Escaping the Silo
Today, when everything is digital, it seems truly remarkable how long we have been commercializing space in analog mode. Sure, the Space Race and defense spending in the 1960s gave birth to microelectronics. But who could forget – if you’re of the right age – the US$1 million that one company spent to create a pen that could write in microgravity? The company’s founder, Paul Fisher, offered the Space Pen to NASA, and it made its first spaceflight in 1967. (Meanwhile, Russian cosmonauts just used a pencil.)
It was in the 1980s that the digital world we know today began to take shape, with the introduction of the personal computer. But the GEO satcom business, operating in its safe-seeming silo, continued to operate on 15-year replacement cycles that set the pace for the entire industry. Digital encoding gradually took over connectivity, but the fundamental architecture of the global satcom network remained resolutely analog.
The Wait is Over
Today, the Space Pen’s writing is on the wall. Satcom and earth observation now take place in a digital ecosystem from orbit to Earth – still incomplete in places but advancing at the kind of speed that digital innovation provides.
The LEO business went from a worrisome prospect on the horizon (for established satcom providers) to an aggressive and successful competitor, with more LEO operators on the way to market. MEO services went from fast growth to bankruptcy to ownership by one of the world’s largest satellite operators. High-throughput and VHTS birds in all orbits vastly multiplied available bandwidth. And fully software-defined satellites, while still struggling to tame a new technology, have begun their march into GEO.
Meanwhile, technology vendors and nonprofits like the Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium are working all out to digitize the ground segment to provide the agility and capacity the new space systems demand.
Rock the Industry
This issue of The Orbiter is dedicated to digital space. Its creation is rocking our industry and threatening long-established competitive advantages – but also injecting opportunity, excitement and energy into the markets. For the first time in a long time, we have something new to talk about with our customers and prospects, including organizations that never considered satcom a viable alternative before.
For those who used to complain about the slow pace of innovation in the satellite business, there is an old, old answer: be careful what you wish for. Because the silo is no more.
Bits, Bytes and AI, Oh My! – Episode 1: Living in Interesting Times
In the first episode of Bits, Bytes and AI, Oh My!, we hear from Chris Stott, Founder, Chair and CEO of Lonestar Data Holdings Inc., the Lunar information, technology, and communications company and the first to send and operate data centers from the Moon for global disaster recovery. A lifetime entrepreneur, Chris is also the Founder and Non-Executive Chair of River Advisers and ManSat, the world’s largest commercial provider of satellite spectrum.
This podcast series is underwritten by
Header photo by Josie Weiss on Unsplash