Honoring Black Space Pioneers: Gladys West

To close out the month, we want to honor Gladys West, a mathematician in the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory, who we'd (quite literally!) be lost without.

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She collected and processed data from satellites to help pinpoint their exact locations in space, laying the foundations for the development of the Global Positioning System, more commonly known as GPS.

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Gladys paved the way for many of the devices we know and love today, from Google Maps and Waze, to even greater accuracy and protection when making financial transactions with your debit or credit card.

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She established the groundwork for Wayfinder here at Privateer, where we’re able to track in near real time the location of satellites and debris in orbit. We're grateful for her work and proud to lift her up every day.