Bigelow Aerospace, and Spire. In an earlier role with Aurora Flight Sciences, Lisa designed the coded aperture mask for the Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) which was used during the OSIRIS-REx mission, humanity's first to recover material from the near-Earth asteroid, Bennu. Lisa received their BS in Aeronautics & Astronautics Engineering from MIT and held roles at MIT's Manned Vehicle Lab, MIT's Space Systems Laboratory, and the Johnson Space Center during that time.
• ‍Lily Cheng Zedler, Product Manager - With over 12+ years of experience, Lily has a long track record of innovating at the intersection of hardware and software for leading technology companies in Silicon Valley. Prior to joining Fleet Space, she led product strategy for Facebook’s Connectivity Lab to get the next billion people online and product marketing for Facebook's Groups product. Lily also led early-stage product strategy for Google X’s moonshots Tidal, which aimed to transform aquaculture with machine learning, and Taara, which focused on delivering high-speed connectivity with beams of light. She spent several years in McKinsey’s Silicon Valley office, advising corporate clients on business strategy and innovation. Lily received a BS from the University of California, Berkeley; MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, and MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. At MIT, Lily was awarded a National Science Foundation Innovation Corp grant, won the 2019 MIT Water Innovation Prize, and was a Legatum Fellow.‍
• Josh Fitzmaurice, Senior Program Manager - Josh brings over 20+ years of public and private sector experience working on the forefront of aviation, technology, and space. During his long career in the Australian Air Force, Josh held a variety of roles around the world including as a navigator and aviation instructor before transitioning into program management for new aircraft and simulation technology. After completing a Master’s in Space Physics from the Royal Military College of Canada, he then launched into program, policy and strategy roles at the intersection of space and defence. Prior to joining Fleet, Josh was at Microsoft helping to apply their full suite of technologies to innovate new space capabilities for customers around the world.

As part of Fleet Space’s growth in 2023, the company grew to 120+ employees – representing 37+ nationalities globally - and expanded its footprint to the United States, Canada, Chile, and Luxembourg. The diverse viewpoints and global perspective applied to the problem of how to accelerate mineral exploration sustainably in support of humanity’s net-zero ambitions continues to be foundational to the company’s progress and growth. Last year, the company also announced plans to deliver Fleet Space’s groundbreaking lunar seismic technology to the Moon in 2026 onboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative - making SPIDER the first Australian seismic technology to land on the Moon.