Conference Update – Downlink 4
Our annual Satellite Manufacturing Executives Panel – historically, one of the most popular sessions at the SATELLITE conference – is getting a promotion! At SATELLITE 2017, the Manufacturers Panel will be our Wednesday Morning Opening General Session on Wednesday, March 8 at 8:30 a.m. and will be free to attend for all conference and exhibit hall registrants. We are pleased to announce the return of NSR Senior Analyst Carolyn Belle as the session moderator and thrilled that SSL President John Celli and Boeing Satellite Systems International President Mark Spiwak have already confirmed that they will join the panel as speakers.
We’re also excited to announce the first group of confirmed SATELLITE 2017 Engineering Forum presentations! The Engineering Forum will be taking on a new format this year, allowing the best and brightest engineers in our industry to deliver single speaker- and small group-presentations about their research. All Engineering Forum presentations will take place in Convention Center Room 201.
NASA Deputy Project Manager, Benjamin Reed from the agency’s Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office will deliver his presentation “Should You Make Your Satellite Serviceable?” on Monday, March 6 at 2:30 p.m. Satellite servicing has long been on the horizon. Emerging technologies and missions are making on-orbit refueling, maintenance, and repair attractive options for satellite owners/operators. But are satellite owners/operators hedging properly for the future? Mr. Reed will explore what steps owners/operators can take now to prepare their fleets for servicing calls.
Airbus Safran Launchers Program Manager Philippe Lacan will present the findings of his research project, titled “Simplify Access to Space for Micro-Satellites through Standardization” on Monday, March 6 at 3pm. Philippe addresses how microsat launch opportunities are scarce due to the complexity and risk of taking on board unique and unproven payloads for a relatively small gain. His Microsat LaunchShare program aims to overcome these limitations by mimicking the CubeSat and P-Pod concepts and improving access to space by standardizing nanosats. Philippe will argue how the same approach is possible for a larger class of standard small satellites, and describe how he and his team at Airbus are implementing it.
Andy Hoskins (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Vlad Hruby (Busek), and Mike Glogowski (Orbital ATK) will deliver their presentation, “Electric Propulsion: Another Tool or Fundamentally Changing Economics of Space” on Monday, March 6 at 3:30pm. The group will explain what the maturation of Electric Propulsion technology means for the future of space commercialization and will examine if and how these new systems are fundamentally changing the economics of doing business in space. The panel will also address what’s next for this technology – what power levels will we see, what thrusters are likely to be developed, and what choices are there for propellants?
To check out the entire SATELLITE 2017 program, click here.