{"id":"65a1fffa-accb-4f35-9b83-359bf5a80927","slug":"eric-truitt","name":"Eric Truitt","bioBrief":"CEO and co-founder of Mantis Space, a space-power startup building a constellation of satellites that beam laser power to spacecraft in Earth orbit. A U.S. military veteran, Truitt previously served as chief solutions officer and co-founder of Terran Orbital, chief solutions officer of PredaSAR, and vice president of mission solutions and growth at BlueHalo. He co-founded Mantis Space in 2025 with Hugh Wyman Howard III (former NGA operations director) and Jeremy Scheerer (former MapLarge VP). The company emerged from stealth in March 2026 with $10M in seed funding led by Rule 1 Ventures and Montauk Capital, and relocated its headquarters to Albuquerque, New Mexico.","priorExits":null,"nationality":"American","verificationPosture":"verified","aliases":[],"sources":[{"url":"https://www.optica-opn.org/home/industry/2026/march/startup_aims_to_beam_laser_power_to_satellites_in_eclipse/","title":"Startup Aims to Beam Laser Power to Satellites in Eclipse","sourceName":"Optica"},{"url":"https://spacenews.com/mantis-space-emerges-from-stealth-with-10-million-for-solar-power-constellation/","label":"SpaceNews article","title":"Mantis Space emerges from stealth with $10 million"},{"url":"https://www.optica-opn.org/home/industry/2026/march/startup-aims-to-beam-laser-power-to-satellites-in-eclipse/","label":"Optica OPN article","title":"Startup Aims to Beam Laser Power to Satellites in Eclipse"},{"url":"https://mantis.space/","label":"Mantis Space website","title":"Mantis Space — Powering the Space Economy"}],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","createdAt":"2026-08-08T20:19:46.846Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-11T15:11:15.344Z","educations":[],"companyRoles":[{"id":"8c962b8c-36b8-4983-b1ce-a77eee7b3bf5","personId":"65a1fffa-accb-4f35-9b83-359bf5a80927","companyId":"b57b2d33-3657-47ef-9558-6da2d7e715f6","role":"ceo","roleTitle":"CEO & Co-founder","startDate":null,"endDate":null,"currentRole":true,"roleBasis":"verified_secondary","displayOrder":null,"createdAt":"2026-08-08T20:19:47.595Z","company":{"slug":"mantis-space","name":"Mantis Space"}}],"boardRoles":[],"investorRoles":[],"foundings":[{"id":"928c5226-75f1-43e7-a760-fff22fc64d90","personId":"65a1fffa-accb-4f35-9b83-359bf5a80927","companyId":"b57b2d33-3657-47ef-9558-6da2d7e715f6","foundingDate":"2025-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","cofounderStatus":"cofounder","stillAtCompany":true,"createdAt":"2026-08-11T15:11:17.191Z","company":{"slug":"mantis-space","name":"Mantis Space"}}]}