CesiumAstro is proud to announce that Founder and CEO Shey Sabripour has been named a finalist for the Austin Business Journal’s Best CEO Award. This annual program recognizes Central Texas leaders who demonstrate exceptional vision, innovation, and commitment to their organizations and communities.
The story of CesiumAstro is one of relentless growth in Texas and beyond. What began in a coffee shop in Westlake grew into a headquarters in Bee Cave and today spans seven offices worldwide.
For Shey Sabripour, building spacecraft that push the limits of possibility has been a lifelong pursuit. During more than two decades at Lockheed Martin, where he served as Director of Spacecraft Design, he contributed to the design and development of numerous commercial and defense geostationary satellites. Later, as Chief Technology Officer of Firefly Space Systems, he helped shape a new generation of launch technology before setting out to build something different: a company capable of delivering advanced satellite communications systems at scale.
In 2017, Shey founded CesiumAstro. In just a few years, the company has grown into one of Austin’s fastest-rising aerospace firms, achieving unicorn status and employing 400 people across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. CesiumAstro designs and manufactures active phased array communication systems and spacecraft entirely in-house, with applications ranging from commercial and defense constellations to programs supporting the warfighter and U.S. national security.
Backed by major institutional investors and government partners, CesiumAstro is positioned to play a central role in some of the largest upcoming programs in both national security and commercial space. Recent awards have fueled significant growth in its manufacturing capacity and engineering teams, with further expansion ahead as customers scale constellations and next generation networks.
Shey is known for prioritizing hardware over hype. He emphasizes discipline, teamwork, and scalability, reminding his team that success requires not only building breakthrough technology but also creating the infrastructure and culture to deliver it consistently. With large programs ahead and global expansion underway, Sabripour continues to drive CesiumAstro toward its founding mission: transforming how the world connects in space. He holds three issued and three pending U.S. patents and serves on the Texas Space Commission’s TARSEC committee.
