Epsilon3 is a USA-based Y Combinator startup. They digitize paper-based procedures in the space industry using telemetry data, simplifying testing and operations. Their product is rapidly becoming the OS for space projects and complex operations.

Epsilon3's customers run testing and operational procedures in real-time. Epsilon3's solution allows online collaboration as a team, instead of being siloed and separated which is an increasingly important requirement in a post-pandemic working world. Epsilon3 is powering an industry where reliability is paramount. In the space industry, missions cost billions and need to run reliably.

Epsilon3's software saves operators time and reduces errors to improve complex operations. Their customers are using their software and successfully sending satellites into space and are about to use Epsilon3's software for an operational Rocket Launch. As a result, their reputation for improving the quality standard for complex operations has led to demand from other industries. The team is receiving enquiries from clients in the robotics, logistics and medical equipment sectors who need a structured and standardized way of running procedures and keeping audit trails.

As a startup, Epsilon3 needs to move fast and scale. They require security, reliability, and performance.

The team has a background in engineering from Northrop, Google, and SpaceX and understands the technical benefits Postgres offers as a battle-tested open-source relational database.

Real-time functionality is also a key for their customers to see how running procedures are progressing as the changes occur.

The space industry is highly regulated, adding complexity. For example, in the USA, deployments must be in an ITAR-compliant way (for instance AWS GovCloud supports ITAR compliance) while customers in countries outside the USA may need to host their data within their own country. These customer requirements mean Epsilon3 must be able to offer flexible hosting options, including on-premises deployment.

Billion dollar missions need to run reliably and securely.

We didn't just want something that works, we wanted a solution implementing best practices. We also needed a setup that we could self-host to meet compliance needs and allow on-premises deployment options for our customers.

We use Supabase because they give us an open-source scalable back-end built by database experts that we can self-host.

Supabase takes out the mental effort from our back-end infrastructure so we can focus on our customers needs.

Supabase gives Postgres users superpowers#

The team implemented a self-hosted Supabase setup. They use AWS with a self-hosted Supabase API powering an RDS Postgres instance. This setup gives a balance of rapid development, reduced DevOps, and flexible hosting options. As Supabase uniquely offers real-time for Postgres, it allows their customers to see updates from running procedures. Supabase offers well-supported client libraries that make Postgres Row Level Security easy to use, which is a critical item on the Epsilon3 roadmap.

All this was easy for the team to set up, even with self-hosting, so the team was able to focus on what they do best—helping their customers run complex operations smoothly. With this implementation, Epsilon3 gets all the benefits of Postgres, plus the smooth developer experience and support that Supabase is known for, without compromising their compliance needs.

Self-hosting Supabase allows the crew at Epsilon3 to move fast. They are revolutionizing space operations securely and reliably in real-time whilst staying compliant. The team is now seeing demand from other industries and is confident in their scaling capability because they know it's just Postgres under the hood.

Check out the Epsilon3 website to learn more about the team and their OS for space operations. If you are interested in self-hosting Supabase then you can contact us to learn more.