On Orbit

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Why the MyRadar Weather App Launched its Own Satellites Aug 30, 2023

Show notes

With 50 million downloads and 950,000 ratings, and an average rating of 4.8 stars, MyRadar is one of the most popular weather apps, putting weather information directly in the hands of its customers. But this isn't an ad for MyRdar, it's the story of how and why a popular mobile app becomes a space company.

MyRadar orbital ambitions, and is working on a satellite constellation to quickly alert to wildfires. MyRadar CTO Sarvesh Garimella about how and why the mobile app is investing in its its own satellites. The story turns the traditional Earth observation model on its head, as MyRadar is already an end user of satellite data, and now its purpose-building satellites for its own needs.

He also shares how a weather app helps its users deal with climate change, how AI models are impacting weather forecasting, and why a digital-first weather company still invests in the power of real, human meteorologists.

Correction: The intro of the podcast misstates the number of MyRadar downloads. The app has 50 million downloads.

Future Space Economy Series: The Value of a Lunar Economy Explained Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

Why are the world's space faring nations racing back to the moon? What is the value of establishing a new lunar economy? In this episode of On Orbit's Future Space Economy webcast series, host Jeffrey Hill speaks with Yale University's Emma Louden, Nanoracks' Mike Lewis, and former SpaceX leaders David Anderman and Sita Sonty about what's driving the new space race to the moon. The group explores the value of lunar materials and resources, research on the "dark side of the moon," and the economic opportunities created by just getting there (as well as getting there first).

Is Space Crowded? Managing Traffic in Space With Chiara Manfletti of Neuraspace Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

Is space crowded? While space is infinite, space crowding is an important issue as the satellite industry launches more and more mass to orbit each year. This week, Chiara Manfletti, COO of space traffic management startup Neuraspace joins On Orbit to answer this and other critical questions about space sustainability.

In this episode, she digs into the specifics of the risks to satellite operators, and different approaches to space traffic management, and how governments and even insurers have a role to play in sustainable in orbit operations.

Chiara has an interesting background in academia and government. Before getting involved with Neuraspace, She served as president of the new Portuguese national space agency, Portugal Space. We talk about that experience, the startup environment in Europe, and Chiara also shares about her beekeeping hobby.

Decoding the Direct-to-Device Market With Tarun Gupta of Skylo Technologies Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

In the past year, the satellite industry has been a part of a slew of announcements about direct-to-device and satellite to cell. Now, major names in cellular industries and devices like Apple, Qualcomm, and T-Mobile are all working with satellite companies.

Tarun Gupta, chief product officer and co-founder of Skylo Technologies joins On Orbit this week to talk about the growth in the direct-to-device market. Skylo had been working on its own tech stack to connect devices directly to satellite before 3GPP release 17 standards, but Tarun says that the standards release along with the iPhone 14 were both major catalysts in opening up this market.

In the past, OEMs didn't believe small devices could connect directly to satellite, and now companies are asking how fast devices can be brought online. In this episode, Tarun talks about trends in this market, the enabling technologies and developments, and use cases like remote power line monitoring for wildfires. We also talk about Skylo's recent announcement with Qualcomm.

Future Space Economy Series: Laws and Liability in Space Jun 20, 2023

Show notes

Space is an exciting new frontier for the global economy, but like all frontiers, it exists largely without a legal framework to guide and protect the people and businesses that would participate in this economy.

This webcast in the Future Space Economy series features policy experts Therese Jones senior policy director for the Satellite Industry Association (SIA); Chris Kunstadter, Global Head of Space for insurer AXA XL; and Dara Panahy, Milbank partner. These experts tackle tough questions related to space law like — What does it mean to own property in space? How does the insurance industry assess risks in space? How do we prepare for the legal challenges in the future when more people are working and living in space?

The Future Space Economy series is generously sponsored by SpiderOak, Sidus Space, and Kepler Communications.

Internet of Tractors: Unlocking Agricultural Connectivity with John Deere Engineer Chung Hsieh Jun 06, 2023

Show notes

John Deere made headlines last year announcing a satellite project — looking for industry partners to connect thousands of agricultural machines beyond cellular networks — a major opportunity for the satellite industry.

In this week's episode, we talk to Chung Hsieh, senior infrastructure engineer at John Deere. Chung has long worked with the satellite industry on John Deere's StarFire GPS augmentation network, and he has been working with participants in the RFP as well.

Chung gives an engineer's perspective on data and connectivity in agriculture, and dealing with the reality of physics constraints of satellite antennas, and his perspective on working with the satellite industry. The StarFire network is a foundational technology in terms of the impact it has had on John Deere's business, and Chung believes a satellite connectivity solution could have the same level of impact on John Deere's future, especially with the future of autonomous vehicles.

Chung also gives an update on the RFP, and how Deere is testing and evaluating solutions from a number of finalists. This episode was recorded in-person in New Orleans at ConnectX after a panel that Chung and I were on about IoT and cellular connectivity, and there is a bit of background noise.

Our 100th Episode, Featuring Startup Space Winner Jacqueline Good May 23, 2023

Show notes

The On Orbit podcast has reached 100 episodes! Thank to our listeners for tuning in over the past three years for engaging conversations with the people driving the business of space. In this episode, co-hosts Jeff Hill and Rachel Jewett commemorate the milestone by looking back on some of their favorite episodes, and share a highlight reel of clips.

This episode's guest is Jacqueline Good, founder of Magnestar and winner of the 2023 Startup Space competition. We talk with Jacqueline after her Startup Space win and dig into the issue of signal interference and how Magnestar is working to help with spectrum coordination and improve the resilience of space services. Jacqueline shares the story of going on a listening tour talking to satellite operators about the problems they face, and how those discussions led her to build a data solution to solve the issue of signal interference.

Jacqueline is also the first winner from Canada, and she has found a lot of value in the community of Canadian startup leaders. She gives her perspective on why Canada is such a robust proving ground for space startups, how playing competitive hockey influenced her approach to business.

An Inside Look at Geospatial Intelligence With Ronda Schrenk Apr 26, 2023

Show notes

Ronda Schrenk has had a front-row seat to the evolution of geospatial intelligence in the United States. She started out as an imagery analyst for the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), just before it was combined into the new National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NEMA), which later became the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Now, she is an advocate for the industry as CEO of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation. Ronda joins On Orbit this week ahead of USGIF's annual GEOINT Symposium, to talk about how she has seen the industry evolve. She recounts how one of her first assignments was manually counting boats around a small island, and how much analyst work was done manually in spreadsheets at the time. She talks about the enabling technologies that have increased the speed of insights and made life easier on analysts, and shares context behind some of the recent headlines in the geospatial intelligence industry.

Future Space Economy Series: Computing Power in Space Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

Today's modern global economy runs on data, and the world's most successful industries and organizations are defined by the speed and efficiency in which they access that data. Defining success in space will be no different – a vibrant, diverse, and productive economy in space will require massive amounts of data that can easily be accessed by facilities on Earth and shared between satellites, vehicles, and space stations in orbit.

In the fourth episode of On Orbit's Future Space Economy webcast series, host Jeffrey Hill speaks with leaders from Mynaric, Ramon.Space, OrbitsEdge, Nebula Space Enterprise, and Avantus Federal to learn how they are building to support advanced applications and automation in the space environment. Learn about how these systems operate in space and are protected from the harsh environment. The group also explains how virtualized networks will work to transfer data from space to Earth, and how data is processed, transmitted, and protected in the future space economy.

Learn more about On Orbit's hit new webcast by visiting www.onorbitspace.com

Boeing's Michelle Parker on the Evolving Landscape of Satellite Manufacturing Mar 28, 2023

Show notes

Michelle Parker recently took on a new role as vice president of Space Mission Systems at Boeing. After restructuring Boeing Defense, Space & Security last year, Boeing brought all satellite programs together under Space Mission Systems including commercial and government satellites, Spectrolab and Millennium Space Systems in one organization.

Michelle has a long career in the satellite industry, starting out more than 25 years ago with Hughes' satellite division before it was acquired by Boeing, where she worked on the thermal design of the original 702 platform. Now she is tasked with integrating these teams and recognizing synergies across the business to present the best offerings to customers.

She spoke with On Orbit host Rachel Jewett on the first day of the SATELLITE show in Washington D.C., as Boeing prepared to ship the first ViaSat-3 satellite to Cape Canaveral for launch operations. In this wide-ranging discussion, Michelle talks about the demand environment for satellite manufacturing across government and commercial segments in the multi-orbit era. She discusses responding to competition in the manufacturing market, how she has seen Boeing and the industry evolve, and the market for talent.

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