Our Team


Jesse Powell

Founder and President

Dr. Powell has worked to develop new technologies in a number of fields, ranging from the deep ocean to terrestrial maglev applications to planetary exploration. His expertise is in critical research analyses, technology assessment, and project planning. He received his PhD in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography

James Powell

Technology Lead

Dr. Powell is the co-inventor of M2000 superconducting maglev, the only American second generation maglev system. He is also co-inventor of Startram, a maglev-based launch system which dramatically lowers costs to orbit. Dr. Powell received his Sc.D in Nuclear Engineering from MIT.

George Maise

Technology Lead

Dr. Maise is the co-inventor of Startram. His major areas of expertise are fluid mechanics and heat transfer, particularly as related to air-breathing and rocket propulsion, rarefied gas dynamics, re-entry heating, nuclear reactor thermal/hydraulics, and electrostatic probes for plasma diagnostics. Dr. Maise received his PhD in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University.