Blueshift, will use this year’s Space Tech Expo (Anaheim Convention Centre, Space Tech Expo 2026 – 2–4 June)to highlight the need for thermal protection systems for the next generation of satellites and emerging in-space data centre demands.
The announcement of the winners of the inaugural Aviation Week Space Tech Challenge Awards will be during the second day of the event, where Blueshift has been named a finalist in the Commercialisation category for its AeroZero Tapes product.
Also on the event’s second day, Tim Burbey, co-founder and president of Blueshift, will take to the Technology Conference Stage where he will speak as part of a panel discussion on: ‘Breaking Barriers: Bringing space-based data centres to life’.
Orbital data centres are attracting growing attention across the space, AI and technology sectors driven primarily by the potential advantages they offer, from abundant power generation to reduced pressure on terrestrial infrastructure. However, these concepts also introduce major technical hurdles, including thermal management in the vacuum of space, where conventional cooling approaches are not viable.
For Blueshift, these challenges reinforce the need for thermal protection systems that are lightweight, high-performing and engineered for the realities of spaceflight. As thermal material experts, Blueshift is focused on helping spacecraft manufacturers improve thermal stability and protect sensitive systems that can handle transient temperatures ranging from -100°C to +120°C.
“Cooling data centres in space is a hard engineering problem — but it’s a solvable one,” says Tim Burbey, co-founder and president of Blueshift. “The physics are unforgiving. No convection, no atmosphere and thermal swings that would destroy conventional materials. But we’ve been managing extreme thermal environments in space for decades. What’s needed now is applying those advances at data centre scale with the cost and weight constraints that commercial space demands.”
Blueshift’s presence at the Space Tech Expo underpins its broader effort to support more reliable long-duration missions in increasingly demanding orbital environments. Showcasing its AeroZero TPS product portfolio provides an opportunity to engage with spacecraft designers, engineers and industry decision makers on how material innovation can support the next phase of commercial space development.
Visitors can meet the Blueshift team at booth 328 throughout the exhibition. The Breaking Barriers panel session is on 3 June at 1pm.
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