CTOs Take Stock of Game-Changing Technology Developments in Satellite

Industry leading CTOs set the stage for SATELLITE 2024, kicking off the show on Monday, March 18, weighing in on the game-changing technologies that are changing the space industry.

Intelsat CTO Bruno Fromont highlighted developments in 3D printing, as well as the availability of more computing power in space.

“I would come back to software,” Fromont said. “The chips are very close to what you get on the ground. We are looking to get more computing on board. Cloud computing will come into space. This is game-changing.”

Iridium CTO Greg Pelton said the big theme is that more commercial technology is going into orbit. He pointed to the Space Development Agency (SDA’s) investment in commercial technology.

“From a business model perspective, I am really intrigued about what the Space Development Agency is doing. We are seeing the reverse of what we normally see, and government leading the industry, rather than the other way around.”

Lukas Nyström, CTO of Satcube, had a slightly different perspective here, talking more from the ground segment side. “What excites me is connecting when you are on the move. For example, we want the terminals to physically integrate into the roofs of cars, but considering the car technology, the power of these terminals has to come down in order for them to work effectively in this scenario. You need to use more advanced semiconductors. Game-changing technologies will be needed to make this kind of connectivity a reality.”

Kennet Lejnell, CTO of Ovzon, also highlighted new materials with greater strength than current materials. He believes these new materials will enable new opportunities and structures in space.

Direct-to-Device Prospects

The CTOs addressed vertical integration, the prospects for in-orbit technologies, and the future for direct-to-device (D2D). Some were more positive on the potential for in-orbit refueling than others. Rachelle Radpour, CTO of Boeing Satellite Systems International, highlighted the fact that NASA recently just canceled the OSAM-1 satellite refueling contract. She said this could be seen as a move away from launching big, high performing, costly satellites. “I think refueling will be a niche,” she said.

Pelton had a similar sentiment, asking — “If the cost of launch and manufacture goes down 25 percent, does it make sense to refuel what is already in orbit?”

Radpour was also confident about the prospects for the D2D market. She added, “D2D is not a new thing. But what is new is the collaboration between cellular and satellite players. Now, there are issues around standards, managing interference, etc. But with the expected profits, these issues will get solved.”

Fromont said that telecoms and satellite are in a new era. “Our vision has to be to bring the best of telecoms into the satellite world. If you can leverage the technologies/chipsets available in mobile, you have the ability to change the costs. We have been very active in 3GPP. I was at Mobile World Congress a few weeks back, we can see a path of modern telecoms chipsets being used in satellites.”

Pelton added on this topic, “When looking at telecoms and satellite, and things like D2D, we are seeing a transformational effect in terms of thinking. Access to spectrum has been key to this. But there are still a lot of issues. There are questions about the business case. What will customers pay? My gut feeling if you look at cellular and broadband players, markets condense to two to three players. A lot of experiments will fail in this area, but some will succeed.”

Vertical Integration

As billionaire-funded SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper are the poster children for vertical integration, one of the questions is whether others might go in this direction. Fromont made the point that vertical integration is not common in many industries. “If you look at the telco world, the industry has been progressing via standards. You don’t really have vertical integration in the telco world. You have a ‘siloed’ view. You can have multiple paths to innovation. When looking at this, I think you need to pick your battles.”

Ovzon is taking a slightly different approach and is a believer in the vertical integration approach, with the Ovzon 3 satellite in orbit, and its own terminals and service. Lejnell said the company has been vertically integrated from the start. “That approach is very important to be able to tailor and design the whole system. We have prepared our systems with respect to what is coming up,” he said.

Nyström added vertical integration could have a big impact on the likes of Satcube. “If you have a network where everything is integrated, you don’t have different flavors. You can have more tailored solutions in a non-vertical integrated world. But, going down this road means it can be more expensive.”

Radpour made interesting points about the acquisition of Millennium Systems has impacted Boeing’s thinking and the way it does things. “Software-defined satellites have been around for a long time. One of the biggest changes for us is that we have changed the manufacturing process for the payload. It is now a quicker, more streamlined process. We are able to get more up there. We are so happy with Millennium, there has been a lot of collaboration with them both ways.” VS