Ben Schleuniger

Ben Schleuniger is the co-founder and CEO of Orbital Operations, an aerospace manufacturing and defense startup based in San Francisco, California. He began his engineering career working on advanced propulsion systems at NASA before joining SpaceX to further develop rocket technologies. Schleuniger subsequently served as an early employee at Relativity Space, where he owned fluid systems for the Terran 1 rocket, managed complex heat exchangers for the Aeon R engine, and established the Components and Integrated Design and Analysis teams. At Orbital Operations, he recently secured $8.8 million in funding from investors including Y Combinator and Harpoon Ventures to develop high-thrust, cryogenic space vehicles. These autonomous, refuelable spacecraft are designed to execute rapid-response interception and logistics missions for military contracts. His current focus centers on engineering rocket propulsion systems to provide counterspace capabilities and enhance orbital mobility.