On Orbit

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Bluetooth from Space: Hubble Network Reimagines Satellite IoT Jul 23, 2024

Show notes

You probably use Bluetooth every day to connect your phone to your car, speakers, and headphones. Now satellite startup Hubble Network is rethinking the bounds of Bluetooth to unlock low-cost IoT connections from space.

This week, Alex Haro, co-founder of Hubble Network, joins On Orbit. Hubble recently demonstrated a bluetooth connection from space. The company is working to build a satellite network that allows off the shelf bluetooth chips to be connected anywhere in the world via satellite.

Alex is also one of the co-founders of Life 360, a location-sharing app Life360 used by many families, and the app intends to use Hubble's satellite technology for a global location-tracking network. In this episode, Alex shares the tech innovations that enabled Hubble to reach this milestone, the intersection of consumer and space technology, and what's possible for individuals and industries with expanded low-cost IoT connectivity.

Caleb Henry Sets Out to Catalog the Story of OneWeb Jul 09, 2024

Show notes

OneWeb is one of the most compelling stories of the New Space era. From its start as one of the first constellation ventures, and early success, to its fall in bankruptcy and rebirth under new ownership, the company has captured the space industry's attention for years.

Caleb Henry is working to catalog that story, writing a book about OneWeb. Henry is a very familiar face to Via Satellite readers — he is a former reporter for both Via Satellite and Space News, and he is now Director of Research for Quilty Space.

Henry joins On Orbit this week to talk about his OneWeb book project. He spent the last year conducting interviews and recently secured an agent. He shares an inside look at his process — from conducting more than 250 interviews to how he's adapting his journalistic writing style to the long-form nature of writing a book. And, Henry shares why thinks it's so important to tell the story of OneWeb.

Exploring NASA's Post-ISS Space Station Options Jun 25, 2024

Show notes

With the approaching retirement of the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has contracted several commercial companies to develop orbital facilities that will fulfill the need for a wide range of research and business activities in space.

In this episode, which is part of the Future Space Economy Series, we focus on NASA's three contracted space station development partners – Axiom Space's Axiom Hab One, Blue Origin's Orbital Reef, and Voyager Space's Starlab. Speakers from Voyager Space, Arkisys, and MDA Space compare and contrast deployment schedules, program costs, and capabilities of future commercial space stations in a discussion that maps out commercial space industry opportunities in a post-ISS world.

Fighting Wildfires from Space With the Earth Fire Alliance Jun 11, 2024

Show notes

Wildfires have a devastating impact on human and animal life, property, biodiversity, and air quality, local economies, and so much more. In this week's On Orbit podcast, we hear about a new coalition bringing together NGOs, philanthropy, and a satellite company to change wildfire response.

Satellite company Muon Space is working with the Earth Fire Alliance, a new non-profit to build and deploy FireSat — a satellite constellation purpose-built for global wildfire response. The full satellite constellation announced in May is planned for more than 50 satellites. It was designed with input from more than 200 members of the research and fire communities.

Our guests for this episode are Cathy Olkin, former NASA scientist and principal scientist for Muon Space, and Brian Collins, executive director of Earth Fire Alliance. They share how this coalition came together and why they turned to space technology to bring new and accessible data to first responders, climate scientists, and governments.

How Planet Works with Partners to Accelerate its Impact With CFO Ashley Johnson May 28, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, we're joined by Ashley Johnson, Planet CFO and president for a conversation about how satellite data contributes to transparency for peace and security, and how Planet works with partners to accelerate the impact of its data.

Ashley shares the successes of some specific partnerships that deal with reducing tropical forest loss and mapping the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations. When there are so many impactful use cases for satellite data, Ashley gives some insight into how Planet decides which ones to focus its resources on.

We talk about the business impact as well. As CFO and president, Ashley tells her team that they have to "do well in order to do good," emphasizing that Planet needs to be financially sound in order to have the greatest impact for good.

This episode is sponsored by AvL Technologies, an industry leading manufacturer of multi-band and multi-orbit satellite communications ground terminals for military, government and commercial applications.

Building Deep Space Satellite Connectivity Networks May 07, 2024

Show notes

Connectivity is the cornerstone of today's global economy and it will certainly be the case for the Future Space Economy, with even more complex, data-centric applications. We spent decades building the global satellite connectivity infrastructure around Earth, is it possible to replicate Earth's satellite connectivity infrastructure on the Moon, or on other planets?

This episode of the On Orbit Future Space Economy series explores what deep space satellite networks will look like, and how they will be built to perform in extraordinary environments. We'll also discuss the history of deep-space exploration and research satellites and what we've learned from those missions.

This episode features Matthew Harris, space focus area lead for QinetiQ; James Spicer, technical director of Kepler Communications US; and Sita Sonty, CEO of Space Tango. This episode was recorded live at SATELLITE 2024.

How TrustPoint Aims at the Commercial Future of GPS, with CEO Patrick Shannon Apr 23, 2024

Show notes

In this week's On Orbit episode, we're joined by Patrick Shannon, CEO of TrustPoint. Patrick won the 2024 Startup Space pitch contest at SATELLITE in March, competing against nine other startups.

TrustPoint is building a commercial GPS system, and working toward its own constellation of around 300 spacecraft in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to offer GPS services that have more affordable precision, better security, and greater availability. Patrick breaks down some of the the limitations of traditional GPS and why we are now seeing more commercial businesses like TrustPoint looking to provide new solutions to GPS issues.

He takes us inside the Startup Space experience, talks about the impact it has made on the company so far, and previews what's next for TrustPoint. The company is shifting out of an internal R&D phase and into more demonstrations and testing with customers and partners.

This episode is sponsored by AvL Technologies, an industry leading manufacturer of multi-band and multi-orbit satellite communications ground terminals for military, government and commercial applications. Learn more at https://www.avltech.com/

To LEO, GEO, and Beyond: A Conversation With Tom Mueller Apr 02, 2024

Show notes

We have a special On Orbit episode from SATELLITE 2024 this week, a fireside chat with Impulse Space CEO Tom Mueller. Mueller is considered one of the world's leading spacecraft propulsion experts. As one of SpaceX's founding members, he led the development of propulsion systems for the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy, as well as the Dragon line of spacecraft. His work was crucial in the development of reusable rocket technology.

Mueller spoke with Via Satellite editor-in-chief Mark Holmes during SATELLITE about his new company Impulse Space, an in-space transportation company working to deliver payloads to LEO, GEO, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Mueller describes his vision for Impulse Space to provide the transportation for the space economy of the future with Mira and the recently announced Helios kick stage.

Our next episode will also be from SATELLITE. We'll share the kickoff for the 2024 Future Space Economy series, Building Deep Space Satellite Connectivity Networks. This discussion features experts from QinetiQ, Space Tango, and Kepler Communications. Expect that in your feeds on April 16.

Nuclear Weapons in Space: Behind the Headlines With Brian Weeden Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

A few weeks ago, space security issues took center-stage in the news after reports of a nuclear satellite weapon. This raised a lot of questions — What would a nuclear weapon mean in space? Why would Russia pursue this?

In this week's On Orbit episode, we dig into these questions with Dr. Brian Weeden, chief program officer of the Secure World Foundation, an organization that works to promote secure, sustainable, and peaceful uses of outer space. Weeden is an expert on space security issues and conducts research on issues like space debris, protecting space assets, and space governance. He explains the physical and geopolitical consequences of detonating a nuclear weapon in space, implications for the Outer Space Treaty, and how this situation has raised awareness of security issues in space.

Unpacking the Geopolitical Landscape of GNSS With Zephr CEO Sean Gorman Feb 20, 2024

Show notes

We often take for granted how much of our modern lives are underpinned by GPS technology. This episode of On Orbit digs into GPS and the global landscape of GNSS, which stands for Global Navigation Satellite System. Dr. Sean Gorman, CEO of new startup Zephr, joins as this episode's guest.

We talk about how much economic value is supported by GNSS technology, the GNSS geopolitical landscape including China's investment in the BeiDou constellation, private GNSS systems, and why this technology will be important for future use cases. Sean also talks about how Zephr fits into this landscape, and how working at Snapchat and dealing with GPS accuracy on mobile devices led to the idea for the company.

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