Downlink 4 – Conference Updates

Happy New Year from all of us at SATELLITE! We’re super excited to kick off 2019 and announce dozens of new speakers that have confirmed their appearances on our upcoming program!

SATELLITE 2019 kicks off on Monday, May 6 with our opening general session, “What’s the (Next) Big Idea?”. The panel, which is open to all attendees, will feature an exciting line-up of speakers, including Nick Rossmann, Lead Intel Research Director, IBM Watson; Pradman Kaul, President, Hughes; and Chris Johnson, Space & Missile Systems President, Boeing Satellite Systems International.  Frequent technology disruption is the new normal in all aspects of our lives, and the space industry is no exception to the trend. Which technologies will disrupt the status quo? Which technologies or applications will rearrange the space value chain? Karen Jones, Senior Project Leader, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, The Aerospace Corporation will lead the panel’s efforts to answer these questions, while focusing on the “trigger points” that could advance the state of play for game changing technologies in space. Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman, OneWeb and Sandra Magnus, Executive Director, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) are also slated to join the group pending confirmation.

On the other end of the program, the speaker line-up for our closing Executive Roundtable, “LEO/MEO Systems Five-Year Forecast” (Thursday, May 9) is nearly complete! The executive panel will include Matthew Desch, CEO, Iridium; Erwin Hudson, LEO Vice President, Telesat; Mina Mitry, CEO, Kepler Communications; and Mark Rigolle, CEO, LeoSat. This diverse roundtable unites industry executives for a high-level assessment of the battle for supremacy in Low- and Medium-Earth Orbit. Speakers will discuss the importance of scale when it comes to constellations, and share short- and long-term market forecasts. Who will fail and who will prevail in NGSO?

Pamela Logan, Lead Technical Analyst, The U.S. Defense Contract Management Agency will be running a 30-minute workshop titled “How to Sell Commercial Technology to the Government,” on Monday, May 6. The workshop is open to conference level attendees. Ms. Logan describes the workshop: “The US Department of Defense wants to reduce its dependence on costly custom solutions and buy more commercial products and services that have been modified for defense applications. In 2016, the Defense Contract Management Agency stood up a cadre of engineers and cost/price analysts to foster and concentrate the government’s expertise in commercial item acquisition. This talk will explain the statutory framework and streamlined acquisition processes that allow commercial companies to avoid the burdensome paperwork that is so often associated with selling to the government, including how one goes about demonstrating that a product or service meets the statutory definition of “commercial.”

Erick Hernandez, Director of IT Infrastructure, Silversea Cruises and Reza Rasoulian, Vice President, Global Connectivity & Shipboard Technology Operations, Carnival Cruise Lines will appear on the session, “The Ocean of Things” on Thursday, May 9. The session, led by Nathan de Ruiter, Managing Director, Euroconsult will examine how maritime players can work together to create a collaborative and complementary connected world out at sea. Erick and Reza will review solutions that are coming down the pipe, how they can help with new regulatory requirements, how some can complement each other and debate the best connectivity toolkits available.

Finally,  Dr. Jean-Yves Le Gall, President, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and Kirk Pysher, President, ILS will join our Tuesday closing session Space Leaders Forum, titled “Navigating the Fractured Geopolitical Landscape,” and led by Jonathan Ward, Organization Director, Atlas. NASA and the European Space Agency will also participate in the discussion, which will focus on how the satellite industry can maintain the spirit of international cooperation in today’s tense geopolitical climate.

Haven’t signed up for SATELLITE 2019 yet? Register today to secure your spot to the sessions above!