Pythom sets its sights on space from a home base in Bishop

Space exploration company finds room to work, play in Inyo

Pythom Space, in Bishop, recently held an open house to show off an assortment of engines related to space exploration and meet with members of the community to talk about the company.

Tina Sjögren, company CEO and co-founder with Tom Sjögren, said the overall mission of Pythom Space, or PythomSpace, is building a human-rated space system for Mars and other planets, their moons, and the asteroids.

“This means we are building a rocket, spaceship, lander and ascender with similar engineering elements so they can double for each other and perform in different types of missions,” Sjögren said.

She said Pythom Space has completed the design process and developed the propulsion system (rocket engines).

“At this stage, we are building the first rocket, Eiger, right here in

Bishop,” Sjögren said. “The launcher is named for a peak in Switzerland described in the iconic book ‘White Spider’ that once inspired us to take up climbing.”

Tina and Tom Sjögren moved from Sweden to the U.S. about 20 years ago. The couple’s passions included mountaineering and polar skiing before they turned their eyes toward space.

While Bishop might not be the first place people think about when it comes to cutting-edge, space exploration technology, Sjögren said the area meets their needs on multiple levels.

“We love to ski, climb, hike, and also have to stay in top shape while working long hours,” Sjögren said. “In Silicon Valley, where we lived previously, that was hard to combine.”

She said they found themselves spending increasingly more time in Bishop

“So one day we just decided to stay,” Sjögren said. “Amazing nature, great people, no traffic, and only two hours from Mojave Spaceport.”

Sjögren said they have been coming to the area off and on for at least 10 years with the last two years spent full time on Pythom Space.

She said the Pythom Space crew in Bishop includes seven people building the Eiger Satellite

Launcher in Bishop right now.

“The work includes everything imaginable,” she said, “software, hardware, research and cleaning the office.”

Sjögren said Pythom has not had any real challenges moving forward, such as accessing broadband services or other issues.

“The only concern is how we’ll manage to grow here,” she said. “It’s hard to find land to expand the business and the same goes for staff housing.”

Pythom Space also practices community outreach by hosting the occasional school field trip.

“Space is the next frontier and it will affect everybody in the most amazing ways,” Sjögren said. “We have students come in a couple of times a year to show them how we reach for it hands-on. It’s usually a kick for the kids and our team as well.”

Area teachers who are interested in a field trip can email stef@pythom. space.

And why the “M” in “Pythom”?

“People often ask why the ‘M’ in ‘Pythom.’” Sjögren said. “The ancient Egyptians believed life came to Earth on a comet, and they named it

Pythom. Today NASA floats the same idea in a scientific hypothesis named Panspermia. We too believe life exists throughout the universe and love the connection to our forefathers, so thus the name of our spaceship, Pythom.”

Photo by Mike Chacanaca Pythom Space in Bishop recently held an open house to show some members of the community what’s going on with the company that specializes in building small launch vehicle rocket engines to make space exploration more affordable. Pictured here are, from left, Samantha Kline, Tyler del Guidice, Owen Trimble, Chet Shultz, Tina Sjögren, Tom Sjögren, Stefani Starnater and Will Stimson.

Photos courtesy of Tiffany Randall These are scenes from the Bishop Elementary School’s fourth and fifth grade dual language students’ field trip to Pythom Space during which Tina and Tom Sjogren, along with Stefani Starnater, talked to students about space travel and natural science.