Our Authors
Engineers, hobbyists, and curators writing about space.
Atlas Renner
Atlas Renner is the publisher of SpaceOrbitals. They have a background in writing and editing (print, web, and newsletter), built over years of independent projects, freelance work, and a personal pub…
Read articles →Derek Chen
Derek is an amateur astronomer and hobbyist astrophotographer based in Colorado. He runs weekend imaging sessions for new astrophotographers out of his garage and reviews telescopes, mounts, cameras, …
Read articles →Mira Okafor
Mira is a self-taught orbital mechanics enthusiast who has spent the better part of a decade working through textbooks, simulator time, and too many open-source mission-analysis repos to count. She wr…
Read articles →Priya Raman
Priya is a long-time space-economy follower and independent writer who reads every launch press release, FCC filing summary, and NASA blog post so you don't have to. Her interest in the commercial lau…
Read articles →How we work
Each author covers a defined beat. Atlas Renner oversees editorial direction and writes occasional essays on industry trajectory. Derek Chen covers hobbyist gear and runs imaging sessions out of Colorado. Mira Okafor covers technical content — orbital mechanics, mission design, spacecraft systems — drawing on years of self-study and graduate-level coursework. Priya Raman covers the news and space economy beat, tracking launches, deals, regulatory moves, and policy shifts.
We meet weekly to coordinate coverage, debate story selection, and share what we have been reading. Pieces are reviewed by at least one other desk member before publication. For technical pieces, Mira reviews Derek's writing on gear-related physics and Derek reviews Mira's writing on hobbyist-relevant mission analysis. For news and reviews, Priya and Derek cross-check product claims against manufacturer spec sheets. Atlas reviews the final copy on every published piece.
Disclosure policy
Each author page lists the contributor's actual background — self-taught, formal coursework, hobbyist practice, or independent research — and the areas where they have hands-on experience versus areas where they are reporting from reading and interviews. None of our authors hold industry positions in aerospace. We do not have anonymous contributors. We do not publish pieces under pen names that obscure real expertise or non-expertise.
If a claim on the site sounds like a professional credential we cannot back up, please email [email protected] and we will correct the affected page or author bio.
Becoming a contributor
We are not currently accepting new contributors. The four-author team is small by design — we want every published piece to have at least one other desk member who can credibly challenge the reasoning. If we expand the team in the future, we will announce it on this page and in the Orbital Daily Tracker.