Nova Labs
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| Nova Labs | |
|---|---|
| Name | Nova Labs |
| Type | Nonprofit / Research Collective |
| Industry | Aerospace; Technology; Maker Movement |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Founder | Adam Brotman; Queensland Maker Collective |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Products | Open-source hardware; High-altitude balloons; Distributed manufacturing |
Nova Labs Nova Labs is a San Francisco–based nonprofit makerspace and research collective known for community-driven projects in aerospace, open hardware, and distributed manufacturing. The organization operates large-scale fabrication facilities, conducts high-altitude balloon flights, and hosts residencies and workshops that link practitioners across the Maker Faire, Hackaday, Open Source Hardware Association, Ars Electronica, and TechShop communities. Nova Labs has intersected with institutions such as Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NASA, DARPA, and Smithsonian Institution through events, research, and exhibitions.
History
Nova Labs emerged in the early 2010s amid interactions with the Maker Movement, Open Hardware initiatives, and community workshops in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. Early activities connected to events like Bay Area Maker Faire, collaborations with Noisebridge, and exchanges with Hackerspaces across San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland. The collective’s work drew attention from media outlets such as Wired, The New York Times, The Guardian, and IEEE Spectrum, while engagements with organizations like SRI International, RAND Corporation, and Brookings Institution contextualized its public-facing research. Over time, Nova Labs hosted exhibits alongside the Exploratorium, partnered for residencies with the MacArthur Foundation, and took part in conferences including SXSW, Google I/O, and Maker Faire Bay Area.
Organization and Leadership
The governance model combines volunteer leadership, a board of directors, and advisory panels with links to figures from NASA Ames Research Center, Lockheed Martin, and SpaceX alumni networks. Leadership drew expertise from alumni of MIT Media Lab, Caltech, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon University, and maintained relationships with non-profit funders like Mozilla Foundation, Knight Foundation, and Wellcome Trust. Advisory interactions involved scholars from Stanford Doerr School of Management, engineers from Blue Origin, and designers associated with IDEO and Frog Design. Organizational partnerships extended to municipal entities such as the City of San Francisco and cultural institutions like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Products and Technologies
Nova Labs developed and released open-source hardware and software projects influenced by prototypes from RepRap, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and BeagleBoard. Fabrication facilities include CNC mills referencing Haas Automation, laser cutters akin to Epilog Laser, and 3D printers inspired by Ultimaker and Prusa Research. Aero projects leaned on high-altitude balloon platforms similar to Google Loon concepts and atmospheric sensing suites comparable to instruments used by NOAA and European Space Agency. Their telemetry and flight software integrated libraries and standards from RTOS communities, Linux Foundation projects, and protocols advocated by IETF. Educational toolkits paralleled curricula from MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, and edX offerings.
Research and Development
R&D at Nova Labs spans experimental aerospace testing, materials research, and distributed manufacturing studies that echo work from DARPA-funded programs, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory projects, and university labs at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research areas included stratospheric telemetry aligned with CubeSat methodologies, lightweight composites similar to developments at GE Aviation and Hexcel Corporation, and additive manufacturing techniques used by General Electric and EOS GmbH. Collaborative research drew on methodologies from IEEE, ACM, and standards committees of the Open Source Hardware Association, with outputs presented at venues like AIAA conferences, SIGGRAPH, and ICRA.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Nova Labs cultivated partnerships across academic, corporate, and cultural institutions: collaborations with NASA, affiliations with Linux Foundation initiatives, and project-based work alongside Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm. Cultural and educational collaborations included the Exploratorium, Smithsonian Institution, and San Francisco Public Library. International joint efforts related to atmospheric research involved agencies such as European Space Agency, Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and universities like University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, and University of Tokyo. Industry R&D collaborations referenced contacts with Boeing, Airbus, Northrop Grumman, and startups originating from Y Combinator cohorts.
Funding and Financials
Funding streams blended membership fees, grant awards, philanthropic support, and project sponsorships from entities including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, MacArthur Foundation, and corporate sponsors like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Financial oversight involved nonprofit compliance standards similar to filings with the Internal Revenue Service and audits by regional accounting firms. Capital expenditures for tools and facilities paralleled investments seen in university fabrication labs funded by foundations such as Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Simons Foundation, while revenue-generating activities included workshops, maker memberships, and sponsored research agreements with technology companies and foundations.