Category: Satellite & NewSpace

Sustainability is a growing concern for the space industry, as huge numbers of satellites are being launched into orbit. To help us unpack the issue, we invited Amin Chabi, the Founder & CEO of Lúnasa Space, to speak to us about it on Episode 43 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast. He shared his views on debris removal and in-orbit servicing, which you can read here. 

“Space sustainability is of growing importance, not just for commercial companies, but also for the governments that have their own assets in space. Every few weeks or months, we see news coming out that some company or region is starting to build mega satellite constellations in space. We recently heard of a third company from China registering for 10,000 satellites. If these mega constellations come into effect, we’re looking at about 100,000+ satellites going into orbit in the next 7-10 years. Managing such a fleet in space is challenging, and we should expect things to go wrong. 

There will probably be a sudden increase in satellites launching into orbit now that the launch costs have dropped, so the possibility of a non-operational satellite colliding with another non-operational satellite will dramatically increase. It’s something that we cannot control. What we need to do internally at Lúnasa Space and then as governments, is show how we can commercially solve the matter, with the government’s support with, let’s say, enabling services. That’s what we usually see in the space/defence industries, where the government starts funding the removal of debris, hoping that these services will get commercial traction. 

At the moment, commercial companies are not very interested in paying to remove their satellites. But why is that? There are no licensing regime requirements, saying that if your satellite was non-operational, you will have to pay to remove it yourself, otherwise you won’t get a licence again. There just isn’t anything pushing these companies to remove their satellites. I’ve spoken to companies in the past that were launching satellites into orbit for just a few hours of operation, and the satellite stayed in space for several years. That’s where the objective of space is not correct. It will damage our future environment if nothing changes. 

We need to look internally at companies like that and think, how can we make these removal offerings more commercially attractive? What can we provide? Some companies are launchers that are transporting satellites into space, then they have further capabilities on board to grab a dead satellite and bring it back on the return journey. Now, that can reduce the costs a lot, because you’re already your primary objective, which is a transporting service, and you’ve got a good revenue potential from that. The cost of the secondary objective of removing debris can be reduced a lot because you have already made a premium. 

There are other solutions as well, such as reusable assets and space trucks which can grab other satellites. There are other services like refuelling that add more servicing opportunities or commercial opportunities to satellites. There are several areas, but I think it has to start with commercial companies like us, planning a way to remove dead satellites in a way that can benefit the end users. Otherwise, if they’re not happy to pay, the number of non-operational satellites will increase, which will become a hazard for our other operational satellites, which matters for our daily lives on the planet.”

To hear more about space sustainability, tune into Episode 43 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here. 

We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.     

On a special edition episode of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, we sat down with three leading HR and talent acquisition specialists to discuss emerging trends in the space sector. Joining us were Kelly Tobin, the Senior Talent Acquisition Manager at Intelsat, Bettina Schaaf, the VP of Recruiting at Rivada Space Networks, and Bethan McAulay, the Head of Talent at Astroscale. A highlight of the conversation was a discussion about the use of AI in their recruitment processes. Here’s what they said: 

Bettina Schaaf: “AI is currently the most important topic within our recruitment. We have to integrate it more in our process. The first place where we use AI is when we search for candidates, and we have various different ways of doing that. When it comes to the screening of applications, for example, at Rivada, we receive your 500, 600, even 700 applications each month, so it’s a challenge to screen everybody. AI could really help with that. In the future, AI will be integrated into each step of our recruiting efforts to make the work more efficient so that we can concentrate on our key business. Having said that, the human component will always have priority when it comes to decisions and collaboration.”

Bethan McAulay: “At the moment we don’t have any generative AI built into our process from a talent acquisition perspective. It’s something we’re constantly talking about, and we’re looking at when the right time is for us to adopt it where’s a value-add. Those elements may be slightly controversial, but I think there is a real place for it – not necessarily in applications or in reviewing, but across the HR spectrum. 

Even from a candidate perspective, I’m quite supportive of candidates using generative AI (to an extent). When it comes to making those applications, there is very little high quality career support out there, particularly at the early careers level, but also for people who are in the mergers and acquisitions world. There are a lot of people being forced out of opportunities after working at companies for a long time, which means they may be out of practice when it comes to writing CVs or understanding interview questions. Using generative AI as a tool to prepare a first draft for CVs or covering letters is really powerful, and it takes a lot of pressure off individuals. But, I don’t want anybody to just submit something completely written by generative AI; I would like to see so they’ve been editing it at least.”

Kelly Tobin: “Recruiters have really loved using the AI tool within the LinkedIn recruiter platform. What we’ve found from our metrics is that there is a much higher rate of response from candidates that we cold-called when we used that AI feature. It looks at the potential candidate’s profile and the job description and creates a tailored message, which saves the recruiter from having to go and read both and spend 15 minutes crafting a message. Instead it’s done for you in 30 seconds or less. So we have found that that works great, because a personalised message definitely generates more responses. 

When we were talking about recruiting people from outside of the satellite industry, one thing that I did recently is I partnered with the National Society for Black Engineers. We put on a special reception just for this organisation at the recent satellite show in DC, and we had different employees coming in to explain everything that we are doing within the different verticals of the business. That was a great success. We are trying to continue to think about different ways to open up this market so that it gets broader attention and applicants, especially from a diverse perspective.”

To hear more about the current challenges for people professionals in the satellite industry, tune in to Episode 42 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here. 

We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.     

On Episode 42 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast we sat down with Kevin Lausten, the President of Morpheus Space, to talk about the new manufacturing plant that the company has opened in Germany. He gave us an inside-look at the factory’s mission, as well as the talent strategy behind the new team there. Read on to find out more. 

Your new factory opened on the 23rd of July, in Dresden. Can you tell us what to expect from the facility, and what do you hope it will achieve more broadly for the space sector? 

We’ve seen substantial demand for space propulsion, and this is a hard problem. Space propulsion requires very complex technology and a large volume of systems and products to be available to the market. That means there is a lack of availability for propulsion systems, so we have designed and developed an electric propulsion system called Go-2 which can be used individually for relatively small spacecraft. It can also be clustered to address the propulsion needs for somewhat larger spacecraft, but we were very much focused on the CubeSat and SmallSat, where we’re seeing a dramatic increase in constellations that fall into that category. 

Economics 101 says you’ve got to make sure that supply matches demand. If demand is high, then you need to increase supply, so that’s really what we’re focused on when it comes our production factory. The intent there is to ensure that we are sufficiently scaling production to match demand, and as I referenced earlier, the demand has been quite high, both within the European and US markets. 

We feel that scaling the production for Go-2 is an important step for our company and the industry, as at times there have been spacecraft initiatives that have been stalled due to the lack of available propulsion, and that’s a problem. A big part of the reason we’re starting up the new factory is to make sure that that is no longer a problem in the industry. We want to make sure that when innovators and spacecraft operators have new ideas or new business opportunities, and they want to launch a satellite or constellation, we’re there to support them. We’re there to provide the necessary propulsion capabilities to make that vision become a reality.

Why did you choose Dresden as the location to build that team?

There’s a couple of reasons. First, our founding team met at the Technical University of Dresden, and the company was founded there too. That’s where we do our Go-2 research and development work, so we already have a footprint of about 30 staff in the Dresden area. Adding to that just made sense, because you want to have development and production within close proximity to each other. So, Dresden became an anchor point for us. From there, we’ve been able to recruit a lot of great staff members who have either come up through university, moved laterally from other industries, or relocated to Dresden. Now we’ve got a centre of excellence when it comes to electric propulsion in the Dresden area. 

We found a great facility that was really well suited for the type of work that we need to do to scale up production for Go-2, and it’s only 10 minutes from our development facility, which makes it quite easy to move staff members back and forth and facilitate that collaboration between development and production. 

A second factor is the availability of talent. We’ve seen a lot of great folks come up through the university in Dresden. Dresden is also becoming established as a startup hub of sorts in Germany, where the local government is very supportive of startups. They help startups get going and make connections with folks that can help with recruiting and bringing new people in.

You touched on bringing in people from different industries and transferable spaces. What areas do you see people coming from and then being able to fit comfortably in space?

Precision manufacturing is a big part of the talent that we’re looking to source for the production facility. That can tie into a wide range of industries. We recently hired someone who was a professional watchmaker, for example. Now they are helping with the design, development and manufacturing of our electric propulsion systems. Our propulsion system is 10 centimetres cubed. There are 40 zones of thrust that are created, and each emitter has its own individual fuel tank. So you’ve got 40 fuel tanks, and 40 emitter points, all contained within a 10 centimetre cube form. That’s a lot of technology packed into a small space that can only weigh 2.75 kilograms. That requires quite a bit of precision. 

Of course, aerospace engineering is the logical place for us to source talent. We will go into that talent pool and bring people in, but there’s transferable skills from a wide range of other industries that could be applied to this work too. When I was made aware that we had identified a candidate who had a background in precision watchmaking, it opened my mind to the other industries that it would be possible to source talent from. As a young startup, we have to get scrappy and creative when it comes to hiring. It’s about finding people that are collaborative, who have the skills and are willing to work hard. We can train the specifics around aerospace if those three core criteria are met.

To find out more about Morpheus Space’s plans for future expansion and meeting wider industry needs, tune into Episode 42 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here. 

We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.     

This year’s World Space Business Week (WSBW) in Paris set the stage for insightful discussions and bold predictions about the future of the space industry. As the space sector accelerates its growth trajectory, several key themes emerged that highlighted the immense potential and challenges that lie ahead.

Explosive Growth of the Space Industry

One of the most exciting takeaways came from Novaspace, emphasizing the rapid expansion of commercial space activities. Satellite services, communications, and Earth observation businesses are thriving like never before, with both private enterprises and governments driving the demand for satellite data. It’s not just a matter of sending satellites into orbit anymore—it’s about harnessing their capabilities to transform industries on the ground.

Earth Observation: The Powerhouse of Data

BlackSky’s win of the 2024 Novaspace Leading Earth Observation Business Award underscored just how crucial Earth observation has become. From defense to agriculture and environmental monitoring, the value of geospatial intelligence is skyrocketing. The ability to monitor and analyze our planet in near real-time is becoming indispensable for decision-making in both public and private sectors.

Sustainability and Space’s Role in Climate Action

Another key focus was sustainability, a hot topic in every industry, and space is no exception. WSBW attendees were deeply engaged in how space technology can be a game-changer in fighting climate change. From climate monitoring to sustainable energy solutions, space assets are increasingly being leveraged to support environmental protection efforts. The synergy between space and sustainability is set to drive innovation in the years ahead.

The Booming Satellite Communication Sector

The satellite communications sector is experiencing significant shifts. According to Euroconsult’s projections, this industry is poised to hit USD 123 billion by 2032. While traditional video services are declining, new data-driven verticals, such as direct-to-cell communications, offer immense opportunities—potentially unlocking a USD 100 billion market. However, despite the excitement, challenges in adoption remain a hurdle that the industry must overcome.

Changing Revenue Streams in Satellite Operations

Interestingly, the financial landscape for satellite operators is evolving as well. The mix of revenue sources is shifting, with value-added services now representing a larger slice of the pie. In contrast, wholesale capacity—a mainstay in satellite business models—has dwindled to just 20% of total revenue. This shift signals that operators are adapting to a new reality where innovation and tailored services are driving profitability.

WSBW 2024 not only showcased the rapid evolution of the space industry but also highlighted the innovative ways in which it’s intersecting with broader societal needs—from climate action to next-gen communications. The future is undeniably bright, but with it comes the challenge of navigating new frontiers. As the industry grows, so too will its role in shaping the world of tomorrow.

As talent shortages remain rife across the satellite industry, companies are adopting unique ways to attract talent from outside the sector. On Episode 40 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, we spoke with Mustafa Murad, the CEO of Appliot, about how he is organically building a team. Read on for his insights. 

How is Appliot trying to find the best talent for its team?

The work-from-home concept has made the competition very aggressive in the talent market. Everybody understands that after COVID, there are no more geographical boundaries, so the competition is extremely high. Talent is everywhere, so our recruitment agents are hunting around different companies across the sector. 

In addition, I would say that recruitment itself is a very rare skill in the market today. Understanding talent, how to deal with them, and how to hire them requires a specialist skill set. Going to professional entities who can do the headhunting and hiring for us will be a much easier and more cost-efficient approach. It also develops organic skill sets, especially in the high-tech industries and communication field. Partnering with specialists is the best way to hire talent at the moment. 

What do you think companies can do to attract more talent in an organic way?

The overall company development roadmap definitely is a key component that attracts talent to join and carry on. Sometimes you can be successful in hiring but not in retaining top talent. Our company roadmap is definitely something that attracts talent, but also is a key tool for how the company develops the talents within the company. 

In our part of the world – and by that I mean the Middle East and Africa – attracting talent to the company can be a challenge. The philosophy of how we deal with our employees has to evolve, and the culture has to change. People should understand incentives like they do in other countries or continents because I think that is the only way to maintain and attract talent to companies. 

To hear more from Mustafa Murad, tune into Episode 40 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast. 

We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.     

As companies start establishing operations in space, a space economy is developing above us. To explain this phenomenon, and help us understand its implications for everybody on Earth, we spoke with Robert Carlisle, the Co-Founder of Argo Space, on Episode 39 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast. Robert previously had a five-year tenure at SpaceX, including a stint as their Director of Commercial Launch Sales, before founding Argo Space with his two brothers, both of whom also worked at SpaceX before venturing out on their own. Read on for Robert’s insights into the growing space economy. 

When we talk about a new space economy, why is that important for humanity?

An in-space economy sounds very exciting, but most of what it means today is things like communication satellites for Earth observation. We use the Internet from a ViaSat or an Intelsat satellite, or nowadays from Starlink. Governments use Earth observation satellites for images, synthetic aperture radar, and all kinds of other observation methods to monitor specific things that are happening. There are a lot of different national security and civil space uses as well. 

Most of what we call the space economy today is just serving those things by putting satellites into orbit. Those satellites are creating jobs, whether they are consumer-facing or business-facing. There are further out parts, such as the robotic exploration of the Moon, Mars, and other parts of the solar system, but those are mostly the provenance of governments. 

However, over the last few years, we’ve started to see more of these private space missions, like what Axiom and SpaceX are doing by sending people who aren’t government astronauts up in Dragon capsules, and even to the space station. People are trying to create commercial space stations and commercial manufacturing in space. We’re just starting to see the potential for these new applications that aren’t a part of what we would call this base economy today.

You were featured in a great article in the Wall Street Journal, where you said we should use a rocket as the cargo ship regularly comes to port and then have a semi-truck that lives in space and takes the cargo elsewhere. Can you tell us more about that? 

I love talking about the logistics side of a space economy and the differences between how space logistics work and how we view logistics on Earth. SpaceX is starting to make launches a regular thing and at a very reliable, high cadence. Now, people like me still get very excited watching a rocket launch, but we’re looking at a future where it’s commonplace, where a rocket launch is like watching a ship coming in and out of court. 

With the specific metaphor you mentioned, essentially, rockets are the only way that we can get to orbital velocity. But in order to do that most of the rocket mass is propellant, so to maximise efficiency, what we should do is use all the rockets’ payload mass capability to get into low earth orbit, which is the minimum place where you can reach orbital velocity and deploy some payloads. Then you want to have a space segment, which is a transport vehicle that is optimised to move things in orbit, which is different from what a rocket engine looks like on Earth. We view that as the best situation if you have a heavy-lift rocket. 

It’s equivalent to the cargo ship coming across the Pacific Ocean, dropping off goods at the Port of Los Angeles. That cargo ship is maximising its payload efficiency and freight velocity by having standardised cargo containers that can be loaded onto 18-wheelers at the port. They’re designed to move things across the land, to pick up these cargo containers at the port and take them to their final destination. That’s sort of how we view kind of the future state of space transportation, where you’ve got a starship, with lower-cost reusable lifters bringing a bunch of cargo to low Earth orbit on a standardised route, and then in-space transportation vehicles like ours taking those payloads and satellites out to their operational orbits where they do their work.

What are some of the other areas of the lunar economy that really excite you?

The most exciting thing to us is the applications, and that’s what we’re trying to work on. We think that the first application for lunar resources is to use water as a propellant. There are other potential applications out there, too, and a lot of people are talking about infrastructure, which is pretty exciting. There are NASA contracts like the human landing system programme, and SpaceX and Blue Origin have been contracted to land humans on the moon, which will be awesome to see. 

Right now there is the Eclipse programme, where NASA has contracted smaller commercial landers to put robotic payloads and rovers on the moon. We saw Intuitive Machines soft-land recently, which was great. It’s super exciting to see all that activity. The commercial risk approach that NASA has taken there is quite interesting, and we’re excited to see how it develops.

To hear more from Robert, tune into The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here. 

We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.     

As the industry works to make access to space more widely available, innovative launch solutions and shared rockets are becoming increasingly popular. On Episode 38 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast we spoke with Ian Cinnamon, the Co-Founder and CEO of Apex, about the company’s unique solution to this phenomenon. Established in 2022, Apex aims to address a growing opportunity in spacecraft manufacturing thanks to its standardised product offering and rapid manufacturing techniques. Read on for an inside look at the founding story of this innovative company. 

It all really started through customer conversation. I’m a big believer that you start with the problem, not the solution. From over 100 customer conversations, my Co-Founder Max and I very quickly realised that the bottleneck in the industry used to be the launch site. So how do you get something from Earth up into space more quickly? That bottleneck has effectively been alleviated thanks to all of the brilliant launch companies and investment dollars that have gone into the space. However, with any systems equation, when you alleviate one bottleneck, another one will appear in the system. The bottleneck has now shifted to satellite buses. 

If you don’t know what a satellite bus is, the way to think about it is that a rocket or launch vehicle will take something from Earth and deposit it onto a platform in space. The thing you’re depositing into space could be a fancy new camera that looks at climate change or monitors the movement of troops. Maybe it’s a communications dish that helps us talk to each other all around the world, et cetera, et cetera. It could be anything, really. Whatever it is, we call it the payload. 

There are brilliant companies out there who are amazing at making payloads, but those payloads cannot survive on their own in space. So take a camera, for example. Let’s say you make a new fancy camera that can take amazing high-resolution photos of the Earth. If you just stick a camera up in space, it doesn’t work because it needs power. It needs to be able to move around, communicate with the Earth, deal with thermal issues, etc. In order for the payload to function in space, you have to attach it to what’s called in the industry a satellite bus or satellite platform. 

These buses have been made since the dawn of the space era, but from all of the conversations that we had in the early days with customers, what we realised was that companies were able to secure a ride to space fairly quickly, but the problem was the satellite bus that would let the payload function was the slowest part of the process. 

That problem was universal across government, commercial, and everything in between. Almost every single customer we interviewed said the biggest pain point they had was the speed at which they could get one of these satellite buses. That is what we set out to solve at Apex: how can we alleviate the bottleneck and deliver satellite buses as quickly as possible to customers?

To hear more about Apex’s unique service offering, tune into Episode 38 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here. 

We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.     

On Episode 37 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, Pieter van Duijn, the CTO of Loft Orbital, joined us to talk about the company’s mission of making space accessible. Read on to find out how their innovative launch solutions are making a difference for smaller players in the field. 

“What we’re doing is the technical angle to this. To be responsible, do what we do, and make it accessible, we have to be different in our technical approach. We’re enabling customers access to space by shifting the typical CapEx to OpEx. That means that you don’t pay all the money before you launch, which is how the space industry has always been. Instead, you only pay a portion before you launch. Loft operates as a service company which enables you to get your payload in orbit in a very flexible manner, where you basically pay as we are able to provide the surface, or as long as your payload is operational. That can be in a duty cycle, a geographical area, sunlight or an eclipse etc. 

It was very difficult to figure out how to create a space service that doesn’t exist in a way that benefits the customer while allowing us to operate commercially. We’re taking a huge risk to some degree by saying, ‘We don’t know if the launch is going to be okay or if your payload will work as long as it should,’ but fronting the cost anyway. 

Then you get all these technical things. How do you make certain that it does work? We have a principle that we call ‘do no harm’, and that goes everywhere in the technical sphere. If something’s wrong with your payload, it should not damage our spacecraft. We should not be propagating a failure to another payload, subsystem, and so on. 

The technical solution for making that work is both complex and elegant. Our internal saying is that we have to make space simple for our customers, but our headaches are five times bigger. What people see from the outside is only the tip of the iceberg. But that’s part of the challenge of being innovative and doing something differently. 

We also have a responsibility to make sure that certain assets last for a while in orbit. It’s very easy to say, ‘Oh, look, an iPhone works in space’, but that was shown by a mission where an iPhone switched on once and it worked for two weeks. That is awesome, and I applaud you, but when it comes to Loft’s business, having to survive five to seven years in space is a very, very different thing. We have a responsibility to provide a lifetime of reliability and accessibility. We can’t afford to make dumb systems or big satellites with a high redundancy like in the old days. 

Another part of our responsibility is making certain that we don’t add to space debris. We are equipping our next generation of spacecraft with propulsion, and we make certain that we even comply with the five-year deorbiting rules in all our mission analyses and budgets. We make certain that even if a subsystem fails, we have access to backup communication. We also try to be responsible in the execution of a mission in orbit.

To hear more from Pieter, tune into Episode 37 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here. 

We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.     

As we hit the mid-point of this year’s World Space Business Week (WSBW), the 2024 edition of the show has already seen some important announcements and inspiring discussions taking place at the Westin in Paris. 

Day 1 saw conversations around investment in the industry with major investment banks sharing their thoughts on the state of the market with key talking points being that, even though we have seen increased investment in the last few years, we have still not returned to the peak of 2021. Then, Director General of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschenbacher, shared ESA’s aims for Europe to have a world-class space programme, lead in the sustainability of space, and continue its international collaboration.  The growth of the direct-to-device market was also a hot-topic with executives from Yahsat, Lynk, Globalstar, Omnispace, Iridium, and AST sharing their thoughts on how to create a sustainable business model and the challenges of delivering the right service. 

Day 2 covered some very pertinent topics with optical communications, multi-orbit services, and ground system architecture all getting their time in the limelight. We heard how satellite operators are moving towards offering multi-orbit solutions as standard, how this is causing a number of specific regulatory problems – especially with LEO and GEO switching, how the benefits of optical communications will further shape the industry, and how most of the industry agrees that the push towards technology agnostic, seamless connectivity should be the goal we all strive for. 

There have also been several exciting announcements that deserve a special mention. Leading US aerospace business, Sceye, announced the successful closing of its Series C funding round, Finland’s ReOrbit shared news of its exclusive agreement with the Uzma Group for a new GEO software enabled satellite project, and the news that Starlink has almost doubled its backlog of IFC orders after last week’s deal with United Airlines. 

With still more than half the conference left to come, we can’t wait to see what other exciting developments are announced.  

The satellite industry has been rapidly developing over the last two years. On Episode 36 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, we were joined by returning guest Gary Calnan, the CEO of CisLunar Industries, to explore the changes that have happened since he last appeared on the show. He shared his perspectives on the major trends of privatisation and investment in the industry and explained the global benefits of tackling space debris. Read on for the highlights of the conversation. 

“In the last two years, there have been a couple of major trends in our industry. The whole government of the United States has shifted its mindset in a very definitive way from the prior paradigm of launch and be done. They used to think that you launch a satellite and it’s a one-shot deal where it’s eventually it’s either going to become space garbage or it’s going to be in orbit. From there, we have completely shifted into this paradigm of in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing, or I-SAM. 

The United States has pushed this government initiative across the defence department, the executive branch, NASA, and all the other agencies, saying that we’re going to shift from that earlier paradigm to one where we are launching spacecraft with the intention of building them in space, reusing them, servicing them and repairing them – the very first part of which is refuelling them and really basic stuff like that. Now we’re building towards this paradigm of staying in space and expanding in space instead of creating the one-shot deals that we did in the past. 

A lot of that has been facilitated by launch costs coming way down, which has obviously been principally driven by SpaceX and other companies who are falling on their heels to help drive that competition further. Falling launch costs have enabled a new way of thinking about these things. Simultaneously the government on both the DoD side and the NASA side has shifted to embrace the idea of tapping the private sector, not just to build things for them to own but actually to provide capabilities as a service. So instead of saying, ‘I want you to build me my own moon rocket’, they’re now saying, ‘I want to pay for a ride to the moon’. That’s a wholly different way of thinking about space that has enabled the private sector to push the limits of space and move forward faster. 

Private space companies have shifted away from cost-plus pricing to fixed-price contracts, which helps to keep costs from ballooning. Lower launch costs make it possible to get more satellites and missions into space and make a profit. 

The government paying for services from private industry also provides another incentive for companies to launch their own constellations, so we end up with a satellite environment that is increasingly congested. Because we want to do more with the satellites, they’ve grown in size from the bread blocks of the original NewSpace constellations to something that’s not the size of a school bus but significantly bigger to give those satellites more power. They needed to be more capable, with more powerful sensors, and do things that require more energy. Because there are more of them, they also need propulsion to be able to manoeuvre around as they go. If they’re manoeuvring, they need to be refuelled to stay up there for a while. That’s creating a self-feeding ecosystem that’s driving more and more economic activity, so prices go down for launch, and it just helps to feed the cycle. There really has been a paradigm shift. 

Along the way, we’ve also had shifts in the capital markets. For years there has been a real slump in investment, but that’s starting to crack a little bit. As far as legislation and regulation go, more needs to be done for debris, like mandating lifespans. I know they don’t want to regulate that too hard and stifle the industry’s progress, but they’ve moved to a five-year plan which aims to address these issues. We’re seeing fines levied against companies for not handling an array, which is interesting. It happened recently, and the cost was minimal for the company, but nevertheless, it’s happening. I think it’s all going in the right direction. 

From a debris perspective, we think that once satellites reach the end of a mission, they should be required to orbit right away or do something else. Part of what we offer or enable is doing salvage in space. We partner with other companies that can go out and get these satellites and bring them back. This should all be part of the planning that companies have in response to a requirement that as soon as the mission is over, you have a year to deal with it. Otherwise, space is going to get more and more congested. We have an incentive to keep space clear, but if others aren’t doing it, they’re getting an advantage on cost, which makes it hard to eliminate the tragedy of the commons problem. 

Space is getting crowded. There’s no way we’re going to be able to handle an increase in satellites without addressing the space debris issue. Doing that also increases the carrying capacity of the orbital environment because if we remove the things when they’re broken right away, we can put more satellites up there, which means we can have more capabilities. It’s in everyone’s interest that that gets managed as tightly as possible.”

To find out more about the advancements in the satellite industry over the last couple of years, tune into Episode 36 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here.

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