Q&A with Mo Zhao, GNC Engineer

Q: What excites you the most about working at a company like Apex?

I’m a big fan of working with a small team of capable and motivated engineers. Not only does this afford more agile decision-making, but it also allows me to see and learn about how all the components of the space craft come together outside of GNC.

I’m also new to the space industry, so that alone opens a plethora of topics to learn about. It’s very exciting to see first-hand what kinds of space-specific engineering challenges the industry faces, and to be part of the solution to those problems. On top of that, the sheer velocity at which Apex plans on making satellites brings pace and variety to the kinds of problems we get to solve.

Q: Why are you excited about space?

I’m excited about the future of space utilization, both in traditional ways, such as earth imaging, and ways that are still in development, such as in-space manufacturing. It’s crazy to think that there maybe entire industries in space in the future that don’t exist today.

As an engineer, I ideally want to be working at the intersection of three sets:where my skillset is, what kinds of problems I like to think about, and where I can benefit society. With spacecraft, I can apply my skillset in mathematical and physical modeling, work in one of the coolest engineering domains (GNC), and at the same time create platforms that open doors for innovative industries to experiment and execute on their ideas quickly and affordably. What more can an engineer ask for?

Q: You are somewhat new here at Apex. What has surprised you the most so far?

The pace Apex is moving at is incredible. Almost all my colleagues have been here for 6-9 months, yet we’re already wrapping up work on our first satellite that’s launching in March 2024 and starting work on our second satellite. On top of that, we’re aiming to grow exponentially, starting with building 5 and 20 satellites in 2024 and 2025 respectively. As evidence, check out the new lease we just signed for Factory One! It’s a massive building!

Q: Tell us a bit about what you do in your free time.

I’ve lived in a few different cities in my adult life and have had different hobbies in each. The ones that have stood the test of time and place, however, have been photography and hiking.

In my downtime, I also spend a fair bit of time populating my Google Maps with places around the worldI want to travel to, though as much as I like seeing (and dining at) the placesI’ve researched, some of my fondest memories have been the people I met along the way.

I only recently moved to LA, so currently a lot of my time is spent on various moving-related tasks.This past summer, I learned to sail on the Charles River in Boston, so I’m looking at picking that back up once I’m more settled. Other than that, I do want to try scuba diving again, and maybe try surfing.