Key facts
- Dan Roelker, a former hacker, has co-founded Observable Space.
- Observable Space aims to collect and harness light for future spaceflight.
- Roelker's career path includes roles in hacking, video game development, SpaceX, and cyberwarfare.
- The company's work is relevant to orbital data centers and space navigation.
- Roelker previously managed cyberwarfare initiatives at DARPA and led software engineering at SpaceX.
Dan Roelker, a former hacker with a diverse career spanning cyberwarfare, software development at SpaceX, and video game coding, is now focused on collecting and harnessing light through his new venture, Observable Space. Roelker believes that controlling light is key to controlling space, and his company aims to lead in this new 'space race' which he predicts will be fought on the ground.
Observable Space, co-founded in 2025, is developing technologies related to telescopes and advanced optics, along with the software to operate them. Roelker's vision extends to applications like ensuring satellite collision avoidance and beaming data from orbital data centers using laser light.
Roelker's unconventional career path began in a working-class family, leading him to study mathematics and philosophy before becoming deeply involved in computer hacking in the late 1990s. He worked at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory before moving into the private sector, co-founding the network security startup Sourcefire, which was later acquired by Cisco for $2.7 billion. He then transitioned to cyberwarfare roles before being recruited by DARPA in 2011 to manage its cyberwarfare initiatives, including the Plan X project focused on offensive cyber capabilities.
After a decade in cyberspace, Roelker sought a change and worked on software for the popular PC game League of Legends. In 2015, he joined SpaceX, where he led software engineering and played a crucial role in the return to flight of the Falcon 9 rocket and its first stage landing, earning the confidence of founder Elon Musk.