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Would Facebook have produced a big screen-worthy story if its tech-savvy founder weren’t at the helm of its success? Likewise, would Apple have become a leader in innovation if its owners weren’t leading innovators themselves? Before the businessman came the inventor – the brain from which the business evolved. And it’s not just technology. Apply it to any industry – Wolfgang Puck’s foodie world and Oprah Winfrey’s communications empire both began with a person skilled at what the business does, not just business itself.

The formula – form an idea, detail a plan and create a formidable team of industry experts and credible leaders – worked for Marcos Sirota, co-founder, president and CEO of Sigma Space Corp. – a 14-year-old company, but a leading name in aerospace technology. The company is known for creating the innovative next-generation airborne and space-based remote-sensing instruments such as a 3-D imaging lidar, as well as for scientific data analysis and information services for public, private and commercial resource management.

“In my philosophy, if you look at the most successful companies, large and small, the companies with technical leadership are the ones that have gone really far – the Apples, the Microsofts, the Ford Motors,” Sirota says. “Once they become a huge emporium, they can be managed by general business principles.

“But it’s the technical people that are the original creators and source of innovation,” Sirota adds. “However, we supplement our lack of formal business education with very sharp people. I have a CFO, a comptroller, legal support and others who understand those aspects.”

With this philosophy, Sigma Space, the aerospace technology company founded by Sirota and Joe Marzouk, has become one of the most recognized names in its industry, claiming NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) among its clients. Sirota and Marzouk may not be crunching the numbers, but they do know how to conduct top-notch R&D that translates into results that ultimately bring in revenue.

They also attract veteran names. Marzouk is an optical engineer by trade and Sirota, an Argentina native, has an education and professional background in electrical and aerospace engineering. In 1995, the pair started Sigma Space by building a skilled team of managers, engineers, scientists and technicians who supply aerospace hardware and information for public and private clients.

Through a mix of past relationships and exciting new capability, the company recently has been able to attract intellectuals like Dr. Phil DeCola. The former senior policy analyst for two administrations of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy serves as Sigma Space’s chief science officer and provides unique leadership for its new environmental data services program.

It also has attracted the likes of Dr. Anthony J. Tether, past director of the Pentagon’s Defense Advance Research Projects agency, who is a member of Sigma Space’s board of directors.

Stay Small, Think Big

As a private company that performs most of its work for government entities, Sirota explains that Sigma has become a valuable partner to organizations like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration because it is able to do something the government cannot – cut the red tape.

“The government comes with lots of red tape, and for good reason,” he says. “But if we are going to be of service and be successful for NASA, we can not have the same red tape. If we are going to be of help to them, we cannot operate under the same conditions. That doesn’t mean our process and our system aren’t under constant review or that we don’t comply with rules, but by being smaller and more nimble, we can do things faster and at a lower cost.”

Though it has a work force of 300, Sigma operates through the small group method for each project. That means only five to 15 people work on a given project at a given time, depending on the size and timeline of the assignment.

“Our staffing philosophy for technology projects is unique,” Sirota says. “I try to do things with small groups who can communicate well, be agile and reason quickly, which yields excellent products and keeps the cost down.”

This method has resulted in some of today’s most influential products that are providing solutions for some of the world’s most urgent problems.

Its flagship technology, its 3-D imaging lidar, is a mapping system that rapidly records 3-D aerial views of complex terrains. Its optical lasers can penetrate dense forests and murky waters, and it does it 20 times faster than currently available technology. Sigma Space is working on improving the technology to make it 100 times faster.

“NASA is funding us to fly our 3-D imaging lidar over forests to measure forest density and monitor its carbon content,” Sirota says. “One of the biggest issues right now is the burning of fossil fuels and global warming. Our lidar can cost-effectively provide detailed 3-D pictures of the forest to measure the stock and change of stored carbon. This can lead to better forest management and help to reduce and adapt to global warming.” Sigma has translated the technology into other instruments worthwhile to organizations such as the DOD.

Meanwhile, its Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL), a turnkey, ground-based portable lidar that measures the vertical structure of clouds and airborne particulates (aerosols), is seeing a boost in sales. Sigma licensed the technology from NASA and has been manufacturing and selling the product for the last 10 years. Its traditional application is “monitoring clouds and aerosol content in the atmosphere for air quality and climate applications,”Sirota says. However, MPL’s ability to track dust and smoke plumes has caught the eye of volcanologists, and its efficiency in observing cloud layers is beneficial to meteorologists.

These applications also are valuable to the aviation industry. Detecting cloud layers is vital for air traffic controllers, and volcanic ash clouds – such as the one spewing from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano – can stall aviation services if the hazard cannot be found.

“We are receiving many more requests for this product than we used to,” Sirota says. “With all the recent eruptions of the volcanoes and the resulting limitations on aviation, there has been a large demand for its use in monitoring ash drifting in the atmosphere.”

In Transition

The increase in product sales is a plus for Sigma Space, but Sirota believes products won’t be the only thing in demand.

“My view of the aerospace industry is that it still has to go through transition from a hardware provider to being an information supplier,” he says. “The planet’s population is growing and resources are becoming scarce in many regions, especially as climate changes. Tracking the stock and flow of fresh water and food and how the land and ocean are being used requires a tremendous amount and variety of monitoring. There is room for the private sector to fill that information gap.”