Industry Innovator Awards
2012 Awards
INNOVATION IN KA-BAND SERVICES
KA-SAT and ViaSat-1
SSPI honors two for-profit companies and strategic partners for the development and launch of transformative high-throughput satellites that seek to provide broadband Internet access to homes and small offices at rates and speeds comparable to terrestrial alternatives. More...
INNOVATION IN THE MITIGATION OF GALAXY-15
Intelsat and SES
SSPI honors a satellite operator that forged an unprecedented collaboration with another leading operator to prevent a perfect storm of radio frequency interference over the US domestic arc. More...
INNOVATION IN INDUSTRY COLLABORATION ON THE SAFE USE OF SPACE
Space Data Association
SSPI honors an association formed by satellite operators to make operations in space safer for themselves and more reliable for their customers. More...
INNOVATION IN IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF INTERFERENCE
Comtech EF Data
SSPI honors Comtech EF Data for developing, on its own initiative and at its own expense, a critical component of a long-term solution to the problem of satellite radio frequency interference (RFI). More...
2010 Awards
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT & APPLICATIONS
The US Broadcast Networks
In the for-profit sector, SSPI honors the four US terrestrial broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX – for successful completion of a nationwide conversion from analog to digital over-the-air broadcasting. More...
Télécom sans Frontiéres
In the non-profit sector, SSPI honors Télécom sans Frontiéres, or Telecommunications Without Borders, a relief organization in southern France founded by Monique Lanne-Petit and Jean-Francois Cazenave. More...
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT & APPLICATIONS
Inmarsat 4 Spacecraft
In the for-profit sector, SSPI honors Inmarsat as the creative innovator and EADS Astrium as systems engineer and project manager for the complex, multi-year effort to develop and launch the Inmarsat-4 system of spacecraft. More...
Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group and WBU-ISOG
In the non-profit sector, SSPI honors the Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG) and the World Broadcasting Union – International Satellite Operations Group (WBU-ISOG) for leadership over many years in the effort to reduce the impact of satellite radio frequency interference (RFI). More...
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT & APPLICATIONS
Cisco Systems Internet Router in Space
In the for-profit sector, SSPI honors Cisco Systems for developing and placing into operation a hosted satellite payload offering the ability to route IP traffic on the satellite, which eliminates the need to send the data to and from an extra ground station to implement the circuit-switched function. More...
NASA Innovations in Space Communications and Robotic Operations Related to the Deep Space Network, Mars Exploration and the Hubble Space Telescope
In the non-profit sector, SSPI honors the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for innovations in deep space communications and robotics in support of Mars exploration programs and the reconditioned Hubble Space Telescope. More...
Articles
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What Does It Take to Build Two Satellites a Day?
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. What do you do? 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. The core idea of apprenticeship is to take young people who dislike sitting through classes all day and have them spend part of their day making something that shows an immediate result from their studies. They become experts. They also earn money and contribute to production and company revenues while they learn—and they graduate with a sense of pride and an identity as members of a skilled community. For employers, apprenticeship programs are a means to stop complaining about a shortage of critical skills and actually do something about it. How did OneWeb find its way from problem to solution, with the help of neighboring companies and consultants? It’s a lesson that can be applied in space clusters across North America and around the world, as the space business increasingly sets to a faster, higher-volume pace. You can read more about their collaboration and the results in SSPI’s Staffing the Space Assembly Line report, available for free to all members!
