{"id":"6ffd1a82-fad6-446d-9023-80db9aed1ec6","slug":"mike-smayda","name":"Mike Smayda","bioBrief":"CEO and Founder of [Fortastra](/companies/fortastra), a Los Angeles-based space defense startup building autonomous escort satellites to defend critical orbital assets. He earned his PhD (2012) and BS (2008) in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia. He spent five years as a senior aerodynamics engineer at SpaceX before co-founding Hermeus, a hypersonic aircraft company, where he served as Chief Product Officer. He founded Fortastra in 2025, closing an USD 8M seed round to develop autonomous orbital defense satellites.","priorExits":null,"nationality":"American","verificationPosture":"verified","aliases":[],"sources":[{"url":"https://payloadspace.com/fortastra-lands-8m-seed-to-develop-orbital-defense-sats/","title":"Fortastra Lands $8M Seed to Develop Orbital Defense Sats","sourceName":"Payload Space"},{"url":"https://www.latimes.com/b2b/business-visionaries/aerospace-defense/michael-smayda","title":"Michael Smayda - Aerospace & Defense Visionary","sourceName":"LA Times"},{"url":"https://engineering.virginia.edu/news-events/news/alumni-taking-flight","title":"Alumni Taking Flight","sourceName":"UVA Engineering"},{"url":"https://www.fortastra.com/fortastra-updates/fortastra-news-release","title":"Fortastra News Release","sourceName":"Fortastra"}],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","createdAt":"2026-08-08T20:13:19.126Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-12T01:30:21.567Z","educations":[],"companyRoles":[{"id":"aa040726-318c-4e66-af9b-d98d518d3807","personId":"6ffd1a82-fad6-446d-9023-80db9aed1ec6","companyId":"c7a48bad-affd-4ead-8044-e450ca520876","role":"ceo","roleTitle":"CEO & Founder","startDate":null,"endDate":null,"currentRole":true,"roleBasis":"verified_secondary","displayOrder":null,"createdAt":"2026-08-08T20:13:19.896Z","company":{"slug":"fortastra","name":"Fortastra"}}],"boardRoles":[],"investorRoles":[],"foundings":[{"id":"6825707c-e017-45aa-aba9-c6c9696729a6","personId":"6ffd1a82-fad6-446d-9023-80db9aed1ec6","companyId":"c7a48bad-affd-4ead-8044-e450ca520876","foundingDate":null,"cofounderStatus":null,"stillAtCompany":true,"createdAt":"2026-08-12T01:30:22.754Z","company":{"slug":"fortastra","name":"Fortastra"}}]}