Our Story
Founder
Michigan Space Technologies was founded by Joshua L. Mehay, a lifelong space enthusiast, builder, and former federal government professional who spent more than a decade serving the United States while quietly developing a vision for how he could one day contribute to the future of spaceflight.
Joshua’s story is rooted in Michigan, but shaped by a broader American heritage. His Native American heritage and French ancestry are part of a family history connected to the cultural blending that helped shape Detroit, Michigan, and the Great Lakes region. That background gives MiST a founder story grounded not only in technology, but in identity, persistence, and the belief that innovation should come from places and people often overlooked.
Before founding MiST, Joshua served for ten years in the federal government, gaining experience in discipline, operations, security, responsibility, and mission-focused execution. Throughout that time, his eyes remained fixed on the stars. Space was never just a passing interest. It was the destination.
That passion eventually took him across the country to see America’s spaceflight legacy up close: Cleveland, Houston, Titusville, Mississippi, and Alabama — places connected to NASA, testing, propulsion, exploration, and the people who turned impossible missions into reality. He watched launches live from Vandenberg, Kennedy Space Center, and Starbase Texas, not only as a fan, but as someone studying the path forward.
What began as awe became a plan. That plan became Michigan Space Technologies.
Caelus, KRATOS, and C3Po are the result of that journey: a belief that the next generation of space systems can be more affordable, more responsive, and more accessible. MiST exists because space inspired a lifelong mission — and because Joshua believes that Michigan has a role to play in building humanity’s future beyond Earth.
From Mars to the stars, MiST is building with purpose.
Made in Michigan
Michigan Space Technologies was founded with a simple belief: the future of spaceflight should not belong only to the largest companies, the largest budgets, or the slowest development cycles. Space access needs to become faster, more responsive, and more affordable if humanity is going to build beyond Earth.
That mission begins in Michigan.
From Detroit’s manufacturing legacy to the state’s deep engineering, automotive, mobility, defense, and industrial base, Michigan has always been a place where hard things are built. The same spirit that helped put the world on wheels can help move the next generation toward orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
MiST is carrying that tradition into aerospace through three connected technology programs: Caelus, KRATOS, and C3Po. Caelus is focused on electromagnetic-assisted launch architecture designed to reduce the cost barrier to space access. KRATOS advances responsive chemical rocket systems for flexible launch and test applications. C3Po brings intelligent mission planning and decision-support software into the aerospace operating environment.
Together, these systems represent a new approach to space infrastructure: one that blends advanced propulsion, responsive launch, artificial intelligence, and Michigan-built innovation into a focused effort to make space more accessible.
Michigan built the machines that transformed the last century. MiST is working to help build the systems that define the next one.
