NICK CONENNA.
YSKAIPE — AI-to-Physical Frontier

Winter MissionsA Blue Ridge testbed for the same problems space survival solves

YSKAIPE's first product isn't a metaphor about space — it's a real cold-weather survival system, built from high-grade military surplus and field-tested at elevation, that happens to solve the same engineering problems an extravehicular suit solves, at a fraction of the budget and stakes. That overlap is the actual argument for why this work belongs on a Space Coast team, not just a line on a brand page.

The Mission

Blue Ridge Winter Survival Camp

Based at elevation in the Blue Ridge near Blowing Rock, NC. Overnight expedition programs running 1 to 4 nights, built around kits assembled from high-grade military surplus and re-engineered under the "planetary space suits" line — practical cold-weather protection first, a resellable product second, a field-test platform third.

Location
Blue Ridge, NC
Elevation
~4,000 ft
Format
1–4 nights
Gear Source
Mil-surplus

The pivot into this venture wasn't chasing a cool-looking industry from the outside — the original YSKAIPE business had run out of runway and needed a real answer. The direction it moved toward is one there's a genuine, longstanding pull toward: survival, exploration, and the specific problem of keeping a human body functional in an environment that's actively trying to kill it. Space and winter mountains are different scales of the same problem.

The Parlay

Same Problem, Two Environments

A cold-weather expedition kit and an EVA spacesuit are solving the same short list of problems under different budgets and stakes. That's the real bridge — not the branding.

Where This Maps

Project Teams, Not Just Companies

Not "I'd like to work in aerospace" — specific teams doing work this maps to directly, with the actual work sample from the Blue Ridge program that would go into that application.

Collins Aerospace

Extravehicular Activity & Human Surface Mobility

Work sample

Field-tested thermal layering and mobility report from multi-night Blue Ridge trials — the closest direct overlap on the roster, given Collins' active work on the next-generation lunar EVA suit.

Jacobs Technology

KSC Test & Operations Support

Work sample

Operations playbook and field logistics plan built to run a 1–4 night expedition program safely with no infrastructure backup — small-scale proof of the same ops discipline test-and-operations work requires.

Astrion

Mission Support & Systems Engineering

Work sample

Full systems documentation of the kit — bill of materials, failure-mode analysis, redundancy plan — as evidence of systems-engineering rigor applied to a physical product, not just software.

L3Harris Technologies

Sensors & Communications

Work sample

A tracking and comms setup built for expedition safety in a no-signal mountain environment — a working proof of concept for remote sensing and comms integration at small scale.

Apply With the Work

The plan isn't a cover letter that references this page — it's applying to each team above with the specific work sample built for it: the layering report to Collins, the ops playbook to Jacobs, the systems documentation to Astrion, the comms build to L3Harris. Same body of work, four different cuts, matched to what each team actually reviews candidates against.

Start with a work sample