Tim Solms has spent his career operating where technology, defense, and intelligence converge. As CEO of Slingshot Aerospace, he leads one of the most consequential companies shaping the new orbital economy. From tracking satellites and preventing collisions to powering mission-critical decision-making for governments and enterprises, Slingshot is redefining how humanity operates beyond Earth.

Backed by Sway Ventures, Slingshot reflects the firm’s core belief that frontier technologies — when guided by human ingenuity — can reshape global systems for the better. The company’s work embodies Sway’s venture thesis: backing visionary founders at the intersection of innovation, infrastructure, and impact.

At the 2025 Sway Minds Summit, Solms shared his perspective in a session titled Harnessing AI for Comprehensive Space Domain Insights, offering an inside look at how artificial intelligence, automation, and collaboration are transforming space from a frontier into an organized, sustainable domain.

To explore the full discussion, including topics not covered here, subscribe to Sway Capital’s YouTube channel and get early access when Tim Solms’s session is released.

Seeing the Invisible

The space domain is more crowded than ever. Thousands of active satellites — and millions of debris objects — now circle Earth, creating a complex environment where small miscalculations can have global consequences.

Slingshot Aerospace provides the visibility required to manage that complexity. Its Global Sensor Network — more than 200 telescopes spanning 20 international sites — continuously monitors low-, medium-, and geostationary orbits. Those streams of optical data are processed through Slingshot AI, the company’s proprietary platform that transforms raw observations into real-time operational intelligence.

The result is a single, shared view of what’s happening in orbit: a digital operating picture that enables defense agencies, commercial operators, and allied nations to see, understand, and act with unprecedented precision.

From Awareness to Action

Slingshot’s breakthrough lies not only in what it observes but in what it empowers its users to do. By combining data fusion, predictive modeling, and simulation, Slingshot AI enables mission planners to anticipate risks and respond before they become threats.

The system identifies potential conjunctions, models orbital trajectories, and recommends optimal courses of action — helping operators safeguard assets, extend satellite lifespans, and protect critical infrastructure that underpins communication, navigation, and defense.

As Solms noted, true space domain awareness requires more than observation. It demands insight, foresight, and coordination — capabilities that turn information into strategy.

The Business of the Orbital Economy

Slingshot’s mission is not only technical; it’s economic. The world’s supply chains, financial systems, and defense networks increasingly depend on space-based assets. Yet orbital congestion, debris proliferation, and geopolitical competition threaten the sustainability of that ecosystem.

By creating a unified layer of intelligence for the orbital environment, Slingshot Aerospace enables what Solms calls a sustainable orbital economy — one where safety, collaboration, and innovation can scale together. Its solutions are used by defense partners, commercial operators, and research institutions that share a common goal: keeping space accessible and secure.

Leadership at the Edge

Before joining Slingshot, Tim Solms led enterprise and defense divisions at Microsoft, Dell, and VMware, where he built global businesses that balanced commercial agility with mission-grade reliability. At Slingshot, he applies that same precision to a new frontier, combining operational rigor with visionary leadership.

Under his direction, the company has evolved from a situational awareness platform into a comprehensive space intelligence system — one that supports both national security and private enterprise.

For Sway Ventures, this is the essence of dual-use innovation: technologies that deliver both strategic advantage and commercial scalability.

Investing in the Future of Space

Sway Capital’s broader mission is to transform capital into catalysts — to invest not just in companies, but in the ideas that move humanity forward. Slingshot Aerospace stands as a clear expression of that vision.

By building the infrastructure for orbital safety, Slingshot is enabling a future where space becomes an organized, investable, and enduring domain. For the founders, investors, and innovators gathered at Sway Minds, Solms’s message was unmistakable: the next era of economic and technological progress will be defined not by distance, but by intelligence — and how we use it to navigate the unknown.