{"id":60201,"date":"2020-03-11T17:17:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T09:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/satellite-manufacturers-tout-their-agility\/"},"modified":"2020-03-11T17:17:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T09:17:46","slug":"satellite-manufacturers-tout-their-agility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/satellite-manufacturers-tout-their-agility\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite Manufacturers Tout Their Agility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Satellite manufacturing giants touted their commitment to agile development and spending on new capabilities like on-orbit refueling at Tuesday\u2019s closing session of SATELLITE 2020, painting a rosy picture of a growing sector embracing innovation.<\/p>\n<p>Satellite manufacturing giants touted their commitment to agile development and spending on new capabilities like on-orbit refueling at Tuesday\u2019s closing session of SATELLITE 2020, painting a rosy picture of a growing sector embracing innovation.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/FWtNsJ4ZQVKb8szzeM9L_ShowDaily20_Cover_Day4_DGTL-300x225.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" style=\"width: 120px; height: auto;\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/FWtNsJ4ZQVKb8szzeM9L_ShowDaily20_Cover_Day4_DGTL-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/FWtNsJ4ZQVKb8szzeM9L_ShowDaily20_Cover_Day4_DGTL-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/FWtNsJ4ZQVKb8szzeM9L_ShowDaily20_Cover_Day4_DGTL-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/FWtNsJ4ZQVKb8szzeM9L_ShowDaily20_Cover_Day4_DGTL.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"fs-5 mt-0\">Explore the Show Daily 2020 Day 4 Issue<\/h3>\n<p class=\"mb-0 fs-smaller text-balance\">Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-primary\" type=\"button\" data-bs-toggle=\"offcanvas\" data-bs-target=\"#offcanvasMENU\" aria-controls=\"offcanvasExample\" aria-label=\"button\" style=\"white-space: nowrap;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tView More <i class=\"bi bi-arrow-right-circle\"><\/i><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/button><\/p>\n<p>Northrop Grumman executive Frank DeMauro kicked off the panel with a brief account of the company\u2019s historic Mission Extension Vehicle-1, which earlier this month carried out the first ever on-orbit docking by a commercial satellite.<\/p>\n<p>The MEV-1 is designed to extend the life of Geostationary (GEO) communications satellites that have run out of fuel and are slowly slipping out of orbit. It docks with the satellite and effectively becomes a propulsion system \u2014 enabling the satellite to adjust position and stay on orbit. Other companies are also planning or building similar vehicles, and executives tout the idea that in-orbit repair and refueling services is a lucrative new line of business for manufacturers. <\/p>\n<p>DeMauro, the vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman\u2019s Space Systems Division, was a special project that is now opening up a whole new market.<\/p>\n<p><script>var AIAD_fcd45f981d570e35cee941b23edc69c7_6a6b090aeb5ae;googletag.cmd.push(function(){var AIMAP_29b58f13885ebf8ea6b032f958eb0748 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([992, 100], [[970, 90], [970, 250]]).addSize([768, 100], [728, 90]).addSize([320, 100], [320, 50]).build();var AIMAP_737ce075cc05dd766c8f8ea08f3faa73 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([768, 100], [728, 90]).addSize([320, 100], [320, 50]).build();var AIMAP_21fe3bcfb86a8660aba4e721ee9338f3 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([1200, 100], [970, 250]).addSize([768, 100], [600, 300]).addSize([320, 100], [300, 250]).build();AIAD_fcd45f981d570e35cee941b23edc69c7_6a6b090aeb5ae = googletag.defineSlot('\/987\/satellitetoday.com\/via-satellite-digital-issue-ads', [ [600, 300], [300, 250], [970, 250] ], 'div-gpt-ad-1774631144891- 0-6a6b090aeb5af').defineSizeMapping(AIMAP_21fe3bcfb86a8660aba4e721ee9338f3).setCollapseEmptyDiv(true).addService(googletag.pubads());   });<\/script><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1774631144891- 0-6a6b090aeb5af'); });<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The mission, which the company funded itself, was planned as a demonstration, he said. \u201cCertainly, customers were watching. \u2026 The case we can now make is that the system works, and it works well. \u2026 We see this new market growing fast in the commercial and government sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other panelists see growth in existing markets, as defense and space budgets rise on both sides of the Atlantic, and aging legacy commercial constellations are recapitalized. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLots of operators have waited to make decisions,\u201d said Pascal Homsy, executive vice president of telecommunications for Thales Alenia Space. \u201cNow we have lots of customers with satellites coming to end of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Innovations like software-defined satellites are also powering growth, Homsy said, enabling flexibility from the ground that has never existed before.<\/p>\n<p>Lockheed Martin Space Vice President of Communication Satellite Solutions Guy Beutelschies hailed the company\u2019s software-defined satellite architecture SmartSat, the Pony Express. \u201cWe launched it to test technologies that will enable a new generation of capabilities in space. A very powerful processor, innovative software on board, the capability to create networks so that we can start blurring the line between what processing you can do on the ground and what you can do in orbit,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Placeholder alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/marquee-test-akiaisur2rgicbmpehea\/KYA0s2Tc2uMqxV0txdMw_DSC_1889.jpg\"><\/figure>\n<p>And the company moved from conception to launch in just nine months, he said a speed that \u201cexcites our researchers and our employees. \u2026 They want to go faster.\u201d The company is now working toward Pony Express 2. <\/p>\n<p>But Daniel Jablonsky, president and CEO of Maxar Technologies, issued a note of caution, acknowledging the tension between pushing the envelope of agility and creativity, while providing customers with the high reliability and error-free engineering that the unforgiving environment of space demands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou want to nurture innovation and creativity, but at the same time, build things that meet triple-nine reliability standards,\u201d Jablonsky said. \u201cSo you\u2019re in two different ecosystems at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The real art, he said, is figuring out how to harness creativity to the demands of engineering. \u201cThe bigger challenge for us has been nurturing both of those things at the same time,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need repeatable processes that people can buy into and [that] make sense. Without that, the creativity can mean a hot mess on orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script>var AIAD_fcd45f981d570e35cee941b23edc69c7_6a6b090aeba17;googletag.cmd.push(function(){var AIMAP_29b58f13885ebf8ea6b032f958eb0748 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([992, 100], [[970, 90], [970, 250]]).addSize([768, 100], [728, 90]).addSize([320, 100], [320, 50]).build();var AIMAP_737ce075cc05dd766c8f8ea08f3faa73 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([768, 100], [728, 90]).addSize([320, 100], [320, 50]).build();var AIMAP_21fe3bcfb86a8660aba4e721ee9338f3 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([1200, 100], [970, 250]).addSize([768, 100], [600, 300]).addSize([320, 100], [300, 250]).build();AIAD_fcd45f981d570e35cee941b23edc69c7_6a6b090aeba17 = googletag.defineSlot('\/987\/satellitetoday.com\/via-satellite-digital-issue-ads', [ [600, 300], [300, 250], [970, 250] ], 'div-gpt-ad-1774631144891- 0-6a6b090aeba18').defineSizeMapping(AIMAP_21fe3bcfb86a8660aba4e721ee9338f3).setCollapseEmptyDiv(true).addService(googletag.pubads());   });<\/script><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1774631144891- 0-6a6b090aeba18'); });<\/script><\/p>\n<p>And Jablonsky also admitted uncertainty about the future as the space sector changes \u2014 even as it continues to grow. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not sure what the new normal is,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cdefense budgets and space budgets are as high as they\u2019ve ever been in Europe as well as the U.S. It\u2019s a good time to be in the space business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But even short-term uncertainty is a problem for manufacturers because they need to make investment decisions, said Jean Marc Nasr, executive vice president and head of space systems for Airbus Defense and Space. \u201cThere is instability on the operator side. What will be the operator landscape in the next five years? You can\u2019t see it,\u201d he said, adding \u201cIn the long term, it is growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The proliferation of startup space projects adds to short-term uncertainty, and not knowing which projects are \u201creal\u201d is scary, Homsy said, arguing that so many requests blurs the market. <\/p>\n<p>Even more scary is the threat of a cybersecurity breach. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the only thing that keeps me awake at night,\u201d said Nasr, noting that the industry has the trust of customers, regulators and the public. \u201cThe day that someone takes control over our satellite, that trust will be gone.\u201d <strong>VS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\">In This Issue<\/h2>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 397:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/KVa61byAQN2npl9uwrRA_D7S_7549-2-300x200.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/KVa61byAQN2npl9uwrRA_D7S_7549-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/KVa61byAQN2npl9uwrRA_D7S_7549-2-800x534.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/KVa61byAQN2npl9uwrRA_D7S_7549-2-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/KVa61byAQN2npl9uwrRA_D7S_7549-2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tExisting Threats, Long-Term Opportunities Fuel the U.S. Space Force<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3 d-block d-md-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 396:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/lZkJJpOpT9QGiundSeW7_DSC_1984-300x200.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/lZkJJpOpT9QGiundSeW7_DSC_1984-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/lZkJJpOpT9QGiundSeW7_DSC_1984-800x534.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/lZkJJpOpT9QGiundSeW7_DSC_1984-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/lZkJJpOpT9QGiundSeW7_DSC_1984.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tFiber Optic Cables Take Center Stage at Startup Space 2020<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 398:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/8QFkkuwSRtCUgubUbzrq_Satshow_DC_Background-300x200.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/8QFkkuwSRtCUgubUbzrq_Satshow_DC_Background-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/8QFkkuwSRtCUgubUbzrq_Satshow_DC_Background-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/8QFkkuwSRtCUgubUbzrq_Satshow_DC_Background-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/8QFkkuwSRtCUgubUbzrq_Satshow_DC_Background.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tU.S. Military Wants New Ways to Buy Satellites, Services<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3 d-block d-md-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 400:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/yVi4PsNTqSejpBfcivwq_D7S_7404-300x200.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/yVi4PsNTqSejpBfcivwq_D7S_7404-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/yVi4PsNTqSejpBfcivwq_D7S_7404-800x534.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/yVi4PsNTqSejpBfcivwq_D7S_7404-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/yVi4PsNTqSejpBfcivwq_D7S_7404.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s Driving Smallsat Growth in GEO?<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Satellite manufacturing giants touted their commitment to agile development and spending on new capabilities like on-orbit refueling at Tuesday\u2019s closing session of SATELLITE 2020, painting a rosy picture of a growing sector embracing innovation. Satellite manufacturing giants touted their commitment to agile development and spending on new capabilities like on-orbit refueling at Tuesday\u2019s closing session [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}