On Orbit

Latest Episodes:

Microsoft Azure, Dell Energy CTOs on the Digital Innovation Frontier Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

Microsoft Azure wants to craft its own space business vertical. But instead of building their own satellites, they've opted to build the business through partnerships. William Chappell, CTO of Microsoft Azure Global, is the innovation leader behind the software giant's efforts to provide satellite operators with a powerful, automated, and secure cloud layer to their networks.

Microsoft recently announced a major partnership with SES and its O3b constellation, and is looking to expand to different layers of the satellite supply chain. William joins On Orbit host and Via Satellite Executive Editor Jeffrey Hill for a conversation about how secure cloud systems allow satellite operators to support many new and exciting applications at the edge – applications that define business evolution in the age of IoT.

NOTE - Please excuse the unusual audio quality of the interview with William. We didn't have our usual tech set-up for this interview, so we had to record from a smartphone. You can still easily understand what's being said, and it's a very good conversation that we hope you enjoy!

Following this interview, we play an excerpt from one of Jeff's favorite keynote speeches of the year, delivered by David Holmes, Chief Technology Officer of Dell Technologies' Global Energy Program. In the presentation, David explains how digital innovation has enabled global businesses to re-orient to a new economic reality. At the same time, he warns that this reality will very quickly be redefined by challenges faced by Millennials and Generation Z and that we must prepare for this future by putting young leaders in the driver's seat sooner, rather than later.

Satellite Cybersecurity Horror Stories with Ken Munro Nov 26, 2019

Show notes

If you think your maritime satellite terminal is safe from hackers, give Ken Munro a call to make sure. He's probably already found a backdoor to your system on the internet.

Ken is the founder of Pen Test Partners, a network security consultancy firm, as well as a widely respected and very entertaining public speaker on all topics cybersecurty. His presentations include live hacks on local devices, hotel keycards, keyless cars and a range of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including wearable children's toys. Ken travels the world, sharing his disdain for device vendors that fail to secure their technologies in order to protect their potential customers.

We sat down with Ken following his keynote at the 2019 OilComm conference in Houston, Texas, to discuss his recent fascination with the commercial space industry, specifically due to what he sees as a concerning lack of security for satellite ground systems. Ken explains his recent work with the commercial satellite industry and shares some ideas on how satellite companies can help better secure their networks in the constantly evolving IoT ecosystem.

The episode also features a replay of the second half of Ken's keynote at OilComm, which presented the results of a satellite terminal hack for the oil and gas industry. It's a funny, enlightening, and at times, terrifying presentation packed with some good advice for those who are unsure of their ground systems' cyber defenses.

Building Smallsats Like Cars: NanoAvionics Comes to the USA Nov 12, 2019

Show notes

NanoAvionics CEO Vytenis Buzas defines his small satellite-building business as an homage to the smart industrial practices of the American automobile industry. What emerged as a spinoff of Lithuania's Vilnius University, NanoAvionics is now thriving and Buzas sees an opportunity to achieve success in the land that inspired his business.

He hired industry veteran Frank Abbott as his U.S.-based CEO, who will oversee the company's preparations to move its research, development and manufacturing business to the United States in 2020. Earlier this year, the company purchased the former Midland, Texas headquarters of XCOR Aerospace and refurbished it into a new smallsat manufacturing plant in Midland, Texas.

In this episode of On Orbit, co-host Grace Graham and I spoke with Vytenis and Frank about the company's move to the USA, the way the company differentiates itself from other space startups, the future outlook of small satellite-powered IoT, and the design of the company's unique logo. (Side note - Vytenis' definition of "New Space" in this episode inspired the chosen topic of what will be our first episode recorded in front of a live audience at the SATELLITE 2020 conference in March).

Commercial Satellite in the 1980s: An Industry History Lesson w/ Scott Chase Oct 29, 2019

Show notes

With the unveiling of the SATELLITE 2020 Conference Program this week, we have a very well-timed episode of On Orbit featuring an interview with Scott Chase, Chairman Emeritus of SATELLITE and former Editor-in-Chief of Via Satellite, detailing the evolution of the commercial satellite industry through the late 20th and early 21st century.

Scott tells On Orbit host Jeffrey Hill the SATELLITE show's origin story. The annual event was created in 1981 as a small gathering of innovative minds and invested leaders, determined to realize their visions of a global voice, video, and data network. Scott shares his insights from his many years as chair of the event, and the lessons that the industry learned along the way from technologies and companies that failed despite great expectations.

We also have a very honest conversation about mentorship and industry diversity. Scott served as Jeff's mentor in the years leading up to and during the hand-off of the SATELLITE chairman role. Jeff asks Scott about his thoughts on how the next generation of professionals will lead the industry and cultivate new innovation, the impact of private investors and STEM education, and the relatively recent surge in public interest for space exploration.

While innovative industries like commercial space are in constant states of change, with disruptive technologies changing the rules of the road, lessons from the past remain relevant, which we hope becomes clear after listening to this fascinating conversation with the former chair of the SATELLITE show. Enjoy!

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on Satellite-Powered Precision Farming Oct 15, 2019

Show notes

How important are precision agriculture and global food and water supply monitoring applications to our future? Via Satellite's On Orbit podcast takes a look at the numbers: The world's population will go from 7.5 billion to 9 billion people in 30 years. Because of this, American farmers alone will be tasked to increase food production by 80 percent to 100 percent over a very short period of time, and for purposes of sustainability, they have to use less seed, less land, and less water.

The only way farmers will be able to meet those expectations is through technology – space-based technologies, such as GPS, Imagery and Sensing, alongside high-speed connectivity, which is stunningly absent, even in the United States. It's a monumental issue – perhaps the most important of our generation — and to discuss this issue, we're honored to host U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr, GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA) Executive Director David Grossman, and Jeff Jorgenson, director of the Iowa Soybean Association and owner and operator of one of Iowa's largest soybean farms.

The episode begins with an introduction by On Orbit host Jeffrey Hill and GPSIA Executive Director David Grossman about the connectivity resources needed to power precision agriculture businesses. We then sit down with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to talk about the FCC's new Precision Agriculture task force, and how high-speed connectivity can help American farmers increase the efficiency of their day-to-day work, plan for the future, and most importantly, improve the sustainability of their businesses.

The episode concludes with an interview with Iowa Soybean Association's Jeff Jorgenson, who tells us how farmers are learning about new precision agriculture technologies and how the farming community is interacting with technology providers — a conversation that includes a stunning revelation about the amount of interactivity with the satellite industry.

Cosmic Girl: Launching Satellites from Jumbo Jets w/ Sirisha Bandla of Virgin Orbit Oct 01, 2019

Show notes

Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne is a rather unique launch vehicle. It's a rocket that deploys, or drops, from a customized Boeing 747 -- a "Flying Launchpad," so-to-speak. One of those aircraft, a former passenger airliner operated by Virgin Atlantic, was purchased by Virgin Galactic in 2015, renamed "The Cosmic Girl" and designated to be used as the first stage launch platform for the Mark II LauncherOne. Why design a launch service this way? What are the benefits and unique capabilities?

In this episode of On Orbit, co-hosts Jeffrey Hill and Grace Graham sit down with Sirisha Bandla, Business Development & Government Affairs Manager at Virgin Orbit, who supports the development of the company's LauncherOne and SpaceShipTwo programs. Sirisha explains how LauncherOne works and talks about the results of its most recent drop test. She said the company is moving full speed ahead, with its eye firmly on the prize - first launch. Sirisha also takes time to give advice to young people looking to establish themselves in the industry, and explains why she views setbacks as a chance to evolve goals - not abandon them.

Seeing is Believing: Space-Based SAR to Save our Environment w/ Capella Space CEO Payam Banazadeh Sep 17, 2019

Show notes

It's frustrating for environmental scientists to watch politicians mangle and regurgitate climate change data into stump campaign speeches. When Capella Space CEO Payam Banazadeh co-founded the San Francisco-based satellite constellation company in 2016, he set out on a mission to tell a clear, visual story about how our planet is changing, directly to the people who would be most impacted by those changes. Images are a universal language.

In this episode, we caught up with Payam, a National Science Foundation fellow, NASA Mariner Award winner and entrepreneur recently named to Forbes "30 Under 30" list, about the unique capabilities of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, specifically when used for environmental monitoring.

By using SAR data operating in the X-band, Capella's constellation can see through clouds and in the dark, monitor stress points in physical infrastructure, extract critical soil and crop data for precision agriculture, prevent illegal fishing, and save lives. Once fully deployed, the Capella constellation will be able to monitor the entire planet, and provide a searchable data archive based on an in-house platform. We also spoke about Capella's recent partnership with AddValue and Inmarsat and what new opportunities the constellation's full deployment will bring to its global end-users.

Community Wi-Fi: Education, Healthcare, and Economic Equality w/ Dave Rehbehn and Peter Gulla Sep 03, 2019

Show notes

Connecting the world's disconnected is a mission we take to heart at On Orbit. After all, our debut episode focused on bridging the digital divide. We like to think of this endeavor as satellites enabling global economic equality.

In this episode, Hughes Network Systems' Dave Rehbehn and Peter Gulla join On Orbit host Jeffrey Hill for a granular look at the global effort to bring the world online. Dave and Peter provide a boots-on-the-ground viewpoint on the role of both existing and new constellation satellites for providing affordable access – from cellular backhaul to community Wi-Fi to the deployment of new GEO and LEO assets. The trio also talks a bit about Hughes' own community Wi-Fi program and its utilization of community advocates and entrepreneurship, as well as how the industry as a whole can advance understanding of the value of satellite in the connected future.

ATTENTION MUSICIANS! Like most new podcasts, we use public-use music tracks for our opening and commercial break themes. The stuff we use now is suitable for now, but we'd like to switch things up a bit. If there are any musicians out there who want to contribute theme songs or music tracks to our show, send us an email at editor@viasatellite.com and we'll let you know how you can send us your tracks. We'll give you full credit on the show, share links to the rest of your music, and we'll throw in a few extras to make it worth your time. Again, if you're interested, email us at editor@viasatellite.com

Episode Links & Notes:

Hughes' Community WiFi Program (more info here)

Pew Research Statistics on Digital Divide

FCC 2019 Report on Digital Divide

Dave Rehbehn on LinkedIn

Hughes Connect on LinkedIn

Carpooling Satellites: Historic and Unique Rideshare Launch Missions w/ Spaceflight and TriSept Aug 20, 2019

Show notes

On this episode of On Orbit, we're joined by Melissa Wuerl, Vice President Business Development for Spaceflight Industries, and Jason Armstrong, Director of Small Satellites for TriSept, for an episode dedicated to rideshare launch services and the impact they've made on opening access to space.

Rideshare launching is like the carpooling of launch services. By placing very small satellites in the spaces between larger satellites on larger rockets, rideshare providers is able to provide low-cost options for satellite operators, while providing additional business to traditional launchers and increasing access to space.

On Orbit special guest co-host Grace Graham and I spoke with Melissa Wuerl about Spaceflight's historic SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission, which successfully launched more than 80 small satellites for a wide variety of operators, research organizations and universities on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December 2018. Melissa shares stories from her team's experience of assembling and executing on the mission, as well as a look forward to Spaceflight's recently announced follow-up mission with New Space India.

After the break, I'm joined by Jason Armstrong, Director of Small Satellites for TriSept, for a chat about the company's unique, one-of-a-kind rideshare mission partnership with Rocket Lab and Millennium Space Systems to test cutting-edge orbital debris removal technology, including a new space-tether that will latch on and deorbit inoperable spacecraft. We hope you enjoy our first dedicated episode/love-letter to rideshare launching!

It's Cleanup Time! Dangerous Space Debris w/ Astroscale COO Chris Blackerby Aug 06, 2019

Show notes

As global space activity expands and accelerates, our space environment, naturally, becomes more congested. There have been nearly 9,000 satellites launched to date. Out of those 9,000, only 5,000 are currently maintaining orbit, and out of those, only 1,950 are operational – leaving a lot of unknowns. Efforts to maintain our orbital environment aren't keeping pace, and an upcoming wave of constellation satellites about to launch to Low-Earth Orbit has sprung many into action.

On this episode, Astroscale COO Chris Blackerby talks about how his company turned crisis into opportunity and developed a technological solution to remove dangerous space debris from orbit. Chris and I also discuss the economic consequences of ignoring space debris congestion, the global responsibility for action and collaboration, Astroscale's sharp and sudden rise as a leader in the field, and its search for new ideas and talent in the workforce. We're very grateful that Chris, who is on Japan standard time, woke up very early in the morning to join us for this very important conversation about space sustainability.

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