MIT Sloan Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club

What MIT Sloan Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club does

The MIT Sloan Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club (formally MIT Sloan Space Industry Club) is a student-led organization at MIT Sloan School of Management, founded in 2016, that organizes the annual New Space Age Conference (NSAC). The club has no proprietary technology; its core activities are conference programming, community building, and industry networking for MIT students interested in the space sector. The annual conference, held at MIT each spring and now in its 11th edition (April 9, 2026), convenes NASA leadership, aerospace executives, venture capitalists, and startup founders for keynote addresses, expert panels, lightning talks, and exhibitions.

The club serves two primary segments: MIT students (MBAs and cross-registration from AeroAstro, Media Lab, and other departments) seeking exposure to the commercial space economy, and space-industry companies seeking talent-pipeline access and brand visibility at MIT. Sponsors include major aerospace primes (Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, Redwire), space startups (Varda, Lunar Outpost, Firefly, Stoke Space, Relativity, Sophia Space, AstroForge), government/FFRDC entities (MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Draper), and international partners (JAXA, ESA, Arianespace, ispace).

Revenue is generated entirely through corporate sponsorship tiers — Galaxy (top), Red Giant (mid), and Dwarf Star (entry) — with pricing handled via direct inquiry to [email protected]. Conference attendance is free for students and general participants. The club is institutionally affiliated with MIT Sloan School of Management and operates under MIT's Mind and Handbook professional code of conduct standards. A podcast is listed as forthcoming to extend year-round content reach.

Name

MIT Sloan Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club

Legal name

MIT Sloan Space Industry Club

Website

https://newspaceage.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

The MIT Sloan Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club is a student-led organization at MIT Sloan that organizes the annual New Space Age Conference (NSAC), convening space-industry leaders, investors, and startups with MIT students since 2016.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industry Conference and Networking Events

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer/User Conferences & Client Advisory Boards (THAHAMAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Executive Summits & Invitation-Only Forums (MPAGAGAK), Training, Enablement & Talent Development Summits (THAHAMAH)

Keywords

• Space industry conference
• Aerospace networking events
• Student industry club
• Conference sponsorship programs
• Space entrepreneurship community

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Conference Sponsorship Revenue: The club generates revenue through selling sponsorships for its annual New Space Age Conference (NSAC). Sponsorship tiers include Galaxy (top tier), Red Giant, and Dwarf Star levels, with tiered benefits such as logo placement on the website and conference materials, speaking/panel participation, exhibition booth access, and direct engagement with the MIT space community including students and industry attendees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The MIT Sloan Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club organizes the annual New Space Age Conference (NSAC), an in-person forum held at MIT each spring that brings together aerospace executives, NASA leaders, investors, MIT faculty, and students for keynote speeches, expert panels, lightning talks, and exhibitions covering topics such as off-world industrialization, human spaceflight, spaceports, and orbital data centers. The club also runs student membership activities and maintains digital content channels including a YouTube archive of past conference panels.

Product overview

The MIT Sloan Space Industry Club organizes the New Space Age Conference (NSAC), an annual space industry conference. The organization offers the NSAC conference as its primary offering, featuring keynote speeches, panel discussions, lightning talks, and exhibitions covering space industry topics. A podcast is announced as forthcoming.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• New Space Age Conference (NSAC) The annual New Space Age Conference (NSAC) is a one-day industry forum hosted at MIT Sloan in Cambridge, MA that convenes space industry executives, NASA leadership, venture investors, MIT faculty, and MIT students for keynote addresses, expert panels (Off-World Industrial Revolution, Human Spaceflight, Spaceports, Hybrid Networks and Orbital Data Centers), lightning talks, and an exhibition floor. Sponsorship tiers (Galaxy, Red Giant, Dwarf Star) provide corporate partners with branding, speaking slots, exhibition booths, and direct engagement with MIT's space-interested talent pool; attendance is free for students and general participants.

Quantifiable outcome

• 11 consecutive annual conferences delivered since founding
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• MIT Sloan School of ManagementcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026The club is officially affiliated with MIT Sloan School of Management and operates under MIT's Mind and Handbook professional code of conduct standards. The conference is branded 'MIT Sloan New Space Age Conference.' Sloan provides institutional support, the conference venue, and access to the broader MIT Sloan alumni and student network.
• MIT Department of Aeronautics and AstronauticscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026The club draws speakers, student participants, and content from MIT AeroAstro, which is represented by faculty such as Professor Dava Newman, Professor Jeffrey Hoffman, Professor Zack Cordero, and others who speak at NSAC panels.
• MIT Media LabminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026MIT Media Lab contributes speakers including Dr. Minoo Rathnasabapathy (Research Engineer) and Professor Danielle Wood (Space Enabled Research Group) to NSAC panels.
• MIT & RMIT RASC-AL 2025 MAPSminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Exhibitor at NSAC 2025, representing the Mars Advanced Precursor Systems (MAPS) program — a collaboration between MIT AeroAstro and RMIT. The program designs science missions and technology demonstrators for a human-Mars campaign targeting the 2040s.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space): SEDS is a global student-run organization promoting space exploration with university chapters across the U.S. and annual conferences. NSAC and SEDS share the student-led, member-based, space-focused convening mission.
• Space Symposium (Space Foundation): Space Foundation's annual Space Symposium is the largest U.S. space industry conference, bringing together primes, startups, agencies, and investors. NSAC operates a smaller, MIT-anchored version of the same convening model with the same sponsor and speaker profiles (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Blue Origin).
• Stanford Space Rendezvous: Stanford AIAA's Space Rendezvous is a student-organized annual space industry conference at Stanford featuring speakers from across the space sector. It is the closest direct peer in scale and model to MIT Sloan's NSAC.
• Georgia Tech Space Society: Georgia Tech Space Society is a student-led space club organizing annual industry events and conferences. It is a peer in mission and structure to MIT Sloan's Space Industry Club, drawing sponsors from the same aerospace primes and startups.
• Small Satellite Conference (Utah State University): The annual Small Satellite Conference is a university-organized space industry gathering with strong industry sponsorship and a focus on emerging space topics. It is structurally the closest analog to NSAC — an academic institution hosting a sponsor-funded annual space conference.
• Cornell Space Industry Club: Cornell's Space Industry Club is a student-run organization hosting an annual space industry conference with corporate sponsorship and student recruiting focus. Directly comparable in audience, structure, and value proposition to MIT Sloan's NSAC.

Broad incumbents

• AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics): AIAA organizes SciTech and Aviation conferences, maintains professional society membership, and runs student chapters — overlapping the NSAC functions of industry convening, professional networking, and student engagement in aerospace, but at vastly larger scale.
• SpaceCom: SpaceCom is a major commercial space industry conference and expo with enterprise sponsors and B2B audience. Comparable to NSAC as a sponsor-funded space-industry convening event, but oriented toward commercial buyers rather than students.
• NewSpace Conference: NewSpace Conference (organized by the Space Frontier Foundation) is a long-running gathering focused on the commercial space economy, attracting the same primes, startups, and agency sponsors as NSAC.
• International Astronautical Congress (IAF): The IAC is the largest annual global space industry conference organized by the International Astronautical Federation, convening agencies, primes, and startups from across the world — operating at far greater scale than NSAC but serving the same convening function.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SIC_MIT
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mit-new-space-age

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MIT Sloan Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club