About Us
We design cooperative small-sat constellations with a builder’s culture: measure, improve, repeat. Weatherwave is structured as a meritocracy where ideas earn adoption and results compound.
The Principle
Weatherwave Space, Inc. was founded on a simple idea: honest engineering, clear thinking, and disciplined iteration can outperform bureaucracy. We are building a meritocracy in practice, not in name. At Weatherwave, ideas win because they are right. Every design is justified, every decision is measured, and every improvement is earned. We believe agility and rigor are not opposites; they are the foundation of sustainable excellence. Our systems, from spacecraft architecture to team structure, are built to learn continuously and improve relentlessly.
At Weatherwave Space, we measure success by what we build and how honestly we build it. We are proving that small, intelligent teams can achieve flagship-class performance for a fraction of the cost. Small satellites, working together, can change the world.
Weatherwave Leadership
Jason Derleth, Founder and CEO
Jason's earned his bachelor's degree in Philosophy and the History of Math & Science at St. John’s College, Annapolis. He went on to MIT to earn a master’s in Aero/Astro Engineering, despite having no formal engineering training beforehand.
At NASA JPL, he served as Deputy Systems Engineer for the Curiosity Mars Rover in its formulation phase. He also worked on technology development portfolio optimization, work for which he quickly became well known. In 2005, the NASA Administrator personally asked Jason to come to NASA HQ to help develop the Agency’s technology development plans to return to the Moon.
For over a decade, he worked as Program Manager and then Program Executive of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, where he carefully nurtured a community of advanced thinkers that is still innovating today. As Chief Technologist for the Physics of the Cosmos and Cosmic Origins programs, Jason later co-led the initial technology portfolio for the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Jason has earned numerous awards, including (but not limited to) the St. John's Baird Prize, the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal, the Influential Leaders Award, and NIAC's "Captured Lightning" award.
