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Young local entrepreneur makes flight computer software to be sent to space for STEM research.

Byline: Taylor Staples

CHEYENNE Tate Schrock's curiosity is a common theme that has guided him throughout his life and career, along with his passion for solving problems and making science and technology accessible.

Schrock prides himself on being self-taught in almost everything he can. In 2022, the 21-year-old Northern Colorado native launched his business, EdgeFlyte. The startup is based in Cheyenne, and focuses on creating affordable and high-performance components for edge-of-space flights and strives to design systems that turn data into actionable information for clients.

Tate Schrock

Tate Schrock poses for a portrait at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Wednesday, in Cheyenne.

He grew up as a farmer, feeding cows and driving tractors, but science and technology have always piqued his interest. The crossover of technology and agriculture with things like drone photography in fields and new, modernized tractors that follow GPS systems is something that isn't as easily accessible to farmers like Schrock and his family, but definitely something that made ideas start to flow from an early age.

"There's hardly any education on these things," said Schrock. "Primary and secondary school doesn't teach it to you, and colleges might after you pay a handsome price, but the issue is that farmers don't have the time to do that. They have to plant the fields and take care of the cows. ...

"That's kind of what it came down to and where I started (thinking), 'Can we make this highly sophisticated, practical Apple tractor work?', even though we didn't have the technology necessary to completely understand the whole system. ... That's where I learned my fundamentals."

Stemming from his curiosity on the farm, he started learning about microcontrollers, programming and communications, all the things necessary to make the answers to his questions feasible. When it came close to deciding on college, Schrock debated if it was the right decision for him, not knowing if it would propel much of anything for him at the time. But, in August 2022, about three or four weeks before classes started at Laramie County Community College, he made the shotgun decision to sign up for classes.

He knew he needed technical knowledge, but didn't have the intention of going for entrepreneurship or business at that time. However, looking into the semester-long entrepreneurship program at LCCC changed his mind. So, he moved up to Cheyenne, and through that class, learned how to make his business viable and was even able to rebrand before officially launching EdgeFlyte in Cheyenne in May/June 2023.

The initial idea for EdgeFlyte started about six years ago, when a high-altitude weather balloon flight computer landed in Schrock's front yard in Northern Colorado. Many of these computers are launched twice a day, every day, from the National Weather Service and once a week from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) facility in Boulder.

This particular component, though, was launched from Denver and flew for a little over two hours before it got to him. It came in a white box, and Schrock couldn't help but give in to his curiosity and crack it open. He wanted to understand what it did, how these boxes worked and how to make them better, so he grabbed his knife and ripped it open.

These devices typically attach to weather balloons to collect atmospheric data such as temperature, humidity, pressure and wind. The data collected is then transmitted to a ground station for analysis and used in weather forecasting models. Typically, they're used as a one-and-done mission, as it costs too much to go out and recover the component, and the censors often fail when they hit the ground. This is another thing that stirred Schrock's curiosity.

He wanted to entertain the possibility of making these parts reusable and accessible for the general consumer, whether that be for hobbyists, scientists, researchers or even educational institutions. Schrock wanted the people who were interested in flying and collecting data to have it in their hands immediately, to the point where by the end of the day, they could have something tangible out of the data they collected, such as flying about a third of the way into space.

The first project EdgeFlyte ever put out was for the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Day at LCCC. Schrock launched a weather balloon at the event to teach people about edge-of-space exploration, meteorology, STEM as a greater field and to show other students the opportunities available to them in the community.

"I've had some tremendous mentors along the way," said Schrock. "On a developmental aspect, great ideas are great ideas, but how can you implement them? That's where the mentorship comes into play."

As for where the company is now, there are two full-time employees, including Schrock, and occasional part-time workers they bring in on an accessory basis. They're also starting to dabble in the "actual space side of things," according to Schrock, and are working on components related to space and scientific studies, like with their new 1U CubeSat Kit.

This kit is a hands-on educational tool that's designed to simulate real spacecraft operations in a real space environment. Schrock told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that this product has gone global for them, and has reached academia at both the junior high and high school levels, as well as made its way up to private individuals and post-secondary institutions across the nation.

"We're pushing the next frontier of aerospace innovation, and that's what I love to do. Pushing that next thing, making the next idea that really makes a meaningful impact is No. 1. Bringing the community along, as well, and supporting this local development is amazing," said Schrock.

Another one of the latest EdgeFlyte projects is in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and its Department of Space. They're working on creating satellite components that will potentially go on a satellite into space and contribute to STEM education for a group of girls in India. Schrock said they're involving more than 100 girls from all across India who are mostly impoverished, and inspiring them to design, understand, build, test and learn the fundamental operations of how a satellite works on a small scale and potentially larger scale.

"There may be opportunities to throw it on a rocket and actually put it into space, but that will come later," said Schrock. "If it does go into space, what we're looking at is an orbital payload, meaning it would orbit the Earth every 120 minutes. With that, it would cover practically every nation. At the same time, you'd be able to communicate from the ground up to that satellite, and in the instance of remote communication, one person on one side of India could bounce a message up to that satellite to relay it to another individual halfway across the nation. The other implementation, as well, is communicating globally off of a single satellite. ... Like Starlink and a few other satellite constellations similar to those."

Schrock said the project is almost to maturity, and they're presently in the development phase of their payloads (the messages from the transmitted data) and educational experiences that come with that. He said the satellites will likely be going out in the next couple of months, and he hopes there'll be potentially even larger impacts and other similar opportunities.

"We have many projects going on, and even more to come this next quarter and even this next year. On top of our existing satellite technology for educational purposes, we're also going to be releasing a few other products that are similar and more involved than just the present one that we have. On top of that, we're looking to expand into even greater products and solutions and be local," said Schrock.

"In Cheyenne, at the moment, I see an economy that's possible and has the potential for amazing things, and is already doing amazing things. ... But where I see the lack of (something) is having aerospace here and bringing high-quality aerospace jobs here."

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