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Sohrab Haghighat is an entrepreneur specializing in robotics, autonomous driving, and space technology. He is the cofounder and CEO of SpaceRyde, a company building a space transportation infrastructure called the Rocket Network.
Sohrab Haghighat standing next to a component of the Ryder rocket engine.
He holds a PhD in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Toronto, alongside a Masters in Applied Science, Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. From May 2012 to November 2012, Haghighat served as a performance specialist at Safran, an international technology group operating in the aviation (propulsion, equipment, and interiors), defense, and space markets.
From December 2012 to October 2014, he was a member of the research staff of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL), a company carrying out basic and applied research in multiphysical modeling and simulation, optimization, control, signal processing, and artificial intelligence.
From November 2014 to May 2015, he served as a senior algorithms engineer at Cymer, an ASML company providing light sources utilized by chipmakers to pattern semiconductor chips. From 2015 to 2017, he served as controls engineer and then engineering manager at Cruise Automation, a company building self-driving vehicles. He then cofounded SpaceRyde in January 2018 alongside his wife, Saharnaz Safari.
Haghighat and Safari opened a rocket factory north of Toronto, Canada. They have been developing their launch system for four years, initially developing a prototype in a garage. They then received the backing of the Canadian Space Agency and expanded operations by employing more people.
Haghighat said about SpaceRyde in an interview:
We want to be the Uber of space. Launching from a balloon, we are going to bypass all the dense layers of the atmosphere, and it allows us to have a small, efficient and yet very affordable rocket.
Saharnaz Safari, left, and Sohrab Haghighat, right, pose with their rocket at SpaceRyde in Concord, Ont.
