With a million pieces of space junk circling the Earth, Ryan Westerdahl at Turion Space has set course on the only logical course: help clean it up.
“There are over a million untracked lethal objects, and if one of those hits your satellite, it’s going to be a bad day,” Westerdahl, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told the Business Journal on July 24. “You’re going to turn into a thousand more pieces.”
Westerdahl, 31, is the same age as Palmer Luckey, the young entrepreneur behind the much-discussed defense company Anduril and who is becoming famous for his Hawaiian shirts along with shorts and flip flops (see Anduril article this page).
“I think I’ve got better Aloha shirts than Palmer. Throw that in there,” Westerdahl joked.
“Anduril’s a cool company. I’m a big fan.”
Westerdahl is one of Orange County’s four emerging “young turks” – those advocating changes within an established group – who are up and coming in the defense and aerospace industries.
Three are in their 30s and one just turned 20, each making a mark in a vital local sector.
Their profiles are part of the Business Journal’s annual list of the county’s biggest aerospace and defense contractors that altogether employ more than 21,000 people (see page 13).
