A Case for the Defense

The Via Satellite team has just come back from World Space Business Week. We had the opportunity to host a fantastic happy hour thanks to our good friends at Umbra, and we had a number of great discussions taking the pulse of the industry. What was interesting to me is that two topics seemed to dominate the event – defense and direct-to-device (D2D). It is hardly a surprise.

With governments around the world ramping up defense spending, and space seen as a contested domain, the need for better space capabilities is acute. However, it is clear that countries want their own capabilities and don’t want to rely on others. The issue of sovereignty in space underpinned a lot of the discussions. We live in difficult, and somewhat troubled times. The Russian invasion of Ukraine shows no sign of slowing, with Russian drone incursions into Poland happening, the pressure is being ramped up on NATO nations. Ukraine’s use of satellite technologies to fight Russia has also provided a template on how having more agility in space can make a huge difference.

EchoStar’s selling of spectrum to SpaceX was also a huge talking point in Paris, and could have huge reverberations for the D2D market.

Our October/November edition is a Special Cyber/Defense Edition. Anne-Wainscott Sargent has written a great feature for us the prospects for space companies on the Golden Dome initiative – a hot topic in the space sector right now. We also have columns from both Lisa Donnan and Lauryn Williams who also take a look at the Golden Dome initiative/project. Tereza Pultarova examines the defense market through the lens of Earth Observation (EO) companies and how defense has been reestablished as the main driver of demand in this area.

What is clear from Paris, is just how much change we are seeing in the market this year. Sadly, as the world becomes more unstable, and perhaps on the precipice of more conflict, the need for satellite tech and solutions will only increase.