The Orbiter: The Future is Looking Up

The Future is

LOOKING UP The Proliferation of Satellite IoT: It’s Only Just Beginning

Youth Not Wasted

How Will People Watch Netflix on the Moon? . . . plus more!

CONTENTS 03

Will the Future Finally Arrive this Time?

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The Proliferation of Satellite IoT: It’s Only Just Beginning

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How Will People Watch Netflix on the Moon?

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Meet the Future of the Industry TODAY

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The 2019 Mentor of the Year

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Business Models for a GEO Bandwidth Bonanza

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Youth Not Wasted: Better Satellite World Day in London 2019

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Making a Better World in 2019 and Beyond

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Insight and data diversification driving ambitions in Earth observation

Will the Future Finally Arrive this Time?

By Robert Bell, Executive Director I am a child of the Space Race. Like millions of others, I marveled at Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. I watched the blurry black-and-white images of Neil Armstrong descending the ladder to stand on the dusty surface of the moon. I mourned the last lunar mission, for which the broadcast network chose as theme song The Monkees’ hit, “The Last Train to Clarksville.” (Really? Even at the time, I thought it was in bad taste.)

Like other children of the Space Race, I was promised things. Colonies on the moon. Manned missions to Mars. Asteroid mining. Flying cars, for that matter. And like my fellow space geeks, I was doomed to disappointment. Until now.

In this issue of The Orbiter, we ask some smart people if they think the future we glimpsed in the Sixties is finally ready to arrive. Specifically, we bring you their views on what the space and satellite business will be doing ten years from now.

The Space Economy in 2029

After a never-before-seen wave of private investment in space, those same investors are waiting to see which of their bets will pan out. Our entire industry is waiting – while working our tails off – for the same thing.

Will the new LEO communications models work?

How will booming satellite capacity and falling prices transform the addressable market for communications services?

What does the future look like when we’re imaging the entire Earth every day and have the computing power and artificial intelligence to turn images into data that powers a thousand different applications?

What will it take to jumpstart a cislunar economy that mines resources, manufactures stuff, and assembles and fuels spacecraft entirely in space?

Or will we carelessly block our own access to space with clouds of debris traveling at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph)?

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WILL THE FUTURE FINALLY ARRIVE THIS TIME? Fueling the Engine of Growth

For even one-tenth of this to happen, our business faces a pressing need. Investment has been the fuel of transformation, but people are the engine.

That’s why SSPI helps the industry attract, develop and retain the talented people it needs to keep the engine turning. People who connect through high-profile events and gain recognition from prestigious awards.

People who rely on SSPI for a broader understanding of the industry as much as for individual networking and career mentoring. From young people seeking a career path to industry veterans with wisdom to share, SSPI connects them all.

We are also the only organization that promotes the enormous value of space through dramatic stories of our technology making a better world. Those stories overturn misconceptions about the industry that hold it back. They inspire our people and attract new ones to the industry. They help justify investment and give new customers a reason to care about our services and products. Through the stories we tell and the people we serve, SSPI inspires the growth of the $1 trillion space economy of the future.

So, maybe, this time, that future we have long awaited will finally arrive.

MAKING www.sspi.org/cpages/ leadership-development

LEADERS

www.sspi.org/cpages/ how-satellites-make-abetter-world

The Proliferation of Satellite IoT

It’s Only Just Beginning

By Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium IoT has quickly entered the public lexicon, thanks to the proliferation of “smart” doorbells, fitness sensors, smoke alarms and many other devices that make life easier.

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates a potential economic impact of IoT between $4 trillion and $11 trillion a year by 2025, depending on a variety of factors. Satellite IoT is not so well known as it’s small in comparison, but services are well established and also growing with Northern Sky Research predicting satellite IoT to be an $11.6 billion market over the next decade. As enterprise

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and consumer IoT applications grow in importance in the 15% of the world with cell service, it’s natural that many will want to extend to the rest of the world where connections need to be made from the sky.

Today, Iridium serves more IoT devices around the world than people. IoT has fueled Iridium’s business at a compound annual subscriber growth rate of 25% since 2010. In many ways, Iridium is perfect for IoT – crosslinked satellites in LEO cover every part of the planet and are physically close to customers. While “coverage is king” for IoT, Iridium’s L-band spectrum and orbit also offer advantages. Compared to geostationary orbit, satellites in LEO offer lower latency, can utilize smaller antennas and longer lasting, smaller batteries.

This is just physics. In addition, L-band is ideal where IoT data needs to be sent reliably and predictably.

Thanks to weather resilience not possible from other

THE PROLIFERATION OF SATELLITE IOT – IT’S ONLY JUST BEGINNING frequencies, L-band can receive regulatory approvals for safety of life services – particularly important for High Mobility Personal IoT. Put simply, architecture matters.

Today, Iridium is streamlining the adoption of IoT beyond cellular coverage through a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that simplifies back office programming, and the development of new Iridium Edge end-user devices that integrate GPS, application processors, and solar power. New modems are enabling richer data streams that are ideal for pictures, IP messaging and more complex IoT telematics data.

In the satellite industry overall, there’s a clear trend of three service architectures emerging. These can be broadly categorized as High Mobility Personal IoT; Broadband IoT; and Low Power/High Latency IoT. High Mobility Personal IoT is the domain of Iridium and we enjoy a strong leadership position delivering high quality, low latency two-way IoT connections. This architecture is designed to send and receive critical information for assets like heavy equipment machines, trucks, ships and aircraft. These can be battery or solar powered and scale from a single device to hundreds of thousands with no geographical limitations.

Often, these devices will feature dual-mode cellular/ satellite connections, adapting based on the type of coverage available.

The second category, Broadband IoT, features larger, typically fixed position, broadband devices supporting backhaul service for LORA-type IoT networks. While these networks are optimized for IoT services they do come with greater expense per device and will require costs to be amortized across the many needed lowpower IoT devices. This is a valuable solution when you have a lot of IoT devices in a specific locality designed for a specific IoT application and will be the likely approach for new constellations like Starlink, OneWeb and Kepler.

The Low Power/High Latency IoT architecture is an emerging satellite segment and dozens of companies are raising funds to launch small satellites that provide this service. While not real-time, they support very

low-cost devices that can last for years on a battery charge. A number of low-end applications make sense for this type service, where getting a one-way update once a day or less is all that’s needed. Things like cattle monitoring on ranges spanning thousands of acres or soil sensors for farmers looking to optimize water usage don’t require constant two-way updates, but still offer actionable business information.

The expectations of IoT has expanded dramatically and in many ways mirror those of personal communications. Just like people can’t live without their smartphones today, we’re in the process of expecting everything to be connected everywhere.

Vehicles, possessions, business assets and more are being tracked and managed to create better efficiencies. As this expansion takes place, satellite

IoT will continue to grow while delivering even smaller, less expensive and more capable devices to the world.

WANT TO HEAR MORE FROM MATT? The newest SSPI Making Leaders video interview features more of his insights.

Check it out at: www.sspi. org/cpages/ leadershipinterviews

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How Will People Watch

on the Moon?

By Chris Stott, Chairman & CEO, ManSat “How will people watch Netflix on the Moon?” This was a question asked by the Institute of Space Commerce for LEAP, their Lunar Economic Action Plan program back in 2017.

It was a question that both envisioned the future in 2029 with thousands of people living and working in the Moon, and sought to start the very real thinking necessary to working towards the establishment of a viable economy both on the Moon and between the Earth and the Moon.

LEAP resulted in over 37 papers from industry covering a multitude of topics driving detail and thought into the creation of the New Lunar Economy.

Yet, from LEAP, it rapidly became very apparent that just as with satellite commerce in space today, spectrum and regulation holds the key to successful space commerce tomorrow.

We all read the articles. We all see the headlines. We all feel the hope, hope that we are finally returning to the Moon. However, author William Gibson maybe said it best, ‘the future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.’

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Work is well underway already to establishing the first commercial settlements on the Moon. The goal of a thriving Lunar economy as an integral part of the global economy and logical extension of the today’s space and satellite industry is already in progress.

Commerce and government are already active in returning to the Moon. After all, 2019 saw both commercial and government missions from Israel, China, and India, and this is just the beginning. 2020 and 2021 will see more.

The High Frontier is again our new frontier and the New Lunar Economy is at its heart. Barring global calamity, in 2029 we should be well under way to expanding the global economy to encompass the Moon, and as with everything satellite, spectrum is the key. You see, the satellite industry itself holds the key to a successful return to the Moon.

What’s changed in the last fifty years since we first landed on the Moon is the satellite industry and the global space economy it has created. If we are to return successfully to the Moon to stay and create the New Lunar Economy that it will represent the best, an exponential synthesis, of both of the human spaceflight community and the satellite industry working together as a near unbeatable combination.

The commercial strengths we now enjoy in space are driven directly by the global satellite economy: launches, manufacturing, finance, commerce and more. Now think of the logical and practical extension

HOW WILL PEOPLE WATCH NETFLIX ON THE MOON? of this service-based economy combining it with our experience in human spaceflight and you have the foundation of the New Lunar Economy. Then think about how we would watch Netflix on the Moon.

Seriously.

The fact that people are watching Netflix on the Moon in 2029 means there would be people living and working there with free time to enjoy leisure activities.

How would they pay for Netflix? What currency are they paying in? Who is managing their investments and finances? 100% of the money spent in space isn’t, it’s spent back here on Earth. Any economy on the Moon will have logical, legal, and natural ties back to their legal jurisdiction under the Outer Space Treaty back on Earth. What other down time will they enjoy? Nightclubs, night schools, concerts, more?

An economy will be established. What will their work entail and for whom?

Which version of Netflix would they legally access?

The US, Canadian, British, Australian, other? Whose laws will apply to a Lunar settlement decides which Netflix content they can watch. Blow minding.

How will they watch Netflix? No spectrum, no satellite, no Netflix. Know spectrum, know satellite, watch Netflix. Spectrum fuels all commerce in space today and it will also do so on the Moon too, enabling secure communications to and from the Earth and its market of eight billion people (we’re talking 2029) and commerce on the surface and in the cities and settlements below. 6G on the Moon? Netflix already comes as part of the service package of some US cell phone providers, why not use your cell phone in such a settlement? Why not, but only if it’s licensed!

Legitimate commercial operations protected from harmful interference will be key, just as it is in orbit today for on the Moon in 2029.

Laws do not stop at the edge of the atmosphere and 100% of that investment is enforced legally back here on Earth. ITU spectrum filings have played a key role in the development of the global satellite economy just as they have in space exploration from its very early days, most especially in regards to the Moon. From Soviet Luna missions to US Ranger missions they all had ITU filings. Spectrum paved the way in 1959, just as it will in 2029. Licensed spectrum enables true commerce and real investment in space.

When we think of the New Lunar Economy and the

thriving series of settlements on the Moon in 2029 of course we envision the people living and working there, rockets flying to and from the Moon with passengers, cargo, and more, but we at ManSat truly see the vital enabling path of spectrum jurisdiction, laws and regulations that enable commerce today absolutely continuing to enable the commerce of tomorrow on the Moon and more. No spectrum, no space. Know spectrum, know space, know the Moon in 2029.

The author of this article sadly does not receive any commercial consideration from Netflix.

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Meet the FUTURE of the Industry

TODAY Daniel Alvarez, Space Mission Program Manager, Millennium Space Systems, A Boeing Company

PROMISE AWARD WINNER

At the age of 31, Dan has served and excelled in many roles since joining the Boeing Company. As a Mechanical Design Engineer, he was a key designer of Boeing’s Modular Reflector, which significantly reduced the cost of a reflector and is now baselined on all of Boeing’s largest commercial satellites. Dan’s current role at Millennium Space Systems is as a Space Mission Program Manager, where he is leading one of Millennium’s flagship programs. He was responsible for the first-ever implementation of an Earned Value Management System and Integrated Baseline Review at Millennium, and successfully led a competitive proposal effort to win the first two production Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity delivery orders to build up the follow-on operational constellation. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/daniel-alvarez

Julian Horvath, Principal Engineer, Satellite Operations and Ground Development, Iridium Julian began his career as a Systems Engineer at General Dynamics after receiving his Bachelor of Science in Space Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In his next position at Orbital Sciences Corporation, he led the systems engineering effort to design and implement an on-orbit data storage solution for all on-orbit vehicles, for which he received an award from the company. Julian joined Iridium in 2012 and was the youngest employee ever at the company to be promoted to Principal Engineer. In this position, Julian was tasked with leading the launch preparation, on-orbit testing, operational checkout and mission activation for Iridium NEXT, one of the largest constellations of commercial satellites ever launched. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/julian-horvath

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PROMISE AWARD WINNER

Natalia Larrea Brito, Senior Affiliate Consultant, Euroconsult

PROMISE AWARD WINNER

Natalia completed a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering from Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (Madrid, Spain). She also holds a Diploma in Astronomy and Planetary Science from the Open University UK and is a graduate of the International Space University (ISU) SSP14 program, for which she received SSPI’s International Scholarship that year. In her current role at Euroconsult, she manages research activities and consulting missions for government and private organizations in the space sector.

She focuses on the assessment of government programs, new technologies and the strategic analysis of industrial and commercial space markets with special focus on space exploration. She supports and advises established and developing space players, assessing new satellite programs, defining new space policies and conducting socioeconomic studies. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/natalia-larrea-brito

Chris Beauregard, Policy Advisor, National Space Council Chris became a policy analyst for the White House National Space Council in September 2018 while completing his Masters in International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. In his current role as policy advisor, he supports the office’s priorities in the civil, commercial and national security space sectors. Chris is the lead for several initiatives, including workforce and acquisition reform at NASA, space commercialization strategy, education and outreach, planetary protection, planetary defense, and establishing measures to protect and grow the U.S. space industrial base.

While studying at George Washington University, he served as a staff assistant at the university’s Space Policy Institute and was active in the GW Space Society and the GW CubeSat program, where he was an advisor for regulatory compliance. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/chris-beauregard

Gaurav Bhatia, Principal Engineer, Hughes Network Systems Gaurav joined the technical staff at Hughes Network Systems in 2008 after completing a Masters in Electrical Engineering at Villanova University. He quickly advanced to the position of Principal Engineer, making him responsible for design and development of state-of-the-art satellite communications modem products. Since joining Hughes, Gaurav has made a number of engineering contributions to the JUPITER System product line in the areas of digital communications, forward error correction coding and digital signal processing. The current generation of JUPITER System satellite modems feature several of Gaurav’s technical advances, including the TDMA demodulator family of products for QPSK, 8PSK and 16APSK modulations. He developed the advanced Low-Density ParityCheck (LDPC) forward error correcting (FEC) code designs for Hughes modem products that utilize the ETSI IPOS and DVB-S2X standards. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/ gaurav-bhatia

Dr. Nikita Chiu, Ad Astra Distinguished Fellow in Robotic and Outer Space Governance, Space Engineering Research Center Nikita began her career in technology governance with a business degree in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge, after having previously taught Foreign Policy and Global Governance upon completion of her Ph.D. in International Relations from The Graduate Institute in Geneva. She worked as the Research Fellow in Robotics and Space Technologies at the University of Oxford and was an Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge. While at Oxford, Nikita led the Robotics and Outer Space Governance programs and developed new approaches to engaging the diplomatic circle, governments, industry and academia to produce timely governance advice for both national and international actors. She currently advises on Robotic and Outer Space Governance at the Space Engineering Research Center. Read more at www. sspi.org/cpages/dr-nikita-chiu The Orbiter The Future is Looking Up

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Ryan Clulo, Freedom Software Engineer, ATLAS Space Operations Ryan began his career at ATLAS Space Operations as a Software Engineer in 2018, taking on responsibilities from building software interfaces and assembling antenna systems to RF ground site design. He was integral in the development of the Freedom Platform, ATLAS’ global ground antenna network and software architecture. Ryan’s responsibilities as a Freedom Software Engineer also include communication of site status to customers, developing and documenting procedures and designing notification systems. In February of 2019, he was selected to participate in the Catalyst Space Accelerator’s Resilient Space Communications Cohort--sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory—with the goal of developing dual use technologies to solve Air Force problems in partnership with independent private solutions. Ryan used his time in the program to meet with commercial and government stakeholders to gain feedback on the Freedom Platform. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/ryan-clulo

Lindsay Crossan, O3b Requirements & Verification Systems Engineering Lead, The Boeing Company Lindsay began her career at Boeing Satellite Systems in 2014 as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer for the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite program (TDRS) after completing a Masters of Engineering in Systems Engineering and a Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. While studying at Stevens, she completed five co-ops at aerospace companies, including SpaceX, NASA, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Hamilton Sundstrand. As part of the TDRS team, Lindsay led a critical path re-design effort, implemented a photogrammetry system for significant spacecraft integration and test savings and performed systems engineering support. Her work on the photogrammetry system led to significant program cost reduction, as it reduced critical path antenna furling time from two weeks to only five hours. Read more at www.sspi.org/ cpages/lindsay-crossan

Dr. Ashwati Das, Systems Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Ashwati joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a Systems Engineer after completing her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University with a dissertation on fusing the exploration of complex astrodynamical regimes with machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches. Such approaches could lead to greater operations efficiency, improved mission resiliency and mission-enabling trajectory designs. During her time as a graduate student in the Multi-Body Dynamics group at Purdue, she conducted research on the application of machine learning techniques to the design of transfer trajectories and recovery operations in the Earth-Moon system. During the course of her graduate career, she also provided trajectory analysis for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Orbital ATK. Ashwati also led student-driven concept development as the Principal Investigator of a Trojan asteroid rendezvous mission study at Purdue, and as the Mission Design Chair for NASA JPL’s 2016 Planetary Science Summer School. Read more at www.sspi.org/ cpages/dr-ashwati-das

Clémentine Decoopman, Executive Director, Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) Clémentine began her career working in onboarding and marketing at Airbus Helicopters after completing her Masters in International Business at Kedge Business School in Marseille (France) and her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing at San Diego State University in San Diego (USA). From Airbus Helicopters, she went on to work as a marketing and events planner at Arianespace Inc. in Washington DC (USA).

Clémentine became Executive Director of the Space Generation Advisory Council in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications in June 2017. SGAC is a non-governmental, non-profit organization and network of more than 15 000 members which aims to represent university students and young space professionals ages 18-35 to the United Nations, space agencies, industry and academia. Her responsibilities include managing day-to-day operations for the organization, where she leads a team of over fifty active volunteer members. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/clementine-decoopman

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Guillermo Del Rio, Infrastructure Coordinator, Elara Comunicaciones Guillermo began his career at Elara Comunicaciones in 2013 as a Teleport Engineer.

As his interest in satellite developed, he moved on to the position of Satellite Platform Engineer and then Satellite Platform Specialist, a position in which he worked on configuring and maintaining new satellite hubs and networks, as well as analyzing use of satellite bandwidth. Guillermo took on the position of Infrastructure Coordinator in 2017, extending his responsibilities to LAN platform, monitoring and RF & facilities projects. He distinguished himself early on in his career at Elara by handling one of the company’s most successful projects to date: installing 3,000 remotes for the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes, a Mexican government division focused on bringing connectivity to remote and rural communities. Guillermo was instrumental in keeping the project running without delays, leading to roughly 200% growth in Elara’s total number of operational VSATs. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/guillermo-del-rio

Isil Demir, Director, Mission Systems, Planet Labs Inc. Isil began her career as a software engineer at a startup in Istanbul, where she built geospatial web applications. She pursued a Masters of Science in Software Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley in 2013, during which she collaborated with NASA Ames engineers to develop an electronic field notebook application for astronauts and scientists. Upon graduating in 2014, Isil joined Planet as a DevOps Engineer. She worked on Planet’s Missions Software team to build the software infrastructure and platform to fully automate operations of the largest Earth-imaging constellation of satellites in the world. The software she and her team are developing is at the heart of Planet’s Agile Aerospace approach and is absolutely integral to the constellation’s functioning with minimum-to-no human supervision. She became Director of Mission Systems in 2019.

When Planet acquired Terra Bella in 2016, Isil began working on fully integrating SkySats into Planet’s satellite operations. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/isil-demir

Sajit Jumani, Vice President, Business Development and Finance, GEOshare Sajit began his career in the Lockheed Martin Operations Leadership Development Program after completing a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. In Lockheed Martin’s program, he completed rotations in manufacturing, sustainment, quality, sourcing and international business development, honing a wide variety of skills. After graduating from the program, Sajit completed his MBA at UNC Chapel Hill and led the development of international strategy for Lockheed Martin Space before joining GEOshare as a Manager. He rose to a position of Director and then Vice President of Business Development and Finance in only three years of working at GEOshare, taking on responsibility for eighteen major customers. Sajit’s professional responsibilities include managing customer relationships, collaborating directly with customers on requirements, and providing financial options that suit the customers’ business needs. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/sajit-jumani

Jomya Lei, Lead Payload Systems Engineer, The Boeing Company Jomya began her career at Boeing in 2013 as a Systems Engineer. Her responsibilities include interfacing with customers, suppliers, cross-functional team members and senior leadership to execute on the project spanning the entire lifecycle: negotiating low-level designs, managing system risks/opportunities, product manufacturing and specification validation/verification. Jomya was an instrumental member of the team that negotiated Boeing’s Kacific partnership and joined the program team once it was secured. She currently serves as Lead Payload Systems Engineer on the Kacific-1 and JCSAT-18 programs, which aim to provide affordable broadband communications to Japan and countries in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The programs’ payloads are new complex High Throughput Satellite designs that will greatly increase capacity and enable low-cost bandwidth to end users. As the Lead Payload Engineer, Jomya works directly with the SKY Perfect JSAT and Kacific customers on a variety of design, performance and analysis responsibilities. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/jomya-lei The Orbiter The Future is Looking Up

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Joao Lousada, ISS Columbus Flight Director, GMV Insyen AG Over a three-year career at GMV Insyen AG, Joao has worked as a constant advocate and mentor to local youth and the community at large. He currently serves as a Flight Director for Columbus, the European module of the International Space Station, making him responsible for planning and operations of the module, as well as the safety of astronauts on board. Joao works with the astronauts on a daily basis, providing support for their endeavors in human physiology and material science studies in space. He also served as increment lead during the ISS Increments 58 and 59. Joao frequently organizes and executes tours of the Columbus Control Centre for young people and the local community to give the public a better understanding of his company’s work with ISS. Joao is also actively involved with the Austrian Space Forum, where he serves as an analog astronaut and commander for Mars analog missions. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/joaolousada

Andrea Marin, Principal Business Solutions Engineer, Intelsat

Andrea began her career at ATDI after completing a Bachelors of Science in Telecommunications Engineering and postgraduate qualification in Strategic Telecoms Management. She served in a variety of roles during her seven years at ATDI, including RF consultancy, software development and project engineering, with a focus on communications and spectrum management projects. In her time with ADTI, Andrea delivered a powerful and comprehensive web-based spectrum management solution for the Argentine Spectrum Regulator (Enacom) for use in domestic and international regulatory applications, as well as supporting similar projects with other spectrum regulators in Latin America such as Anatel (Brazil), MinTIC (Colombia), IFT (Mexico) and others. Andrea joined Intelsat as a Principal Business Solutions Engineer near the end of 2017, where she provides subject-matter expertise and broad solutions design and support for key departments. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/andrea-marin

Adam Milewich, Satellite Engineer, Innovation Team, Intelsat Adam began his career at Intelsat as an intern while finishing his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering at Purdue University. Upon graduation, he joined the Intelsat Innovation team as an Associate Engineer and was promoted to the position of Engineer within one year. Adam has been instrumental in several key transmission engineering advances by making improvements to current modes and processes and performing analysis for future spacecraft. He was responsible for integrating Intelsat’s EpicNG satellites 37e and Horizons 3e into the company’s transmission tools systems, a task that required coordination with spacecraft manufacturers, collecting and reviewing a large amount of measured payload data, implementing new data models and testing and validating the model with an in-orbit test. Adam also worked on identifying a new efficient and fast approach to conducting Intelsat EpicNG analysis for future services using a method that relies on data analytics of the current loading of beams to respond to future pre-commit opportunities. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/adam-milewich

Abiodun Ogunbiyi, President, CEO, Founder and Engineer, Aerospace Palace International Abiodun is an American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics Educator Associate, a motivational speaker, Space Foundation Teacher Liaison Officer, Queen Elizabeth Engineering Ambassador, a member of the European Space Board and researcher with a degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Ibadan. Early in his career, he introduced SMS Pro Aviation safety management into the Nigerian aerospace market. An integrated solution that facilitates aviation operations, SMS Pro Aviation allows for easy, real-time report generation, automated alerts and improved transparency throughout the market. Abiodun founded Aerospace Palace International Nigeria, Aerospace Palace Academy Nigeria and an online Aerospace Radio Nigeria to promote aerospace and STEM education among youths in Nigeria, to provide job opportunities and raise quality future leaders in the aerospace industry. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/abiodun-ogunbiyi

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Manny Shar, Head of Analytics, Bryce Space & Technology, Ltd. Manny has served as an analyst for a wide variety of organizations, including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and Inmarsat, after obtaining his Bachelors in Computer Science from the University of Kent and his Masters in Space Studies from the International Space University. In 2018, Manny became Head of Analytics at Bryce Space & Technology, where he leads consulting engagements for government and commercial clients. He has worked on innovative projects in many areas, including early stage investment appraisal, analysis of multi-billion-dollar assets, carrying out cross-functional strategic business development activities and commercial model development in the satellite communications sector. He has played a crucial role in building up Bryce as a serious revenue-generating business in Europe, chiefly through growing the company’s client base by delivering projects with expert guidance and business analytics to a variety of clients throughout the space industry. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/manny-shar

Jeremy Turpin, CTO & Co-Founder, Isotropic Systems Jeremy began his career as the president and founder of E x H, Inc., after completing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, specializing in electromagnetics, from Pennsylvania State University. As president and founder, he was responsible for software development and commercialization of the ray-tracing software package for modelling, design and optimization of inhomogenous optical devices. Jeremy successfully proposed and received funding from DARPA and JNLWD for development of software and hardware in concert with Penn State and acquired and executed the contract for the DARPA EXTREME program while at E x H. He became a co-founder of Isotropic Systems after recruiting a CEO for E x H and took on the role of Chief Technology Officer, a position in which he leads the company’s Lens Array Antenna product development activities. Jeremy is responsible for all of Isotropic’s engineering activities, recruiting, IP protection and patent filings. Read more at www.sspi.org/cpages/jeremy-turpin

Highlights from the 2019 Future Leaders Dinner

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The 2019 MENTOR of the Year

Robert Lyon, Chief Engineer and Executive Director of Flight Assurance, Maxar Technologies Rob is the Chief Engineer and Executive Director of Flight Assurance for Maxar (previously SSL), a position he has held for six years. In his role as Executive Director of Flight Assurance, he determines whether a spacecraft is ready to launch, making him responsible for discovering any technical anomalies pre-launch and seeing them quickly and properly fixed. Rob monitors all missions from Maxar’s Mission Control Center to ensure that good decisions are made by the flight operations team. He was chosen for this critical role based on his deep technical expertise and his proven ability to make sound decisions under pressure and lead every team he has headed at Maxar to success.

Rob began his career as a Nuclear Submarine Officer after graduating from the Naval Academy in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He served in multiple safetycritical roles over the next twelve years, including qualifying as Chief Engineer for nuclear power plants, qualifying watch officers to operate nuclear power plants and serving as a Navigations and Operations Officer and Department Head. In this last role, he was recognized as the top Nav/Ops Officer in the Pacific Submarine Fleet. Rob completed two Masters degrees at the Naval Postgraduate school during this time, one in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and one in Engineering Physics/Applied Physics.

After his time in the Navy, Rob joined Maxar in 1999 as a Senior Reliability Engineer and was quickly promoted to Lead Systems Electrical Engineer. He led the development of SSL’s highly successful lithium ion power system while in this role and also completed an MBA at Santa Clara University. Rob went on to serve as a Systems Engineering Manager, a role in which he guided an inexperienced team of systems engineers

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to develop their skills while working on highly complex spacecraft. He was promoted to his current role as Chief Engineer and Executive Director of Flight Assurance in 2013.

Since joining Maxar, Rob has been a highly soughtafter mentor in the company’s formal mentoring program for high potential employees. His mentees consistently develop improved business acumen and technical and leadership skills, leading to quicker promotions and greater employee retention. Rob is seen by many at the company as a “go to” mentor for employees, particularly those facing professional challenges that might otherwise lead them to leave the company. For example, he once formed a cohort of four Maxar employees working under him to pursue an RF Engineering Certificate from UC San Diego based on one employee’s interest in the program.

Rob also serves as a mentor for engineering students at the Naval Postgraduate School and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. In this role, he shares Maxar’s facilities and talent pool with interested students, gives guest lectures and serves on project review panels. Rob coordinates yearly on-site visits and tours for students, in which they get to see the company’s spacecraft and test facilities and learn about the processes used to ensure successful missions. Visiting students often do group project presentations while on-site, with company employees serving as their review panel, allowing them to hone their presentation skills and deepen their understanding through feedback. Rob also encourages others at Maxar to become mentors by bringing in experts from throughout the company to speak to students about their careers and experiences.

Outside of work, Rob is the father of four grown children and has been an active volunteer in his local community as a baseball and softball coach and serving on the Pony League Board. He makes a point of organizing teams to play in the Special Needs Children Center Foundation’s annual fundraiser golf tournament. Rob has also participated for several years in the NASA Ames Childcare Center annual golf tournament.

Business Models for a GEO Bandwidth Bonanza

By Gagan Agrawal, NSR Senior Analyst The industry is entering the Satcom 3.0 era and capacity addition is consistently on the rise. Several ambitious projects in VHTS are being undertaken by Viasat, Hughes, SES and Eutelsat, while players such as OneWeb, Telesat and SpaceX are planning LEO constellations. Total capacity addition by GEOs is estimated at more than 5 Tbps in the next 3 years, while non-GEOs are expected to rake in anywhere between 1-3 Tbps in the similar timeframe depending on the manufacturing/launch timelines.

So, is there a demand for this massive capacity?

Certainly, NSR estimates fill rates at 44% for Ka-band HTS for 2020, dropping in 2021 and regaining to 50% by 2024. Meanwhile the supply is expected to increase by 3.3x in 2024 compared to 2019. Any industry showcasing 50% take up rate on a net increase of 3.3x supply should be considered as doing well and – with satcom in growth phase – the expectations certainly back the operators.

How would this influx of capacity impact pricing?

The Global Mean Index Price as predicted in NSR’s annual Satellite Capacity Pricing Index report sharply falls over the period of 5 years from 2016-2020, with a slower decline expected post 2022, once the market settles down with $25-$70/ Mbps/Month wholesale economics across several segments.

Changing market addressability via underlying change in satellite economics

Both Viasat and Hughes are targeting a $12/Mbps/ Mo break-even floor pricing that translates to $25$45/Mbps/Mo wholesale pricing for applications like consumer BB, backhaul, aero and Gov/Mil – which translates to 2-3x better economics as compared to 100 Gbps payloads. This economics is expected to be better than LEO or MEO constellations as well.

VHTS at these price points unlocks new addressable markets across geographies and demographics – a play required to fill in the massive satellites. Targeting supply, building flexibility, selling volumes of wholesale capacity and building a retail distribution network are all key challenges that integrated operators are best suited to do. Thus, not surprisingly, the industry has seen operators like SES play more downstream in the past 2-3 years in order to un-commoditize capacity and reach the end-user for predicting the bandwidth growth curve. More regional and global operators are expected to follow suit.

LEO-HTS: Fallibilities and long-term impact?

LEO has maintained its charm for some time now, with major contenders in OneWeb, SpaceX, Telesat and possibly Amazon vying to launch in 2021 and beyond.

High-capacity, global-coverage, potentially low-latency and low-profile platforms are the key value proposition of LEO connectivity. With increasing GEO pressure, LEOs basically lose all but the last two value points, with low-profile platforms expected to remain expensive with low performance at low scale for a long time (5+ years). Thus, they face a litmus test not only in getting the ground segment ready for mobility and consumer broadband applications, but also for getting landing rights in critical countries that The Orbiter The Future is Looking Up

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BUSINESS MODELS FOR A GEO BANDWIDTH BONANZA are expected to exponentially increase bandwidth demand in the next 3-5 years.

As such, LEOs are expected to be under more pressure in terms of pricing, given the competition from VHTS (Viasat/Hughes), as well as pressure in service footprint/capacity, with challenges in

returning on investment or establishing customers/ business cases. NSR expects that LEOs would still have a place in remote/niche applications, and drive the development of next gen (GEO & LEO, or multiband) terminals and new applications, but at a much more limited global market opportunity.

The Bottom Line:

Will LEO constellations be successful, and will they impact GEO adversely?

• It’s too early to determine the success of LEO with ground terminals and landing rights conundrums, though companies like OneWeb and Telesat clearly look to bet on it. SpaceX and Amazon have both in-house capabilities and the finance to back them up at a time when highly leveraged operators won’t be able to go truly global with their constellations.

With latency and low-profile platforms as the only clear winning attributes for LEO as of now, with expectations for wholesale pricing lagging behind VHTS and with planning/manufacturing delays, the impact on VHTS can be considered minimal in the 2020-2024 timeframe.

Will satellite operators be able to increase top line and create captive markets?

• All operators will look to ride the wave of bandwidth consumption and make satellite ubiquitous – though under intense margin pressure and regional competition. EBITDA has improved in 2019 on the back of declining top-line, but this is expected to reverse from 2021 after the launch of new capacity.

Companies like Hughes, SES, Viasat and, to an extent, Eutelsat are expected to create competitive markets by planning fleets more efficiently, while others should plan now or plan the M&A route.

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Youth Not Wasted

By Louis Zacharilla, Director of Development and Innovation OK, so my experience this year for the First Better Satellite World DAY in London started with a woman from New Zealand assuming that, because I live in New York, I personally may know the current President of the USA. (For the record, I do not.)

It didn’t really matter though because she next whipped out a copy of the US Constitution and forcefully handed it to me with the following suggestion: “This is THE Instruction Manual for your country. I would advise you to read it and then give a copy to your leaders.”

(Again, for the record, I have read it but have not memorized it. I am working on it.)

The young Kiwi then went into a very articulate ramble about the need to make sure that our oceans are sustainable and that we use all the “smart” technology and data we can to influence people to protect the seas, enforce maritime rules on fishing and work against a range of hazards that really could cost us everything we know and love.

I was pleased to tell her that I was in town to give an award to an organization, Geeks Without Frontiers, that was focused on a model that can better address Illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, overfishing and seafood fraud. The model supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), particularly in the areas

Better Satellite World Day in London 2019

of innovation, industry, infrastructure and life below water.

She was pleased to hear it.

“Sounds like Oscar Wilde was wrong,” she concluded.

I thought to myself, that’s a good way to open the 5th annual Better Satellite World Awards Dinner.

And it was.

This year’s recipients challenged a few stereotypes, including Wilde’s oft-quoted phrase that “youth is wasted on the young.”

It may be true that 61% of young adults have “no problem” with a society that is “entirely materialistic,” according to a Pew Study.

But many are also solving problems they know. Like young Abhas Maskey of Nepal, the project manager of the BIRDS-3 satellite project, who accepted the award for the BIRDS program. He is focused on helping his country leverage the new era of space for national benefit and the BIRDS program revealed the real strength of this industry: international collaboration. Countries from Bhutan to Turkey, who once had no business dreaming of a space agency or program are now putting up cubesats and moving in the direction of the commercial space economy thanks to this program.

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YOUTH NOT WASTED Another Western leader once said that “government is the problem, not the solution.” But the UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Program has supported relief through 12 disasters, provided satellite data to 25,000 farmers worldwide, trained 300 rural health professionals and have delivered satellite Internet learning tools to over 34,000 students, while also providing satellite solutions to 1,000 fishing vessels. Good enough for government work? Our jury thought so. And so did Mr. Chris Lee, the Chief Scientist of the UK Space Agency, who came to 116 Pall Mall to accept the award form Milbank’s Nick Swinburne. His acceptance was articulate and commended SSPI for

being the only agency that identifies how satellites can make a better world.

Former Monty Python star Eric Idle once referred to himself as a “failed pessimist.” I suppose anyone looking around the rooms of GVF’s HTS Roundtable and the SSPI UK Chapter’s Better Satellite World Dinner arrived at the same conclusion years ago.

The oceans and the economy are now part of the domain and the responsibility of our industry. We may continue to be “invisible” but the indispensable aspect showed itself again in London on the first Monday in December.

Making a Better World in 2019 and Beyond

The 2019 Better Satellite World Award Recipients

BIRDS Satellite Project

UK Space Agency International Partnership Programme

Geeks Without Frontiers

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The BIRDS Satellite Project

The Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite (BIRDS) Project was initiated in 2015 by the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan with the help of over ten partner institutions. It was envisioned by Dr. Mengu Cho, Professor at Kyutech, who became Principal Investigator for the Project. The BIRDS Project trains graduate students from many developing countries in using innovative and costeffective systems engineering during the course of a two-year satellite project. The BIRDS project was selected by the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) as the winner of the 2017 GEDC Airbus Diversity Award for diversity in engineering. The Project has provided training for students from many countries including: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Egypt, Ghana, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, and Turkey.

One BIRDS project is begun each year, with 2019 marking the fourth generation (BIRDS-4) since the Project’s inception. The yearly projects are carried out by graduate students enrolled at Kyutech for a masters or doctoral degree, and such projects are supervised by four Kyutech faculty members.

During these two-year satellite projects, the students design, develop, and operate CubeSats belonging to participating countries. Since 2015, the BIRDS Project has trained fifty-two graduate students, thirtytwo of whom hail from under-represented countries, and launch eleven 1U CubeSats.

The long-term goal of the BIRDS Project is to train students in developing countries to help launch and steer their nations’ space programs. As part of the project, Kyutech has built a global human and ground station network of more than fifteen countries that are continually operating satellites and sharing research ideas. The Project hosts an annual BIRDS workshop to foster communication and cooperation, allowing its participants and graduates to meet in person and discuss their progress and new programs. It has supported Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nepal and Sri Lanka in launching their first national satellites with the help of project graduates. The BIRDS Project has also supported ten institutions in developing countries through the difficult process of creating their own sustainable space research and education programs.

Geeks Without Frontiers

Geeks Without Frontiers (Geeks) is a platform for global impact. A technology neutral nonprofit, Geeks’ mission is to bring the benefits of broadband connectivity – health, education, poverty reduction, gender equality and the other UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) – to the estimated 3.5 billion people who remain unconnected.

Sponsored by government and private-sector stakeholders, Geeks has developed a commercially sustainable, satellite-based connectivity model, designed to help address forced labor and human trafficking in the commercial fishing industry. Whilst initially focused on Southeast Asia (the largest regional exporter for the global fishing industry), the Geeks model is a scalable template applicable to commercial fishing supply chains globally.

In addition to addressing Human Rights concerns via vessel geo-positioning and providing connectivity to the crew, the model has commercial benefits for vessel owners including the ability to transmit catch reports, monitor weather, conduct safe navigation and send distress signals. The same model can also be used to better address Illegal Unreported and Unregulated fishing, overfishing and seafood fraud. The Geeks model supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), particularly in the areas of innovation, industry, infrastructure, life below water, peace, justice, strong institutions, and partnerships.

A critical element of the model is Geeks’ regulatory and policy guidance for national administrations to enable more effective delivery of satellite-based solutions, together with complementary systems

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for hybrid connectivity in low-ARPU maritime and other remote environments. The policy principles advanced by Geeks Without Frontiers for the initiative include strategic liberalization -- to harness competitive dynamics for accelerated access to connectivity even onboard the commercial fleets of developing countries -- and regulatory reforms such as streamlined licensing and spectrum allocations that support satellite communications both onshore and offshore.

Another important dimension of Geeks Without Frontiers’ work has been extensive research and analysis conducted to identify “best of breed” technologies and innovative business-cases -- business cases that will close -- for delivery of low-cost connectivity in the world’s commercial fishing fleets, where most of the vessels still do not have access to suitable communications and where a lack of transparency has emboldened criminal elements who engage in the practices of forced labor and illegal fishing.

Satellite is a central feature of the technology models and business-case portfolio prepared by Geeks to address these challenges and, having drawn from the experience of leading operators, terminal and component manufacturers and value-added resellers, the organization has brought industry together with government and humanitarian stakeholders to create a coalition of the willing, to incorporate multiple perspectives and interests, to integrate those considerations into financially, socially and environmentally sustainable models, and to accelerate implementation of connectivity for human rights and sustainable oceans. In particular, the initiative has targeted small fishing vessels (<30 tons) which comprise most of the world’s commercial fleets and where the need for communications is most acute for millions of people.

UK Space Agency – International Partnership Programme

The UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme (IPP) is a fiveyear, £30M/year ‘space for development’ programme established in 2016, and currently the largest undertaking of its kind in the world. It focuses on utilising the UK space sector’s research and innovation capabilities to deliver sustainable economic and societal benefits to emerging and developing economies around the world. IPP has so far grant-funded 33 projects in 44 countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific and South America, which are run by a large variety of UK and international organisations across industry, academia and non-profit entities. These projects address a variety of critical issues, including reducing deforestation, climate/disaster resilience, remote learning, land-use monitoring, reducing maritime problems, health and renewable energy. The projects generally take between two and five years to be delivered, and range from £500k to £15M in grant value plus match funding. IPP’s portfolio of partners now include 122 space sector organisations and 132 international organisations.

The IPP website (www.spacefordevelopment.org) outlines the goals and benefits of each project, its activities and results, and provides links to open-source study documents. This data is available to any organisation (e.g. development agencies) seeking advice, case studies and information for their databases to improve future projects.

Some recent examples of how IPP projects are demonstrating impact include:

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The Earth and Sea Observation System (EASOS), developed in partnership with the Malaysian government, which has helped maritime authorities map the trajectory of oil spills, consequently improving the response to, and policing of, marine pollution. Clean-up costs saved by early intervention are estimated to be over £1.5M each in the two spills identified so far.

•

Two projects supporting sea rescues in South Africa, Madagascar and sustainable fishing in Indonesia have saved 45 lives, been used in 5 rescue missions and 976 small fishing boats have

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been equipped with vehicle tracking devices. Based on this, IPP is directly benefiting around 6,635 fishermen and indirectly almost 25,000 people in fishing households.

•

A collaboration between the UN, UK and Vietnamese partners is developing D-MOSS, a tool to predict outbreaks of Dengue Fever up to eight months in advance, allowing for life-saving preparations and preventative measures. The same methods could also be used to forecast outbreaks of Zika, which has recently begun to be reported in Vietnam.

IPP projects have supported 12 disaster situations since the Programme’s creation, provided satellite data to 25,000 farmers worldwide, provided training to over 300 rural health professionals and satellite internet learning tools to over 34,000 students and 500 teachers, provided satellite solutions to over 1000 fishing vessels and protected more than 380,000 hectares of forests through satellite-based observation. IPP projects have been shown to be more cost-effective in achieving their UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) than alternative non-space solutions.

How Do You Train the Space Workforce of the Future?

Building a satellite constellation requires you to massproduce spacecraft with reliable high quality at an everdecreasing cost based on continuous innovation. It takes a satellite assembly line – something that has never existed before. It takes a massive international supply chain that can deliver high-quality components and assemblies on time.

It takes robot-assisted assembly and automated testing systems.

It also takes people – not the usual PhDs and engineers but technician-level employees with the specific skills needed to produce spacecraft. And there just aren’t enough of them, not even on the Space Coast of Florida, where so much innovation is taking place.

If there aren’t enough qualified people to staff your assembly line, it’s up to you to create them. That’s what OneWeb Satellites did on the Florida Space Coast. The joint European and American venture, combining the efforts of Airbus and OneWeb, foresaw the challenge of staffing its new assembly facility, which opened in Merritt Island, Florida in 2017. It led a multi-company effort to design, gain certification and establish funding for a European-style apprenticeship program that will train high-school graduates (and eventually high-school students) in mechatronics, fiber composites manufacturing and advanced machining.

You can learn more about their efforts, challenges, and successes in SSPI’s report Making Leaders: Staffing the Space Assembly Line, sponsored by OneWeb Satellites. The report is free for SSPI Members and available for purchase by others.

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Insight and data diversification driving ambitions in Earth observation

By Craig Barner, Senior Financial Journalist, Connectivity Location-based services and financial services are Business likely to be the first industries to benefit from faster access to this low-cost data in a market previously The coming surge of satellite dominated by government customers, Euroconsult said. imagery is prompting a shift to A fast-growing opportunity in EO does not involve the collection of imagery from imagery at all, Northern Sky Research said in a recent multiple sources and to data analysis. New technology, rising environmental insight-oriented service models, concerns and a diversifying industry are encouraging amid the rise of non-imagery the development of non-imagery datasets for climate datasets and largescale plans. change monitoring, with radio occultation, microwave The Earth observation (EO) and greenhouse gas emissions some of the most sector is primed for an explosion, promising emerging datasets. as the number of birds for Non-imagery EO data is expected to grow at a civil/commercial applications whopping 46.5% CAGR to US$1.2bn between 2019and smallsats through 2027 is forecast to expand by 28, the analytics provider said. Some 250 satellites are extraordinary levels of magnitude. Given the expansion proposed in that timeframe, with some already deployed of supply, prices are expected to fall faster than the by Spire, GHGSat and Orbital Micro Systems that will current single digits. Launch costs are also dropping, drive these revenues. as big names such as Arianespace and SpaceX gain a The two largest smallsat operators, Planet and Spire, foothold in the smallsat launch segment. are each offering data analytics. The former boasts The shift of data to analytic services from imagery is nearly 400 satellites in orbit, with the latter having some increasing, as EO players devise new business strategies 111 birds in space. to expand the revenue, customer count and simplicity of Serving 11 end markets, Planet Analytics leverages data collection, including remote sensing data company machine learning to transform global, daily satellite SkyWatch. imagery into information The Canada-based company’s feeds that detect and concept calls for aggregating classify objects, identify EO data from many “industrygeographic features and leading” sources into a single monitor change over time. platform called EarthCache. It And Spire is focusing touts benefits that include a cut in on analysing its data for data integration costs, simplified customers interested in data searches and a stream of weather systems, resource actionable intelligence. Sinai management and other Ventures and Space Angels led applications.

SkyWatch’s C$4m (US$3.04m) Market pull for analytics seed round in February 2018. is coming from the Others are taking a similar business intelligence and tack while attempting to leverage insurance sectors, as well other technology, including AIas from infrastructure site focused US startup Hypergiant monitoring and precision and high-tech solutions provider Dynetics, also based agriculture. For these types of services, subscriptions in the US. They formed a partnership to gather satellite and recurring sales to multiple users are expected to keep data from multiple sources, aiming for governmental and pricing affordable. New services will also benefit from commercial customers that use Amazon Web Services cloud computing and artificial intelligence, technologies (AWS). The idea is to leverage AWS’ cloud services for that will enable even higher data consumption and mission and payload on-demand services. faster analysis.

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Thousands of EO satellites?

Grand ambitions sum up the outlook for EO, as more than 2,000 satellites by 2027 could be launched to serve the segment, according to Euroconsult. Not even 200 birds were launched over the 2008-17 segment, including 162 satellites with mass greater than 50kg for civil/commercial Earth observation and 31 for GEO/LEO meteorology.

Regardless of the number of satellites that are actually put in orbit, the increased competition is good for satellite operators and their customers, as price drops are expected to fall faster than the current rate of 3-5% a year.

Nearly 1,500 smallsats – those less than 500kg in mass – will have been launched from 2018-27 to serve EO applications, the vast majority being less than 50kg, the researcher said in a report. More than 20 companies intend to develop low-cost smallsat constellations for EO, including satellites designed to collect optical, radar and hyperspectral imaging. Constellations increase the frequency of data collection for better global coverage and faster detection of change – the wheelhouse of EO satellites.

On top of this, some 650 satellites for civil/ commercial EO are also forecast as governments and commercial enterprises launch capacity. Dan Jablonsky, CEO of space giant Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR), underlined on the company’s Q3 2019 earnings call in early November that it expects to deploy “new constellation assets” in its imagery segment. He was likely referring to the US$600m Worldview Legion network with the deployment of the Legion 1 and Legion 2 birds expected in 2021.

The EO sector overall is forecast to have experienced 8.2% annual growth to about US$7.5bn between 201828, Northern Sky Research noted recently.

Maxar’s mixed bag

It is a mixed bag in imagery for Maxar Technologies in terms of developments as the company plans a billiondollar bond offering.

On the upbeat side, the company said in late-August that it has been awarded a four-year contract with the US government for on-demand access to satellite imagery. It is worth US$44m for the base year and includes three option years at the same value that would extend through August 2023. The market for imaging and analytics companies is still mostly limited to government customers and high-paying users like those in the oil and gas industry, though end uses are expanding. The contract was likely a factor in the company’s early November announcement of a private offering of senior secured notes worth US$1.25bn due in 2023.

On the downside, however, Maxar Technologies in January announced the loss of the WorldView-4 satellite, and it is understood that the company settled for twothirds of what it had been seeking from some insurers.

It is also up and down for Maxar Technology’s imagery segment as it saw gains in adjusted EBITDA and revenue in its early November Q3 2019 earnings announcement, but it has had sluggish results year-to-date.

In Q3 2019, imagery generated an almost 9% increase in adjusted EBITDA to US$140m, compared with the same period a year ago. Year-to-date, however, the segment is down 3%. to US$384m, also compared with the year-ago period.

As for revenue, Maxar Technologies in Q3 2019 had a 5% increase to US$220m, compared with the same period a year ago. Year-to-date, revenue declined 2% to US$621m, compared with the year-ago period.

This article originally appeared in Connectivity Business on November 5, 2019.

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Who Will Join the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame in 2020?

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to you SSPI is currently accepting nominations for the 2020 Space & Satellite Hall of Fame. Your choices could be inducted at the 2020 Hall of Fame Celebration on March 10 in Washington DC. Nominations are due by January 10.

Click here to learn more and submit yours!

Upcoming Events SSPI UK

What did WRC-19 Bring to the Space and Satellite Sector? January 16, London, UK. Click here to learn more.

NETWORKING IN WASHINGTON

2020 Space & Satellite Hall of Fame Celebration. March 10, Washington, DC, USA. Click here to learn more.

Copyright 2019 by the Space & Satellite Professionals International