About KNOWN Corporation
KNOWN Corporation is a space research and simulation software company headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda. We build tools that make orbital mechanics accurate, accessible, and usable for researchers, engineers, institutions, and anyone drawn to understanding what exists beyond the atmosphere.
The Name
There is a particular kind of thing that is everywhere and yet rarely understood. Present in every conversation but never fully identified. Space is one of those things. Every person who has ever looked up at a clear night sky has encountered it. Very few have had the tools to truly know it.
KNOWN Corporation was founded on that tension: between presence and understanding, between visibility and knowledge. The name is a statement of intent: to make the cosmos genuinely known. Not just visible. Not just discussed. Known in the precise, technical, rigorous sense that engineers and researchers mean when they say they understand something.
That means accurate physics. Verifiable results. Tools that hold up to scrutiny.
Origin
KNOWN Corporation was founded in Kigali, Rwanda. Rwanda has already taken visible steps into the space sector: RWASAT-1, Rwanda's first satellite, was deployed from the International Space Station in 2019; the Rwanda Space Agency was established by law in 2021; and Rwanda signed the Artemis Accords in 2022.
The company began with a straightforward problem: professional space simulation tools are often difficult to access, expensive, or built without the context of emerging aerospace institutions in mind. The next generation of African aerospace engineers needs software that meets professional standards without assuming institutional budgets from older space economies.
But this is not a regional product. The physics of orbital mechanics does not change depending on where you are. A simulation engine accurate enough to satisfy a researcher in Kigali must be accurate enough to satisfy a researcher in Munich or Houston. We build to that standard, from here, for the world.
Sources: ArkEdge Space on RWASAT-1, Rwanda law establishing the Rwanda Space Agency, and NASA Artemis Accords announcement.
Philosophy
A space simulation that gets the physics wrong is not a simulation. It is an animation. We build from the physics outward: gravity, perturbations, drag, and thrust, then design the experience around what the physics produces.
The same engine that powers our professional research tool powers our accessible simulation experiences. There is one physics system. How it is presented changes. What it calculates does not.
Access to serious space research tools should not map only to institutional wealth. We are building against that, not through compromise, but by building tools strong enough to be chosen on merit.
What We Build
The core of everything KNOWN builds is a physics engine developed in C++ and OpenGL. It models gravitational forces, orbital perturbations, atmospheric drag, and propulsion manoeuvres from first principles.
The engine uses an n-body architecture with no hardcoded reference frame. Any body in the simulation can serve as the origin, and the system is designed to scale from low Earth orbit to interplanetary distances without changing the underlying mathematics.
On top of that engine sits the KNOWN simulation platform: a professional orbital analysis environment, an accessible arcade mode, and a story-driven cinematic experience. Three uses. One engine. The same physics in all of them.
Explore the PlatformEngine or platform screenshot. Recommended: 1200 � 700px.
Roadmap
We are a software company today. The simulation platform is our first product. Revenue from the platform funds deeper research: orbital analysis, satellite mission planning, and eventually hardware capability. This is not a theoretical roadmap. It is the sequence that makes sense given where we are and what we are building toward.
Develop and launch the first version of the KNOWN simulation platform. Establish accuracy credibility through TLE validation and acquire the first institutional users on product merit.
Expand into orbital analysis and satellite mission planning as a service. Build the team and generate the revenue that funds the next phase.
Develop the capability to contribute to space hardware. This phase is earned, not assumed.
The Landscape
We are not building in a vacuum. The African Space Agency is now established as the continental space agency of the African Union, headquartered at Egypt Space City. Space in Africa's 2025 NewSpace reporting maps 321 operationally active commercial space companies across 36 African countries.
KNOWN is building software infrastructure. That is one part of what is needed. We are not claiming to solve the whole problem. We are solving the part we are equipped to solve.
Sources: African Space Agency and Space in Africa African NewSpace Industry Report 2025.
Organisation
KNOWN Corporation is an early-stage organisation. We are building the simulation engine, the platform, and the research infrastructure with a focused team. We are not trying to grow faster than the work warrants.
We are looking for engineers, researchers, and advisors who care about building things that are correct, not just impressive. If that description fits you, the contact page is the right place to start.