The Collaborative Space Travel and Research Team (CSTART) is a non-government, non-profit, collaborative space agency whose mission is is to organize and finance the efforts of space enthusiasts around the world who are interested in using collaborative design, volunteer labor, innovative, low-cost technology and open data sharing to further the cause of manned and unmanned space exploration and research. Participation is encouraged for anyone who wishes to contribute in any small or large, but meaningful way.

CSTART creates open source plans for space travel and research projects, ranging from simple sounding rockets (the OHKLA project) all the way up to manned moon landings (the CLLARE project). They write open source software, including software to help plan space missions, software to run on spacecraft and software to help track and communicate with spacecraft from the ground. CSTART is dedicated to open source design principles, using freely available and open source tools wherever possible, and easily available resources where an open source alternative does not exist.

Team members are located around the globe, and are experts in many different areas: physics and engineering, law and business, graphic design, and everything in between. You don’t need to be a scientist or engineer to be involved in CSTART: they need people with experience in business, marketing, law, graphic design and other fields just as much as they need rocket scientists!

Project owners + coordinators:
Luke Maurits, acting director
Ben Miller-Jacobson, acting director
Titan Miller, acting director
Rizwan Memon, acting director
Ryan Pulkrabek, acting director