(November 21, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International today announced the appointment of Leslie Blaker-Glass of Hughes Network Systems to the Board of Directors. Ms. Blaker-Glass is Vice President of Strategic Development, currently supporting the Hughes Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD) team.

“We are excited to welcome Leslie to the SSPI Board and eager to have her voice and knowledge as an industry veteran with many years of experience at a diverse range of companies throughout our industry,” said Katherine Gizinski, Chair of the SSPI Board and Chief Executive Officer of River Advisers.

Continuing in service on SSPI’s Board of Directors are:

• Julie Baker, Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, Ursa Space Systems
• Jessica Beahn, Vice President & Chief Engineer, Maxar Technologies
• Julie Bettinger, Chief Marketing Officer, ST Engineering iDirect
• Josef Bogosian, Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing, Commercial Satellites, Boeing
• Jonathan Crawford, President Media & Broadcast, Roberts Communications Network
• Debra Facktor (SSPI-WISE Liason), Head of U.S. Space Systems, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc.
• Katherine Gizinski (SSPI Chair), Chief Executive Officer, River Advisers
• James Hinds, Chief Executive Officer, Airbus OneWeb Satellites
• Chris Kinman, Chief Commercial Officer, Momentus Space
• Jennifer Little, Vice President of Sales & Sales Operations, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
• Aaron Lewis, Vice President, Corporate Communications & Government Relations, Arianespace, Inc.
• Marie-Pierre Pluvinage, Director, Business Development, Airbus US Space & Defense
• Christodoulos Protopapas, Chief Executive Officer, Hellas Sat
• Nicole Robinson, Chief Growth Officer, Comtech Telecommunications
• Mike Safyan, Vice President of Launch, Planet
• James Trevelyan (SSPI President), Executive Vice President of Sales, Speedcast
• Mark Witsaman, Vice President, Product Engineering, Globalstar
• Elias Zaccack, Executive Vice President, Global Sales, SES Networks

Elizabeth Evans of K&L Gates serves as General Council.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(26 October 2023 – New York City & London) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) announced today the recipients of the industry’s ninth annual Better Satellite World Awards. The awards honour established companies along with disruptive innovators who make the world more prosperous, healthier, better-educated, more sustainable and more inclusive. An international jury selected Avanti Communications’ rural connectivity solution, the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Mapping Invisible Populations project – created in collaboration with Flowminder and Humanitarian Open Streetmap, and Maxar’s News Bureau as recipients of this year’s awards. They will be honoured at the Better Satellite World Awards Dinner on 4 December in London along with the SSPI UK chapter’s Personality of the Year, Massimiliano Ladovaz, COO of Eutelsat Group.

The selection of recipients was made by an international jury consisting of a broad cross-section of industry thought leaders and distinguished professionals.

“The 2023 Better Satellite World Awards reinforce that satellites bring hope, truth and a promising future to society,” said Director of Innovation Louis Zacharilla, who will emcee the Better Satellite World Awards Dinner in December. “You can go anywhere on the planet and note that the satellite industry plays a role, both visible and behind the scenes, to make things better for people. In 2023, our committee identified as most worthy the accelerated efforts to bring connectivity to communities that will keep cultures and local economies stable and prepare them for the future. The committee also awarded the industry’s far-reaching technical ability to observe a war-ravaged theatre and validate information within the ‘fog of war.’ In addition, SSPI’s UK Chapter identified an executive who, in this complex world, has a unique ability to solve problems and design strategies to scale his company and our industry to new heights. This is all ‘business as usual’ for the global satellite community!”

The Better Satellite World Awards Celebration, a festive networking event and dinner will be held at Whitehall Place on 4 December. It is produced by SSPI and its UK Chapter. The UK Chapter is chaired by Betty Azzarelli, CEO & Founder, AB5 Consulting.
 

The 2023 Better Satellite World Award Recipients:

Avanti Communications’ Rural Connectivity Solution
Avanti Communications’ rural solution is a groundbreaking satellite service designed to bridge the digital divide by connecting ultra-rural villages in Nigeria for the first time. This innovative solution has proven key to the Nigerian Communications Commission's (NCC) National Broadband Plan of 2020, which sets out two national goals: to achieve 90% population coverage and a penetration rate of 70% by 2025.

Avanti Rural solution uses advanced satellite technology to extend mobile network coverage to the hardest-to-reach areas of Nigeria, that would be impossible to reach using traditional terrestrial infrastructure. This off-grid service is a game-changer in the telecommunications industry, providing cellular services to the most remote communities, and in turn, promoting digital inclusion and socio-economic development.

As of 2023, Avanti has deployed over 500 ultra-rural sites in 21 Nigerian states, providing 2G and 3G connectivity to 2.5 million Nigerians. All these areas previously had no connectivity, with residents forced to travel on foot or by local bus to the nearest towns with coverage just to use their mobile phones. With the first 500 sites successfully installed, Avanti is now working with local partners to connect 10,000 rural sites over the next 5 years.

In addition to providing the satellite technology, Avanti also ensures the long-term sustainability of the service by providing skills and training to regionally-based field teams. This approach ensures that the sites are easily maintained by a local crew, so that reliable service is not entirely dependent on Avanti’s own field technicians. Reliable connectivity has dramatically improved the lives of Nigerians in the areas currently covered by Avanti, by reducing the time and money previously spent on traveling to neighboring cities for mobile access. Small businesses are booming in the now-connected villages, including resellers of SIM cards, phone charging and repair facilities and many other new enterprises. The GSMA reports that access to 3G coverage is expected to uplift Nigerian households from extreme poverty by as much as 4 percentage points within a single year and 7 percentage points within 2 or more years of coverage, which is why Avanti has focused on offering 2G and 3G services as standard through its service.

Avanti’s -rural solution is not only changing the landscape of mobile network coverage in Nigeria but also setting a precedent for other countries with similar geographical and infrastructural challenges. The solution paves the way for these remote communities to have access to vital services such as online education, telehealth and digital commerce, which were previously inaccessible due to lack of connectivity. For its successes, as well as the over 200 new skilled field engineering jobs created in the process, the program was recognized by the Nigerian telecoms industry in its 2021 and 2022 awards.

The Mapping Invisible Populations Project by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in collaboration with Flowminder and Humanitarian Open Street Map

The Mapping Invisible Populations project is an innovative initiative by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), created in collaboration with Flowminder and Humanitarian Open Street Map. The project was developed in 2023 with the central aim of providing support services to hard-to-reach populations. This initiative primarily targets fragile and conflict-affected areas which may receive less medical and other humanitarian support. Using satellite imagery mapping techniques and GIS methodologies provided by its partners, the Mapping Invisible Populations project gathers satellite and spatial data and combines it with population estimates analyzed by its partners to determine the location of these underserved populations. Subsequently, these estimates are verified by community informants for further corroboration. The objective is to identify populations living in areas that are large enough to justify IRC investing resources, time, and risk to provide medical and humanitarian assistance.

The Mapping Invisible Populations project focuses on areas where no humanitarian organization has a presence due to insecurity. Such areas often lack essential, up-to-date demographic data, including census information, displacement data and settlement locations. Accurate population data provides an essential basis for developing access and delivery strategies for the IRC's support services. Once a clear methodology is established, the IRC hopes to replicate it in other regions, allowing for the identification of new settlements. One of the most significant aspects of this project is its potential to bring much-needed attention to communities in need of greater visibility and support.

Maxar News Bureau
The Maxar News Bureau is a unique partnership program that collaborates with renowned media organizations worldwide, focusing on using technology for social good and global transparency. The program is operated by Maxar Intelligence, a leading provider of secure, precise geospatial intelligence. The Bureau leverages the business’ satellite imagery, analytics and expertise to complement quality journalism and provide irrefutable evidence in an era where credibility is critical. The Maxar News Bureau has provided high-resolution satellite imagery and analysis for notable reports like The New York Times’ 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning report on Russia’s use of shadow warfare and the 2019 Emmy-winning “One Building, One Bomb” story, which reconstructed a chemical attack in Syria. The Bureau’s satellite imagery allowed the Times reporters to enhance their storytelling and lend credibility to their reports.

In the realm of current events, information is traditionally released by the media, governments or organizations directly involved in the event. The Maxar News Bureau serves as an auxiliary source, providing supporting evidence or context to unfolding situations. In a groundbreaking development, Maxar Intelligence became the primary source of information during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing the first evidence of a Russian military convoy heading towards Kyiv, Ukraine. Media organizations and the public did not know about the convoy’s progress or the amount of equipment it carried until Maxar Intelligence distributed the imagery, adding a new dimension to its role in news reporting. Since early 2021, the Maxar News Bureau has been actively monitoring the evolving situation in Ukraine. The Bureau has released images showing the build-up of Russian troops and equipment along the Ukrainian border, providing an in-depth and unbiased view of the conflict. The team has since produced and analyzed thousands of images to identify newsworthy activities in Ukraine, distributing over 400 images of the conflict to journalists and media organizations for public dissemination.

Maxar Intelligence’s industry-leading imagery has provided indisputable insight into global events, enabling the public, journalists, customers and governments to gain a clearer understanding of complex situations and make informed decisions. The Maxar News Bureau stands as a testament to the powerful convergence of technology and journalism, providing transparency in a world rife with misinformation. Through its innovative use of satellite imagery, the Bureau underscores the importance of irrefutable evidence in journalism and the pursuit of truth.

About the Better Satellite World Campaign
Working with partner associations and supporting companies around the world, Space & Satellite Professionals International’s Better Satellite World campaign (www.bettersatelliteworld.com) is changing the global conversation about satellites and their influence on the economy, business and societies everywhere. The campaign was launched in Washington, DC during SATELLITE 2015. It has since become a cornerstone and a viral effort that is successfully communicating the incredible power of satellites for human good.

SSPI has published a series of stories and videos that dramatize the immense contributions of the “invisible infrastructure” of satellite to life on Earth, which are widely shared by individuals, companies and the media. The Better Satellite World campaign is available for repurposing by any organization or person who wishes to use the content to help promote the industry at www.bettersatelliteworld.com and through the Twitter hashtag #bettersatelliteworld.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(October 18, 2023 – New York City, NY) - The Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today presented the 2023 Promise Awards to Bhavi Jagatia of Planet, Julie Newman of Boeing and Onyinye Nwankwo of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The Promise Awards honor the three top-ranked members of the annual “20 Under 35” list of space & satellite employees and entrepreneurs age 35 and under who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the early stages of their career. The three recipients were honored at the 18th annual Future Leaders Celebration in Mountain View, California, in conjunction with Silicon Valley Space Week, produced by SatNews publishers.

“This is the fifth time in the past 18 years that all the Promise Award winners are women,” said executive director Robert Bell. “The first time was in 2013, so our ‘20 Under 35’ and Promise Awards have been signaling for some time the arrival of extraordinary women employees and entrepreneurs in vital positions, who are gradually eroding the stereotype of an all-male industry.”

A jury of industry executives donate their time and expertise to selecting the “20 Under 35” honorees and the Mentor of the Year from nominations submitted by SSPI members. In a first this year, SSPI invited members of the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame to select the Promise Award winners from among top-scoring candidates in the “20 Under 35” cohort. The Space & Satellite Hall of Fame honors innovators and executives including Joe Spytek of Speedcast, the founders of Planet, Kathryn Lueders of NASA, Steve Collar of SES, Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX, Tory Bruno of ULA, Matt Desch of Iridium and Dr. Walter Scott of Maxar.
 

The 2023 Promise Award Winners:

Bhavi Jagatia
Astrodynamics Engineer, Planet

Bhavi Jagatia is an Astrodynamics Engineer at Planet, a position she took on after completing a successful internship for the Orbits R&D team. While at Planet, she has made significant improvements to the tasking system for the company’s high-resolution constellation of imaging satellites, SkySats. Bhavi was initially tasked with evaluating the complex schedule for SkySats, identifying areas of improvement and implementing changes to increase the collection capacity of the fleet. Her work resulted in substantial fulfillment enhancements, and she is now the sole owner and developer of the tool for her team.

In addition to her success with SkySats, Bhavi has made several other major contributions to Planet since joining the team. Her team developed algorithms to schedule repeatable sunglint images as part of the mission design for Planet’s upcoming hyperspectral imaging satellite constellation. While considering various approaches to validate the tasking model, Bhavi proposed the novel idea of implementing their strategy on Planet’s currently in-orbit satellites as a proof-of-concept experiment. She quickly taught herself the basics of tasking on Dove satellites and wrote scripts to add a new high off-nadir imaging strategy. Bhavi was able to validate her colleagues’ scheduling model by capturing sunglint images on an end-of-life Dove satellite, and her work was published and presented at AIAA Scitech 2023 and IEEE Aerospace 2023, where it received the Best Paper award.

Outside of work, Bhavi dedicates her time to increasing diversity in STEM and, most particularly, the aerospace industry. She currently volunteers with Ignite by serving as a panelist and sharing her knowledge with girls and non-binary youth at underprivileged schools in the Bay Area and recently organized a field trip for students from a local middle school to tour Planet. Read more about Bhavi.
 

Julie Newman
Program Chief Engineer, Boeing

Julie Newman is Program Chief Engineer for Satelit Nusantara Lima N5 (SNL), a major geostationary communications satellite program, at Boeing. In this role, she has been instrumental in overseeing risk management and problem resolution for the satellite, particularly in the midst of a challenging shift to a different payload. Julie regularly directs and approves the work of senior engineering staff and provides recommendations to the program management office and the customer and has spearheaded multiple process improvement initiatives, including major efforts to improve Boeing’s engineering training and metrics tracking systems. Before taking on her current position, Julie was the Technical Program Manager, a role in which she led a team of 15 engineers to develop the engine controller assembly for the Space Launch System (SLS) first stage rocket. The team consistently exceeded expectations under her leadership while executing a late re-design of the unit to resolve a leakage issue associated with a sneak path discovered during testing of the engineering model.

Before joining Boeing, Julie served as the Technical Manager & Lead Electronics Hardware Designer for the radar instrument of the Europa Clipper Mission, which will provide detailed mapping of the surface and sub-surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa in order to identify areas most likely to harbor extraterrestrial life. When a late-breaking radiation lot-test failure threatened to derail the entire program, she came up with an innovative discrete component solution that allowed her to remove the suspect integrated circuit and redeem the hardware’s necessary high radiation tolerance. The spacecraft is currently scheduled to launch in 2024, which would not have been possible without Julie’s contribution.

Outside of work hours, Julie is the best-selling author of Pull Don’t Push: Why STEM Messaging to Girls Isn’t Working and What to Do Instead. She has spent the past decade volunteering in STEM outreach, especially to young girls and young women, in order to teach them about the thrills of solving important, impactful problems through engineering and working with collaborative, supportive teams. Read more about Julie.
 

Onyinye Nwankwo
Research Scientist in Atmospheric and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Onyinye Nwankwo is an accomplished scientist in the field of upper atmospheric and space sciences, currently pursuing her PhD in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her work is increasing our understanding of how changes in Earth’s upper atmosphere affect radio-wave transmission. Most of the industry’s revenue depends on sending radio signals between Earth and space. So, as a changing climate changes the atmosphere, her award-winning research is paving the way for important advances in satellite communications and the prediction of space weather.

Her fascination with radio and the atmosphere has deep roots. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in her home country of Nigeria. During her studies, she also served as a trainee Radio Signal Officer learning signal processing for the Nigeria Port Authority. She went onto become a Scientific Officer with Nigeria’s space and atmospheric research agency. There, she used her growing skills in data processing and imaging to investigate “airglow.” That is a faint light emitted by our atmosphere at night, which can reveal activity that is undetectable during the day. Leaving Nigeria, she gained one Master’s degree in Space Geophysics from Brazil’s national space research institute, and a second in Climate and Space Science from the University of Michigan in the US. That’s where she works today while completing her Ph.D – except for a project that took her to Japan’s Space-Earth Environment Research Institute.

Onyinye has served as a leader throughout her academic career, taking on roles such as Vice President and Treasurer for Graduate Rackham International (GRIN), Treasurer for the Graduate Society of Black Engineers and Scientists (GSBES), and External Relations Officer for the Graduate Society of Women Engineers (GradSWE). Outside of working and study hours, Onyinye serves as a mentor for the Lumiere Research Scholar Program, guiding high school students interested in upper atmospheric and space science research. She also volunteers with the University of Michigan’s Xplore Engineering program, which provides hands-on experience in engineering to children in grades 4 through 7. Read more about Onyinye.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(September 26, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today released Flying Higher, its newest video in the Better Satellite World campaign. It explores the unique capabilities that GEO orbit satellites bring to the world every day. Flying Higher is made possible by funding from Hughes.

“Satellite customers are understandably excited about the new LEO constellations bringing high capacity, low latency and aggressive pricing to satellite broadband,” said executive director Robert Bell. “Other satellite operators and service providers are understandably alert to the challenges of competing and cooperating with them. In the midst of so much change, SSPI is pointing to the bigger story: that we are all fulfilling the dreams of Sir Arthur C. Clarke that launched the satellite business: of connectivity reaching every corner of the globe.”

You can watch the video on SSPI’s website and on Youtube. Flying Higher is part of Eternal Orbit, SSPI’s latest campaign that explores the major value and proven business case that GEO continues to offer in a satellite business where LEO and MEO have attracted massive investment and customer interest but have yet to demonstrate long-term commercial viability.

Inside the Story
In a few years, there could be more than 50,000 satellites in orbit. Most of them will fly low, crossing the sky and covering the Earth with radio waves, cameras and radar. Flying so low, they brush the upper edges of the atmosphere, which gradually slows them until they fall to Earth.

But there is a place in space where no atmosphere reaches, where satellites are invisible because they fly so high, and where they can hover magically over a single spot on the Earth’s surface. It is called geosynchronous orbit or GEO, because it synchronizes with the turning Earth. It is the first orbit, the oldest one in continuous use by human beings. For decades, it has brought the world television and phone calls, internet and business networks, and communications for military bases and humanitarian missions, remote mines and ships at sea.

The first GEO satellite flew 60 years ago, but the value of GEO orbit keeps flying higher, even as low-flying spacecraft fill the skies. GEO is the only place in space where we can send a single digital signal and have it reach millions of sites. With no atmosphere to slow them down, satellites in GEO can last for more than a decade. GEO is getting smarter, as software-defined payloads are launched that can change their mission on the fly. And GEO is betting bigger, as companies like Hughes put spacecraft the size of buses into GEO capable of delivering high-speed broadband to millions of customers, while innovation in ground systems squeezes more capacity out of the same bandwidth every year.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(September 12, 2023 – New York City) – The Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today announced the sixth annual “20 Under 35” list of outstanding young space and satellite professionals age 35 and under. The honorees will be celebrated at SSPI’s 18th annual Future Leaders Celebration on October 18 during Silicon Valley Space Week, produced by SatNews publishers.

SSPI’s annual list of the “20 Under 35” features 20 employees and entrepreneurs to keep your eye on in coming years. They were selected from nominations submitted by the membership and evaluated by a panel of judges made up of many of the Mentors supporting SSPI’s student outreach programs as well as Members of the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame. This year, SSPI received a record number of nominations for the “20 Under 35” list. At the Future Leaders Celebration, the three top-ranked members of the 20 Under 35 will be named as this year’s Promise Award winners.

“This year marks the sixth cohort of ‘20 Under 35’ honorees identified by our independent judges and members of the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame,” said executive director Robert Bell. “That is 120 of the smartest, most dedicated and creative individuals in our global business, many of whom have already made a name for themselves and influenced the direction of the industry. I can’t wait to help introduce them to our audience at the Future Leaders Celebration on October 18.”

The “20 Under 35” of 2023:

• Aysha Alharam, Acting Head of Satellite Design and Development, National Space Science Agency, Bahrain
• Andrew Chau, Space Mission Program Manager, Millennium Space (A Boeing Company)
• Amy Comeau, Lead, Office of the Chief Engineer, Boeing
• Laura Cummings, Regulatory Affairs Counsel, Astroscale U.S.
• Bhavi Jagatia, Astrodynamics Engineer, Planet
• Christian Keil, Chief of Staff, Astranis
• Srikanth Kodeboyina, Founder & CEO, Blue Eye Soft Corp dba Blue Space
• Dr. Justyna Kosianka, Technical Product Owner, Ursa Space
• Neha Lin, Space Systems Engineer, Iridium
• Dr. Zhe Liu, Senior Materials & Process Engineer, Maxar
• Armando Loli, Project Engineer, Boeing
• Asad Malik, Founder, Chairman & CEO, iRocket
• Julie Newman, Program Chief Engineer, Boeing
• Onyinye Nwankwo, PhD Candidate in Atmospheric and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Klaus Okkelberg, Electrical Design & Analysis Engineer, Boeing
• Matej Poliacek, ISS Flight Operations Engineer & STRATOS Flight Control Team Deputy Lead, DLR – German Aerospace Centre
• Sapna Rao, Senior Systems Engineer, Lockheed Martin
• Alix Rousseliere, Strategy Consultant for Satcom, Euroconsult
• Glory Sikka, Technical Program Manager, Maxar
• Kenneth Smith, Risk Manager and Project Engineer, The Aerospace Corporation

Full profiles of the “20 Under 35” will be available shortly at www.20under35.com.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

Debra will be honored along with this year’s “20 Under 35” outstanding young professionals at the 18th Annual Future Leaders Celebration on October 18 in Silicon Valley

(September 7, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today announced that it will present its 2023 Mentor of the Year Award to Debra Facktor, Head of U.S. Space Systems at Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc. Debra will be honored on October 18 at SSPI’s 18th Annual Future Leaders Celebration for the attention, support, wisdom and guidance she has provided to young professionals and colleagues throughout her career in the industry. During the Celebration, SSPI will also honor the “20 Under 35” space and satellite professionals to watch in the coming years and present three of them with its Promise Award for outstanding achievement.

“Mentors are the unsung heroes of our industry,” said executive director Robert Bell. “Quietly, consistently and persistently, they develop the skills, talents and understanding of future leaders, not with formal training or policies but by listening, suggesting, sharing enthusiasm and introducing them into the professional networks that power career success. We are honored to add Debra to our list of unsung heroes including Steve Bates and Donna Potter of Maxar, Dawn Harms of Momentus, Randy Segal of Hogan Lovells and Clay Mowry of Voyager Space.”

The 2023 Future Leaders Celebration (www.satfuture.com) will take place live on October 18 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA in conjunction with Silicon Valley Space Week 2023, produced by SatNews publishers. The proceeds of the Celebration go to fund SSPI’s educational, professional development and industry growth initiatives.
 

The SSPI 2023 Mentor of the Year:

Debra Facktor
Head of U.S. Space Systems, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc.

Throughout her more than 30 years in the space industry, Debra Facktor has served as a mentor and guide for more than 25 interns and young leaders beginning their careers and countless more leaders as they continue their professional journeys. Of note, she provided vital advice and support to Gary Lai, who went on to become the Chief Architect at Blue Origin, when he was an intern and young engineer starting out at Kistler Aerospace. Debra founded the Women in Aerospace (WIA) Foundation in 2009 – which has provided scholarships to 35 women pursuing higher education degrees in aerospace fields over the past 13 years – and served as a mentor to the inaugural recipient, Dr. Whitney Lohmeyer, whom she still mentors today. She is a sought-after speaker for panels, business deals and general industry advice due to her powerful combination of enthusiasm, energy and sharp business acumen. Debra has an impressive ability to connect with people and recall details about their lives and professional history, and she knows someone at every event she attends. As a colleague at Airbus U.S. puts it, “People line up to catch up with Debra because she delights in their successes. She is a source of empathy and direct, unflinching advice during times of challenge.”

Debra is Head of U.S. Space Systems for Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, a position she has held for 3.5 years. In her current role, Debra leads the company’s space business line with a focus on small satellite constellations and space exploration, and serves on the board of the Airbus OneWeb Satellites joint venture. Her contributions have been vital to the company’s remarkable 4-year compound annual growth rate of 145%. Before joining Airbus U.S., she served as Vice President and General Manager of Strategic Operations at Ball Aerospace, where she led the firm’s D.C. operations and expanded its strategic capabilities in the defense, civil and commercial sectors. Debra’s previous positions also include President and an owner of AirLaunch LLC, which won funding from DARPA to develop an operationally responsive small launch vehicle under her leadership. She served as Vice President for Business Development and Strategic Planning at Kistler Aerospace, which raised over $600 million in private capital to develop a reusable launch vehicle for commercial markets. Her strategies laid the groundwork for what became commercial resupply of the International Space Station. Debra began her career at ANSER, where she served in a variety of leadership positions before becoming Chief of Moscow Operations.

Outside of work, Debra serves in many advisory and leadership roles in the greater industry. She is Chairwoman of SSPI-WISE (SSPI Women in Space Engagement) – which includes a non-voting seat on the SSPI Board of Directors, a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) Advisory Board, a member of the Future Space Leaders Foundation Board and a mentor for the Brooke Owens, Matthew Isakowitz and Patti Grace Smith Fellowship programs. Debra serves or has contributed as an advisor, mentor and board member for many other aerospace and women’s leadership organizations as well, including the University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering Industrial Advisory Board, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the AIAA ASCEND Guiding Coalition, Women in Aerospace (former chair of the board) and the WIA Foundation, the International Women’s Forum and CHIEF. She is a fellow of AIAA and the American Astronautical Society and an academician of the International Academy of Astronautics. Debra recently completed the Stagen Leadership Academy Integral Leadership Program, an intensive, year-long program designed for senior executives who want to specialize in transformational leadership.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(September 4, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today announced the beginning of Eternal Orbit, a multi-week campaign featuring videos, podcasts, live online conversations and a new issue of SSPI’s digital magazine, The Orbiter. The campaign explores the major value and proven business case that GEO continues to offer in a satellite business where LEO and MEO have attracted massive investment and customer interest but have yet to demonstrate long-term commercial viability. Eternal Orbit is underwritten by Hughes Network Systems.

The campaign begins this week with a live conversation from SSPI-WISE (SSPI Women in Space Engagement): The Enduring Value of GEO. The conversation, which will take place on September 7, will feature four women from diverse companies with a focus on GEO missions to bring us up to speed on new innovations in the field. Geo 2.0, the podcast series of Eternal Orbit, will launch next Monday on September 11. New Eternal Orbit content will be published weekly at www.sspi.org/cpages/eternal-orbit.

“Our attention is always drawn to bright, shiny toys – and Starlink and OneWeb are the brightest and shiniest so far,” said executive director Robert Bell. “In this campaign, we salute the original orbit, the eternal orbit of GEO and the needs it will uniquely continue to meet today and in the decades to come.”

About Eternal Orbit
There is a place in space where no atmosphere reaches, where satellites are invisible because they fly so high, and where they can hover magically over a single spot on the Earth’s surface. It is called geosynchronous orbit or GEO, because it synchronizes with the turning Earth. It is the first orbit, the oldest one in continuous use by human beings. For decades, it has brought the world television and phone calls, internet and business networks, and communications for military bases and humanitarian missions, remote mines and ships at sea.

The first GEO satellite flew 60 years ago, but the value of GEO orbit keeps flying higher, even as low-flying spacecraft fill the skies. GEO is the only place in space where we can send a single digital signal and have it reach millions of sites. With no atmosphere to slow them down, satellites in GEO can last for more than a decade. GEO is getting smarter, as software-defined payloads are launched that can change their mission on the fly. And GEO is betting bigger, as companies put spacecraft the size of buses into GEO capable of delivering high-speed broadband to millions of customers, while innovation in ground systems squeezes more capacity out of the same bandwidth every year.

You can learn more about the Eternal Orbit campaign on SSPI’s website.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(July 13, 2023 – New York City) – SSPI-WISE (SSPI Women in Space Engagement) has announced to announce the results of its 2023 officer election, which took place over the final week of June.

The membership of SSPI-WISE has elected former Vice Chair Jomya Lei of Viasat to the newly created position of President and Vinitha Lalvani of AvL Technologies as its first Vice President. Presidents and Vice Presidents of SSPI-WISE will serve one-year terms with the Vice President taking on the role of President in the year following her service as Vice President. Vinitha Lalvani will also continue to serve in her previous capacity as Co-Chair of the Social Media Working Group.

Debra Facktor of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense will serve her final year of a three-year term as Chairwoman of SSPI-WISE in 2023. Beginning this year, the position of SSPI-WISE Chairwoman will also include appointment in a non-voting capacity to the SSPI Board of Directors.

“The acceleration of SSPI-WISE from an idea to a movement within SSPI has been nothing short of amazing,” said executive director Robert Bell. “In addition to these changes, SSPI is giving WISE a permanent seat on our Board of Directors to ensure that the voices of our female members are heard and respected.”

SSPI-WISE’s membership also elected three new candidates to officer positions and two returning officers to new positions:

• Divya-Kala Bhavani, Head of PR, Communications & Marketing, Dhruva Space, and Toni Lee Rudnicki, Fractional CMO and Founder, TLR Consulting will serve as Co-Chairs of the SSPI-WISE Elevating Women Working Group
• Manal Tadros, Boeing Satellite Systems Insurance Office Manager at The Boeing Company will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Sustainment & Infrastructure Working Group
• Helen Weedon, Owner and Senior Account Director, Radical Moves Ltd. and Managing Director, Satcoms Innovation Group will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Social Media Working Group
• Heidi Anne White, Outreach Officer, Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE STEM Outreach Working Group

Continuing to serve as SSPI-WISE officers are:

• Alix (Hornig) Wright, Senior Vice President, Marketing Communications, Speedcast will serve as SSPI-WISE Secretary
• Silvia Borges, Pre Sales Engineer, Hispasat will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Mentoring Working Group
• Negar (Moinee) Feher will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Elevating Women Working Group
• Jennifer Hoil, Director of Product Marketing, ST Engineering iDirect will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Sustainment & Infrastructure Working Group
• Justyna Kosianka, Senior Remote Sensing Scientist and Product Owner, Ursa Space Systems will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE STEM Outreach Working Group
• Andrea Maleter, retired, Space Business Booster will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Mentoring Working Group
• Wendy (Lewis) Newman, Public Relations and Communications Consultant, Strategic Voice will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Mentoring Working Group
• Melissa Orlick, Sales & Business Development Manager, Intellian Technologies will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Sustainment & Infrastructure Working Group
• Audrey Puderbaugh, Spacecraft Engineer, Iridium will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE STEM Outreach Working Group
• Rosario Toxqui, Senior Director of Marketing, Comtech Telecommunications Corp. will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Social Media Working Group
• Elisabeth Tweedie, Founder and Owner, Definitive Direction will serve as Co-Chair of the SSPI-WISE Social Media Working Group

SSPI-WISE was founded in December 2020, with the goal of engaging women in the space and satellite industry on topics ranging from STEM outreach and mentoring to networking and elevating women. In this new election cycle, the Networking Working Group will function in an ad hoc capacity, and SSPI-WISE did not elect leads for its function.

SSPI-WISE membership is open to women who are SSPI members, and has a mailing list option for those who identify as allies of women. Members may serve on working groups including working groups that focus on STEM Outreach, Elevating Women, Social Media and Mentorship. SSPI-WISE holds networking events at various conferences, and bi-monthly meetings that are open to men and women, with informative guest speakers.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(May 8, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today announced the beginning of Reducing the Risks of Space, a multi-week campaign featuring videos, podcasts, live online conversations and a new issue of SSPI’s digital magazine, The Orbiter. The campaign explores the policy, law, technology and operations in development now to increase the safety of launch, spacecraft, in-space operations and crewed space missions. Reducing the Risks of Space is underwritten by the Space Shuttle Children’s Trust Fund.

The campaign begins today with a podcast interview with K&L Gates’ Elizabeth Evans and Kathryn Lueders, formerly of NASA (now retired) and a member of the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame. SSPI will feature videos on the challenges of dealing with space debris and what the space and satellite industry is working on to make space travel safer in the future. New content will be published weekly at www.sspi.org/cpages/reducing-the-risks-of-space.

“Two centuries of industrial development have left humanity with the challenge of limiting and reversing climate change,” said executive director Robert Bell. “Fifty years of launch and orbital operations have done the same for Earth orbit, cluttering it with an estimated 100 million pieces of space debris. Launch and space operations were already high-risk, as the Challenger disaster showed us in 1986. This new campaign will dramatically demonstrate that humanity’s future in space depends on limiting those risks and increasing the safety and sustainability of space missions.”

About Reducing the Risks of Space
Not so many years ago, launch and deployment were the biggest risks of putting technology or people into space. Today, space is growing crowded with multiple orbits, massive growth in the number of satellites, and new business ventures from private space stations and fuel depots to in-orbit servicing and operations. They join orbital planes already home to 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball, moving at speeds of up to 17,500 mph.

A sustainable space environment for machines and people is a basic condition for the space economy. It is how we will maintain access to orbit and achieve the commercial success the industry dreams of. Until now, the world has relied on treaties and cooperation among business and government to keep space safe. As the value of space grows, that approach is fast running out of runway.

Reducing the Risks of Space will explore policy, law, technology and operations in development now to manage the challenging space environment of the future. It will ask if enough is being done and, if not, how we can motivate greater urgency in finding solutions. The campaign will also look at business models and technology advances that hold the promise of heading off the dreaded Kessler Syndrome that could make low Earth orbit unusable for decades.

You can learn more about the Reducing the Risks of Space campaign on SSPI’s website.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(May 16, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today released The High Ground, its newest video in the Better Satellite World campaign. It tells the story of how one satellite company is attempting to build the world’s first integrated satellite planning and operation system capable of providing an integrated enterprise level view of the satellites, the secure networks that connect them and military forces deployed on the ground, sea and air. The High Ground is made possible by funding from Network Innovations U.S. Government.

You can watch the video on SSPI’s website and on Youtube. The High Ground is part of Reducing the Risks of Space, SSPI’s latest campaign that explores policy, law, technology and operations in development now to manage the challenging space environment of the future.

Inside the Story
In the modern world, satellites have become critical to defense, from monitoring for signs of attack to connecting war fighters and the machines that go with them. Because satellites are vital, they are targets for enemy action. The United States responded to this growing threat in 2019 by creating the U.S. Space Force, a new branch of the military with an ambitious goal to make sure that military satellite networks stay online even as enemies interfere with them, try to hack them or knock them out of the sky. That required something completely new: an integrated satellite planning and operation system of a sort that has never before been attempted.

To make the attempt, the U.S. Space Force turned to Network Innovations U.S. Government. The High Ground tells the story of how the company is working to build a platform to respond to the unique needs of the U.S. Space Force, connecting the broadest range of terminals and satellites – including on-the-fly resource management and the ability to keep communications flowing even when under severe attack.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(April 27, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today released Truly Connected World, its newest video in the Better Satellite World campaign. It tells the story of how unified, trust-based satellite networks are providing connectivity to even the most remote and difficult regions of the world, bringing all of us closer together. Truly Connected World is made possible by funding from Isotropic Networks.

You can watch the video on SSPI’s website and on Youtube.

“Though billions have yet to go online for the first time, digital connectivity has faster than any other technology in history,” said executive director and producer Robert Bell. “But the more connected we are, the more vulnerable we become, because of the key missing ingredient: trust. Our new video explores what a truly trust-based network could bring to the world.”

Inside the Story
Every year, through relentless innovation, we’re moving closer to a world completely connected by wires and cables, optical fibers and radio waves. Many of those radio waves make their way through space. Satellites let us reach vast regions where technology on the ground is missing or costs too much. Today, their services are converging with ground networks as never before. The vision of a truly connected world is becoming a reality. But one thing is still missing: trust. Users need to trust that their vital information is secure – and that networks can handle the explosion of services running on them, because they have become essential to both life and livelihood.

Satellite companies like Isotropic Networks create solutions that deliver trust, including one called Pendragon. Using artificial intelligence, it combines different ground and space connections into unified networks, expanding coverage, eliminating failures and providing high-speed performance. It monitors every user and device on a network, automatically detecting threats and taking action to stop them. Solutions like Pendragon make it possible to bring internet access to an Indonesian village to automate a massive mine for the rare minerals that power our digital future to give a ship or plane the same connectivity you enjoy at home.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(March 28, 2023 – New York City) - Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) announced today that its Board of Directors has elected Katherine Gizinski, CEO of ManSat, as its Chairwoman and James Trevelyan, Senior Vice President, Enterprise & Emerging Markets for Speedcast, as its President. The appointments take effect immediately and continue through the end of SSPI’s next fiscal year in June 2024.

As CEO of ManSat, Katherine leads a team of experts in international spectrum regulation and market access. From filing services to customized consultancy, ManSat guides clients through complex regulatory environments, campaigns for new spectrum identification, and facilitates development of regulatory frameworks to support ground-breaking technologies coming to market. Before joining ManSat, Katherine worked with US defense contractors to bring commercial satellite and terrestrial communication technologies to austere environments in support of military, diplomatic, first responder, and commercial initiatives. A graduate of the International Space University’s Executive program, Katherine holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia.

James Trevelyan joined Speedcast in 2018 after 17 years in various leadership roles at Arqiva’s Satellite and Media division. He served as Chairman of the WTA for 6 years. At Speedcast, he leads the Enterprise business unit. The Speedcast global network serves over 40,000 remote sites across all continents supported by field engineers in 40 countries and customer support centers on six continents. James graduated with a double honors degree in International Business and Modern Languages from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

“As our industry shifts into overdrive to seize opportunities created by technology change and billions in new investment, SSPI depends on the leadership of its officers and Board of Directors to understand the business from the inside,” said executive director Robert Bell. “Our programs and properties – from the Better Satellite World campaign to the industry’s Hall of Fame – are unique in the industry, and leaders like Katherine and James ensure that we evolve to keep pace with change.”

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through the dramatic stories of our Better Satellite World campaign (www.bettersatelliteworld.com). 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

Online, Self-Paced Training Courses Enable Students to Master the Fundamentals of the Business of Space

(March 9, 2023 – Washington, DC) – The new, popular series of online courses and certification testing produced by SSPI, GVF and SatProf will be demonstrated at this year’s Satellite 2023 show at Booth #1657. The Space Business Qualified www.spacebq.org (SBQ) courses are used by companies large and small to train employees in the business of space and to retain and attract new talent. The courses are all delivered online, taught through a creative mix of self-paced, interactive tutorials, videos, illustrations, and tests. The SBQ Fundamentals courses are designed to lead to future specialized courses in satellite communications, earth observation, as well as spacecraft and launch. The goal is to give new and advancing staff members a solid, complete, and grounded knowledge of the business of space.

DISCOUNT FOR SATELLITE 2023 ATTENDEES

To mark the recently completed release of the SBQ Fundamentals training and certification series in time for SATELLITE 2023, SBQ will offer an introductory conference discount of 15% off the tuition fee. Members of SSPI and GVF receive an additional discount, which may be combined with the conference discount, along with group discounts.

“We are pleased to announce this offer and the final release of the SBQ Fundamentals series.  SBQ has been getting excellent traction from industry companies who are looking for tools to enhance competitiveness by developing staff skills and knowledge,” said SatProf Founder Ralph Brooker.

The five Fundamentals courses are:

1. Fundamentals of Orbits & Getting into Space (SBQ 401)
2. Spacecraft Fundamentals (SBQ 402)
3. Space Communications Fundamentals (SBQ 403)
4. Markets (SBQ 404)
5. Finance, Legal & Regulatory (SBQ 405)

Students who complete all five Fundamentals courses and pass the final exam will receive an SBQ Fundamentals certification.

Mr. Brooker added that companies are using SBQ courses to attract new staff, accelerate onboarding, and help their customers become more informed buyers.

The SBQ learning program is the product of year-long efforts by SatProf, the leader in educational courses for the industry, in collaboration with the GVF and Space and Satellite Professionals International, the two leading non-profits in the space and satellite communications industry. The organizations collectively have 80 years of combined experience in the industry.

To enroll in the series with the discount, visit SpaceBQ.org, select the Fundamentals bundle, and enter the coupon code SBQSAT23Intro. The offer will be valid through April 15.

For more information about SBQ course registration visit SpaceBQ.org or email info@SpaceBQ.org.

Join the growing community on LinkedIn and Twitter – follow #SpaceBQ to be informed on the current and future developments.

Watch a short SBQ video:

For More Information
Irina Petrov
info@SpaceBQ.org

(February 23, 2023 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) announced today that, on March 14, it will induct three new members into the prestigious Space & Satellite Hall of Fame.

The 2023 honorees are David Kagan, Chief Executive Officer of Globalstar; Mark Miller, Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at Viasat; and Joe Spytek, Chief Executive Officer of Speedcast.

They will join the leaders who created, sustained and expanded the industry over the past 60 years, including Pradman Kaul, Gwynne Shotwell, Steve Collar, David Thompson, Greg Wyler, Mary Cotton, Romain Bausch, Sidney Topol, John Celli, Giuliano Berretta, Dr. Gladys West, Jean-Yves Le Gall, Mark Dankberg, James Monroe III, Dr. Harold Rosen, Rene Anselmo, Takuya Yoshida, Peter Jackson, Prof. Robert Twiggs and Dr. Arthur C. Clarke.

“With this year’s induction,” said executive director Robert Bell, “the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame honors industry leaders in technology and satellite connectivity whose work has been transformative for the industry and world. While striving to build major business success, each has contributed to expanding the capabilities, flexibility and positive impact of our industry for the people of Earth.”

The latest members of the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame will be inducted during the 2023 Hall of Fame Celebration on March 14, hosted by K&L Gates, during SATELLITE 2023. The inductees were selected by SSPI’s Board of Directors under the leadership of SSPI Chairwoman Katherine Gizinski, CEO of Mansat.

The Space & Satellite Hall of Fame recognizes the invaluable contributions of the visionaries who transform life on planet Earth for the better through space and satellite technology. Members of the Hall of Fame are recognized pioneers in satellite communications, earth observation, launch services, spacecraft technologies and applications, in-space operations, space law, space education and space science. They are honored for significant achievement with such lasting value as the successful introduction of new or improved technologies or services, business innovation that creates new value for users and increases the positive impact of the industry on our world, and new solutions to major economic, social and geographic challenges through imaginative application of space and satellite technology.
 

The 2023 Space & Satellite Hall of Fame Inductees:

David Kagan
Chief Executive Officer, Globalstar

David Kagan’s +25-year career has been a story of reinvention. After early executive experience in the cruise industry, he led Maritime Telecommunications Network in service growth by introducing telecommunications technology to recreational vessel owners and further accelerated the company’s growth by expanding its customer base to include solutions for offshore oil and gas customers as well as government vessels. He additionally forged a revolutionary partnership with AT&T that brought mobile service aboard cruise ships. For Globe Wireless, he led an expansion to support 6,000 vessels, making a significant contribution to the growth in seaborne trade. Under his leadership, Globalstar has used its second-generation network to move aggressively into IoT and entered a mobile partnership that has brought life-saving emergency SOS capability to tens of millions of subscribers.  

Mark Miller
Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Viasat

In a +35-year career, Viasat co-founder Mark Miller has led technology innovations that were instrumental to its growth into a multi-billion-dollar company.  Among his many patents are several on high-throughput satellite broadband architectures.  He has been the lead architect and engineer of the Viasat 1, 2 and 3 systems, whose frequency-sharing designs and accompanying ground technology have multiplied satellite bandwidth thousands of times. More than that, HTS and the new generations of VHTS and UHTS from many operators have been critical to expanding the reach and affordability of services for residential broadband, maritime, aviation, energy, cellular and many other sectors, and are powering the industry’s transition from video to data as the next source of growth.

Joe Spytek
Chief Executive Officer, Speedcast

Joe Spytek’s career has focused on growing small technology concepts into global organizations. In his 17 years as Co-Founder and CEO for ITC Global, he grew the company from a disaster recovery start-up to a remote communications leader, coordinating the sale of the business to Panasonic in 2015. At Speedcast, he led the company through a complete recapitalization during the height of the global pandemic, while consolidating more than 15 legacy organizations, each with different networks and platforms. Just 18 months later, Speedcast had created something new – a global network delivering the multi-path, multi-orbit, software-defined service that the industry talks about as the future. It has enabled Speedcast to integrate LEO connectivity into managed-service solutions for customers to take advantage of lower latency while receiving guaranteed service levels.   Speedcast now operates the industry’s largest global network, topping out at more than 30 Gbps of total bandwidth to customers in 2022 when the company stood up 65 new networks in a matter of weeks to support demand.

Full profiles of the 2023 inductees to the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame will be available shortly on SSPI’s website.

About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. 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.

Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies 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.

For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org

(March 1, 2023 – New York, NY, USA) – On March 8, 2023, SSPI-WISE (SSPI Women in Space Engagement) will be celebrating International Women’s Day with a panel spotlighting the leadership of women in the regulation of space activities at a networking and luncheon event in New York City. The event will be held at the New York City offices of Hogan Lovells, starting with a networking lunch from 12:30 - 1:30 pm EST, followed by the panel session from 1:30 – 2:30 pm EST.

Titled “Women in Regulatory Affairs,” the panel features three distinguished speakers: Doreen Bogdan-Martin, the first woman Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Diane Howard, the first woman Director of Commercial Space Policy at the US National Space Council; and Jessica Rosenworcel, the first woman Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

“SSPI-WISE is thrilled to host this dynamic discussion on the occasion of International Women’s Day,” said Debra Facktor, Chair of SSPI-WISE and Head of U.S. Space Systems for AIRBUS U.S. Space & Defense, Inc. “On this day and always, SSPI-WISE celebrates connecting and elevating women in the space industry from the past, present, and future.”

SSPI Director of Engagement Tamara Bond-Williams said, “A core part of the SSPI mission is to illuminate the paths – breadcrumbs, if you will – for professionals to follow in the footsteps of industry excellence. This opportunity to meet these amazing women – each the first woman in their respective positions – illumines the path of industry professionals without regard to gender, and we are grateful for their generosity to share with us.”

The event, hosted by the SSPI-WISE Mentorship Working Group, is free and open to all who pre-register. For those not able to attend in-person, the panel will also be streamed live via Zoom. To learn more, visit www.sspi.org/events/2023-international-womens-day-hybrid-event. Registration to attend the event live closes on Friday, March 3.

About SSPI-WISE
SSPI-WISE (SSPI Women in Space Engagement) is a group that welcomes all women members from the space & satellite industry. Group goals include:

• Engaging women in the space and satellite industry through STEM outreach, structured mentor programs and partnerships with other women’s groups.
• Elevating the profile of women in the industry by encouraging balance on conference panels, recognizing companies that actively promote women, profiling women through social and other media and encouraging nomination of women for awards, including the Hall of Fame, 20 Under 35 and Mentor of the Year SSPI awards.
• Networking and social media campaigns to spread the word about SSPI-WISE and make sure all women in the industry, from young professionals to women in the midst of long careers have a chance to participate and contribute.

SSPI-WISE meets bi-monthly, usually on Zoom, to discuss goals and plan new events. On alternate months, SSPI-WISE hosts educational webinars open to all. For more information, visit www.sspi.org/cpages/sspi-wise-women-in-space-engagement.

For More Information
Wendy Newman
SSPI-WISE Mentorship Committee Chair
wendy@strategic-voice.com
sspiwise.mentoring@gmail.com