Opening the Final Frontier: Who Will Take Us There and Back Again?
This October and November, SSPI has been engaged in the Opening the Final Frontier campaign! Because space really is the final frontier. Since Star Trek first crossed TV screens in 1966, we have believed that humanity’s destiny lies among the stars. And in the third decade of the third millennium, we are closer to that dream than ever before. Today, after decades of imagining the future, enterprising companies in partnership with governments are putting into place the practical foundations and critical components of a thriving space economy reaching from LEO to cislunar space.
Continued progress depends on finding solutions to the human-made problem of space debris. It is a challenge to policy as much as to technology, and to our ability to cooperate as well as compete. But here, too, companies and governments are creating more effective ways to monitor debris of all sizes, to agree on avoidance maneuvering and enforce de-orbiting protocols, and to develop fast and flexible systems to target the most dangerous debris and remove it from orbit. The same innovation that gradually created the space debris problem also offers the best hope of resolving it to keep open the roads to the final frontier.
Over several consecutive weeks, we have examined this topic in a series of podcasts, webinars, videos and articles. You’ll have a chance to re-experience all the content of the campaign throughout this issue of The Orbiter, as well new voices with their own stories to tell on the topic. Opening the Final Frontier was underwritten by Virgin Orbit.
Virgin Territory
In this podcast episode, we hear from Tony Gingiss, Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Orbit. Tony gives us insights into Virgin’s business model and how the company intends to get explorers out to the final frontier.
This podcast is the first episode of the Opening the Final Frontier: We’re Here. Now What? podcast series. The series is sponsored by Momentus.
SSPI-WISE Presents: Women in Launch!
On November 17, 2022, SSPI-WISE (Women in Space Engagement) was pleased to provide a panel session featuring women from a variety of careers in the launch side of space and satellite. Hosted by the STEM Outreach Working Group, the meeting focused on the varying ways that women arrive at and thrive in the launch sector.
Speakers for this live conversation, originally conducted on November 22, included:
- Janice Starzyk, Vice President, Government Operations, Virgin Orbit
- Tiphaine Louradour, President, ILS International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS)
- Joy Don Carlos, Launch Technical Manager and GMDSS Program Manager, Iridium Satellite
Gas Stations in Space
In this podcast episode, we hear from Nathan Orr, Chief Engineer at Momentus Space. Nathan gives us insights into how Momentus fuels the new commercial space and satellite universe.
This podcast is the second episode of the Opening the Final Frontier: We’re Here. Now What? podcast series. The series is sponsored by Momentus.