OutsideInnovation was founded by aerospace engineer, Thomas Trudel. His university thesis work included 5 years of research on RF ion propulsion and he spent 2 years in the commercial satellite industry at Space Systems/Loral (SS/L). As a Propulsion Hardware Engineer at SS/L Thomas was responsible for components on the SPT-100 electric propulsion system used for north-south station keeping as well as the chemical propulsion system used for primary propulsion and east-west station keeping. He was directly responsible for the COPVs, EP loading operations, and several components on the new DSM-140 subsystem. He also worked on the NASA Lunar Atmospheric Dust and Environments Explorer and participated in proposal writing for DARPA and DoD research projects.