SSPI

The world is supported by infrastructure that no one can see. It keeps computers and communication networks running, detects hurricanes and wildfires, tracks methane and carbon emissions. And we go nowhere without it. It guides ships and planes, cares and homes. It battles disease and helps take a bite out of crime. This infrastructure consumes little or no concrete or asphalt and few steel beams for support, yet it circles the entire planet. It is the network of communication and observation satellites. In the first episode of Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure, we hear from Karl Horne, Vice President of Cloud and Digital Solutions at SES. Karl is responsible for technology and business strategies for satellite connected cloud and Digital Transformation solutions aimed at the Enterprise, Public Sector and Telco/MNO markets. In this capacity, Karl works across the ecosystem of cloud and network service providers, technology vendors, and solutions integrators to establish SES’s solutions in support of the industry shift towards 5G, IoT, and Cloud Powered Digital Transformations. Karl has over 30 years of experience in the telecom/datacom industry. Prior to his current position at SES, he has held various Engineering, CTO and Business Development roles for Ciena Corporation, Scientific Atlanta and AT&T Tridom. Karl holds a BSEE from Clemson University.

In this SSPI-WISE Presents podcast, Tamara Bond-Williams, Director of Engagement at SSPI, speaks with Diana Klochkova, Chief Marketing Officer at Privateer Space, a pioneering company dedicated to making space access safer and more accessible. This podcast is the first episode of New Ideas in Space Safety, the podcast of a new SSPI topic campaign: Reducing the Risks of Space, Part 2: New Ideas in Space Safety. Diana Klochkova is CMO of Privateer, where she leads marketing for the space start-up as it builds the tools that will make space safer and more accessible. Diana’s background spans a variety of roles in B2C, B2B, digital, and content marketing. In 2018, she founded Zaya, a boutique agency focusing on purpose-driven projects. Prior to Zaya, she held leadership roles at Rebel Ventures, Omnicom Media Group and Levi Strauss & Co.

In this Better Satellite World podcast, based on the February 2024 edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable, we take a look with experts at where we stand in early 2024 with regard to the commercial space industry and a battlefield that has bled two societies, threatened the stability of Europe and will take at least a generation’s wealth to repair. The battle for Ukraine has been a desperate fight.  One filled with miscalculations, brutality and an horrific loss of life. The everyday peace and serenity needed for societies to thrive has been upset in great cities like Kyiv and Kharkiv. Europe, the USA and most of the world wants it to end. It will eventually end. But how? Sheer exhaustion? Or can satellites and commercial space play a role? Our panel of experts includes: Vera Bergengruen, Senior Correspondent, TIME Magazine David Myers, President & CEO, UltiSat, Inc. Stephen Wood, Senior Director, Maxar News Bureau

In this Making Leaders podcast, we hear from Ed Spitler, Head of SATCOM at Artel and one of three inductees to the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame in 2024. For more than three decades, Ed Spitler has pursued a passionate commitment to support the American warfighter by supplying best-in-class satellite communications systems to power the success of the US Armed Forces. Upon completing his military service as a Cryptographic Telecommunications and Systems Specialist, Ed went to work for the US Department of Defense Contractor, rising from Senior Technical Engineer to Regional Program Manager, OPMAS-EUR, 5th Command, where he played a pivotal role in transitioning seven Defense Communications Sites (DCS) throughout Germany from analog to digital technology. In 2001, he joined Artel as Vice President of Managed Network Services, in which role he served as program director for more than eight critical DOD and Department of State programs and supported missions including Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan. Leaving Artel in 2012, Ed went on to hold a series of leadership positions, including COO of Vizada, CEO of Astrium Services Government and President of Satcom Services Government Division at Airbus Defense and Space. By 2017, he was back at Artel as Head of Satcom, where he led the company into a multi-orbit future that delivered resilient GEO to LEO connectivity to the government. He led development and delivery of the SPACE FORCE Pathfinder 2 program, which embedded the Pathfinder 2 payload aboard Hispasat’s Amazonas Nexus HTS. The goal was to provide dependable access to connectivity while saving money for Federal agencies compared with short-term satellite capacity leasing. The program produced savings of more than 60 percent over equivalent service.

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we ask the question: “What would you do if you had the power to make the world a better place during your career?” Joining SSPI’s Lou Zacharilla to answer that question in the third episode are 2 members of the “20 Under 35” cohort of 2023: Srikanth Kodeboyina, Founder and CEO of Blue Eye Soft Corp dba Blue Space and Klaus Okkelberg, Electrical Design & Analysis Engineer at Boeing. Srikanth Kodeboyina is the Founder and CEO of Blue Eye Soft Corp, currently in the process of becoming Blue Space. He moved to the United States in 2010 to pursue his education and earned his Master’s degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering from the University of Dayton. Within six years of completing his degree, he was working for Fortune 100 companies and managing projects across 14 states with budgets up to $32 million. Srikanth moved on to be commissioned an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, which led to him becoming a U.S. citizen. With citizenship came the opportunity to pursue his true dream, starting his own enterprise in the form of Blue Eye Soft (BES). The company initially offered IT consulting and management services, but it quickly expanded to include BlueDoc AI, Blue Space and Blue Space International, creating a specialty in the application of artificial intelligence models to analyze vast amounts of data, text and imagery. BES has established offices in South Carolina and New Mexico and intends to establish a presence in an international business hub in India next. The company has achieved the highest security clearances and been awarded contracts from agencies such as NASA and AFWERX, a technology directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Since founding BES, Srikanth has been chosen by more than 20 organizations to participate in incubator/accelerator programs for top entrepreneurs. He was a member of the first cohort of the New Mexico Lab-Embedded Entrepreneur Program (LEEP) at Los Alamos National Laboratory and was also chosen to be part of MIT’s Engine program that helps the next generation of “Tough Tech” leaders navigate the commercialization process. Klaus Okkelberg is an Electrical Design & Analysis Engineer at Boeing. In his current position, he works at Boeing Phantom Works Space on moving ground-based signal processing algorithms to space, reducing turnaround time, which is crucial for enabling autonomous operations. Klaus also works with artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), specifically deep neural networks (DNNs), for image-based inspection and pose estimation – the detection of the position and orientation – of unknown satellites. Supervised AI/ML greatly reduces the need for feature engineering, meaning fewer engineers and revisions are needed per project. Using DNN algorithms has sped up development of new image processing functions and reduces the cost of developing and deploying new space-based imaging sensors, which has led to many new business opportunities for Boeing with national space government customers. Klaus has personally developed several key innovations in AI/ML, including data augmentations, training regularizations and high-dimensional space embeddings.  These developments greatly reduce generalization error and enable the use of real satellite imagery from different sources without additional pre- or post-processing. Klaus is a graduate of Penn State Schreyer Honors College with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and of the University of New Orleans with a Master’s degree in the same field. At Penn State, his thesis on nonlinear control of marginal oscillators contributed to the more precise detection of explosive materials, providing immense benefit to potential customers such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Klaus interned at Xilinx in their signal integrity division.

In this Better Satellite World podcast, SSPI's Lou Zacharilla speaks with John Murtagh, Head of Strategy at Airbus Defence and Space - Intelligence. They discuss John's work with Airbus' Intelligence program unit and the key role of Earth observation data analytics in modern strategy and intelligence planning. John Murtagh is an Earth observation industry professional. He is a strategist within the Strategy Team of Connected Intelligence within Airbus Defence and Space, a leading supplier of satellite imagery and related defense solutions. Since joining Airbus in 1992, John has undertaken a wide range of roles and is now an executive member driving strategies focused on new digital transformation services and platform initiatives. He has worked in over 30 countries on all continents since joining Airbus and brings a unique perspective from the global customer vantage point. John received his undergraduate degree from King’s College London and graduated with an MSc in Remote Sensing from Imperial College/University College London. He also has an MA in Marketing and an MBA in Strategy. Prior to joining Airbus, John worked for BP Exploration in their Remote Sensing Group as a data integration specialist.

In this Better Satellite World podcast, recorded as a special bonus interview after of the February edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable, SSPI's Lou Zacharilla speaks with TIME Magazine reporter Vera Bergengruen. Vera recently returned from Ukraine where she reported on the nation's communication network, including satellites. Vera Bergengruen is a senior correspondent at TIME Magazine, based in the Washington, D.C. bureau. She covers the overlap of national security, politics, and technology. Her work at TIME has won the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award and a New York Press Club Award. Vera has over 10 years' experience as a Washington correspondent, having worked as a National White House and later Pentagon Correspondent for McClatchy and National Security Correspondent for BuzzFeed before joining TIME. She joined the New York Space Roundtable on February 21, 2024 to discuss the potential role of satellites and commercial space in bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

In this Making Leaders podcast, guest host Lou Zacharilla steps in for Robert Bell to speak with Stuart Daughtridge, Vice President of Advanced Technology at Kratos and Director and Chair of the Digital Intermediate Frequency (IF) Interoperability Consortium (DIFI). Stuart, who was recently nominated for Via Satellite's Satellite Executive of the Year award, joins Lou to talk about DIFI's latest news and the upcoming London Space Business Roundtable on March 5. Stuart Daughtridge has been with Kratos since 1999, and in the satellite and aerospace industry since 1986. In his current position, Mr. Daughtridge leads Kratos’ satellite ground segment technology research and development efforts.  Prior to his current role, he held several senior management positions, including SVP & GM of the Integral Systems Products Group, SVP & GM of the Integral Systems Commercial Group, as well as Program Manager of several major commercial programs.  Before joining the Company, Mr. Daughtridge held various management and engineering positions with Orion Satellite Corporation, Intelsat, and Spacecom. Mr. Daughtridge holds a Bachelor of Science from Lafayette College. DIFI has created a standard that enforces interoperability on digital IF/RF technology. Digital IF was developed to overcome the limitations of analog systems but, today, vendor lock-in prevents it from delivering seamless interoperability and severely limits its adoption. A truly interoperable digital IF, on the other hand, will enable transformation to a virtualized ground segment, reducing the total cost of ownership and significantly boosting network and terminal agility and scalability. Compliance with the DIFI standard will ensure that satellite ground segments can seamlessly adapt to rapidly changing space-layer payloads, orbits, and constellations. Ultimately, DIFI promises to elevate the resilience, performance, and capabilities of satellite networks and enable a digital transformation that integrates satellites seamlessly into the larger telecom, IT and GIS markets.

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we ask the question: “What would you do if you had the power to make the world a better place during your career?” Joining SSPI’s Lou Zacharilla to answer that question in the second episode are 3 members of the “20 Under 35” cohort of 2023: Julie Newman, Program Chief Engineer at Boeing; Dr. Zhe Liu, Senior Materials & Process Engineer at Maxar; and Alix Rousselière, Strategy Consultant for Satcom at Euroconsult. Julie Newman is Program Chief Engineer for Satelit Nusantara Lima N5 (SNL), a major geostationary communications satellite program, at Boeing. In this role, she has been instrumental in overseeing risk management and problem resolution for the satellite, particularly in the midst of a challenging shift to a different payload. Julie regularly directs and approves the work of senior engineering staff and provides recommendations to the program management office and the customer. She has also represented her executive manager in various critical functions, ranging from safety to quality assurance across Boeing’s El Segundo site and has spearheaded multiple process improvement initiatives, including major efforts to improve Boeing’s engineering training and metrics tracking systems. Before taking on her current position, Julie was the Technical Program Manager, a role in which she led a team of 15 engineers to develop the engine controller assembly for the Space Launch System (SLS) first stage rocket. The team consistently exceeded expectations under her leadership while executing a late re-design of the unit to resolve a leakage issue associated with a sneak path discovered during testing of the engineering model. She received a Promise Award from SSPI in 2023. Dr. Zhe Liu is Senior Materials & Process Engineer at Maxar as well as an accomplished scientist with a broad range of expertise in material science, biopolymers and computer science. Originally from China, Dr. Liu began her academic journey with an undergraduate degree in her home country. She then spent several years engaged in research and development in biopolymers before moving to the U.S. for further studies. She earned a Master’s degree in Material Science with a concentration in composite materials from the University of Dayton before pursuing a PhD at Florida State University, where her research focused on nano composite materials for thermal ablative applications. During her PhD, Dr. Liu joined a California-based start-up company that specialized in the novel 3D printing of continuous fiber carbon composites. As team leader, she characterized the materials and developed the process for printing structural components. This crucial work paved the way for the successful commercialization of a carbon fiber/thermoplastic composite bicycle. Dr. Liu is currently working on a second Master’s degree in Computer Science at Georgia Tech while working full-time for Maxar. Alix Rousselière is Strategy Consultant for Satcom at Euroconsult, which she joined in April 2022. Her role responsibilities include advising satellite operators and space agencies, conducting commercial and financial assessments and developing market intelligence reports on a variety of topics, including milsatcom and NGSO constellations. Although not an engineer herself, Alix has completed exemplary work on highly technical technology harmonization dossiers for the European Space Agency (ESA), demonstrating her ability to learn and adapt quickly. She participated in more than 12 international consulting missions within her first year at Euroconsult. Before joining Euroconsult, Alix spent two years at Thales in Abu Dhabi where she worked on Strategy and Commercial Development for Defense & Space Key Accounts. In particular, Alix formulated and helped implement a new, transversal, coordinated 5-year Strategic Plan for the company’s UAE Defense accounts by analyzing trends and providing recommendations to C-level executive management on priority subjects and associated investments.

In this Better Satellite World podcast, SSPI's Lou Zacharilla speaks with the Rt Hon Lord Willetts FRS, President of the Resolution Foundation and Chair of the UK Space Agency. Lord Willetts delivered the keynote address at the 2023 Better Satellite World Awards Dinner where Avanti Communications, the International Rescue Committee and Maxar New Bureau received Better Satellite World Awards for their achievements. The Rt Hon Lord Willetts FRS is the President of the Resolution Foundation and Chair of the UK Space Agency. He is a member of the Board of Darktrace plc and is Chair of Innovate Cambridge. He served as the Member of Parliament for Havant (1992-2015), as Minister for Universities and Science (2010-2014) and previously worked at HM Treasury and the No. 10 Policy Unit. He is a Board member of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a visiting Professor at King’s College London and an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. Lord Willetts has written widely on economic and social policy. His book “A University Education” is published by Oxford University Press. A second edition of his book “The Pinch” on fairness between the generations was published in 2019.

In this Better Satellite World podcast, SSPI's Lou Zacharilla speaks with Massimiliano Ladovaz, Chief Operations Officer at Eutelsat Group. Massimiliano leads the UK-based Eutelsat Group team responsible for the completion of  the Gen-1 LEO constellation and the design and development of the LEO-GEO Next-Gen constellation. For his achievements, he was chosen as the 2023 SSPI-UK Satellite Personality of the Year and honored at the 2023 Better Satellite World Awards Dinner. Massimiliano joined OneWeb in 2018 at its UK HQ and became the Chief Technology Officer in 2020. With HMG investing in OneWeb after bankruptcy, Massimiliano was instrumental in re-starting the engineering and satellite operations teams in the UK; thus leading the timely production and launch of 650 satellites and the procurement/deployment of 45 gateways and ground network around the globe. Massimiliano started his career at the European Space Agency, then moved to Luxembourg-based SES as VP Spacecraft Platform Engineering and Launch Systems. He then joined Inmarsat in the UK as Senior VP Space Segment & System Architecture at Inmarsat, leading the design, procurement and deployment of several multi-billion US dollars space programs. He holds a Masters in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Rome.

In this Making Leaders podcast, we hear from Onyinye Nwankwo, PhD Candidate in Atmospheric and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and one of three Promise Award Recipients in 2023. Onyinye is an accomplished scientist in the field of upper atmospheric and space sciences, currently pursuing her PhD in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Industrial Physics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in her home country of Nigeria before obtaining a Master’s degree in Space Geophysics from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in Brazil and a second Master of Science in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering from the University of Michigan. During her undergraduate studies, Onyinye served as an industrial trainee “Radio Signal Officer” at the Nigeria Port Authority in Lagos State, where her skills in maintaining radio signals and signal processing were key to ensuring efficient communication and navigation services. She went on to become a Scientific Officer with the Center for Atmospheric Research, National Space Research and Development Agency (CAR-NASRDA) in Anyibga, Kogi State, Nigeria, where she showcased her expertise in data processing, management and the operation of cutting-edge imaging technology. In this role, Onyinye provided key raw data handling for the All-Sky Airglow Imager and Fabry Perot Interferometer and made significant contributions to the understanding of atmospheric phenomena, which also bolstered Nigeria’s stature in space and atmospheric research. Before joining CAR-NASRDA, she worked as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Physics at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Umudike, Nigeria, where she handled a range of responsibilities for the department, including course instruction, design and implementation of research methodologies, contributions to lab experiments and management of administrative tasks.

In this Better Satellite World podcast, SSPI's Lou Zacharilla speaks with representatives of the three 2023 recipients of Better Satellite World Awards. Libby Barr, Chief Operating Officer of Avanti Communications, Fernando Carballal, Associate Director of Product Development and Operational Partnerships for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Stephen Wood, Senior Director of the Maxar News Bureau join Lou to discuss their projects, goals and making a better world for all. Libby Barr is the Chief Operating Officer at Avanti Communications (“Avanti”) and a member of its Executive Committee. Joining in January 2019, Libby is responsible for the development and growth of the Carrier, Mobility and Enterprise customers along with overseeing the end-to-end customer experience across Avanti’s Sales and Marketing departments. Libby is passionate about connecting some of the hardest-to-reach communities in the world. Key milestones include the connectivity of over 1,000 villages in Africa, to which Avanti has made significant investments to provide satellite infrastructure and digital connectivity in rural and ultra-rural areas. Along with her team, Libby’s focus will be on connecting a further 10,000 villages and schools over the next five years. Prior to Avanti, Libby was at BT for nine years. As Managing Director of Customer Care, she was a key member of the BT Consumer Leadership Team who grew the company’s revenue by more than £1.2bn in five years. Libby was also responsible for the strategic vision, leadership and transformation of a 10,000 strong Customer Care organisation across more than 30 sites worldwide. Libby began her career at Vodafone. At the company for 22 years, she held positions in both the global and UK organisations, leading the Enterprise Sales and Service organisations. In addition, Libby was a Trustee of the Vodafone Foundation. Avanti Communications’ rural solution is a groundbreaking satellite service designed to bridge the digital divide by connecting ultra-rural villages in Nigeria for the first time. This innovative solution has proven key to the Nigerian Communications Commission's (NCC) National Broadband Plan of 2020, which sets out two national goals: to achieve 90% population coverage and a penetration rate of 70% by 2025. Avanti Rural solution uses advanced satellite technology to extend mobile network coverage to the hardest-to-reach areas of Nigeria, that would be impossible to reach using traditional terrestrial infrastructure. This off-grid service is a game-changer in the telecommunications industry, providing cellular services to the most remote communities, and in turn, promoting digital inclusion and socio-economic development. As of 2023, Avanti has deployed over 500 ultra-rural sites in 21 Nigerian states, providing 2G and 3G connectivity to 2.5 million Nigerians. All these areas previously had no connectivity, with residents forced to travel on foot or by local bus to the nearest towns with coverage just to use their mobile phones. Fernando Carballal is Associate Director of Product Development and Operational Partnerships for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an organization that helps people affected by humanitarian crises—including the climate crisis—to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. He is also Co-Founder and Innovation Consultant of Impactspace, which works with businesses, NGOs, government and academia internationally to explore and commercialize new impactful ideas. Before joining IRC and co-founding Impactspace, Fernando served as Head of Design and User Engagement for Sen and as a Designer for a variety of companies, including Satellite Applications Catapult, Thingmaker and Cyclehoop Ltd. He is a graduate of London Metropolitan University with a Masters in Product Design and the University of East London with a Bachelors of Science in Architecture. The Mapping Invisible Populations project is an innovative initiative by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), created in collaboration with Flowminder and Humanitarian Open Street Map. The project was developed in 2023 with the central aim of providing support services to hard-to-reach populations. This initiative primarily targets fragile and conflict-affected areas which may receive less medical and other humanitarian support. Using satellite imagery mapping techniques and GIS methodologies provided by its partners, the Mapping Invisible Populations project gathers satellite and spatial data and combines it with population estimates analyzed by its partners to determine the location of these underserved populations. Subsequently, these estimates are verified by community informants for further corroboration. The objective is to identify populations living in areas that are large enough to justify IRC investing resources, time, and risk to provide medical and humanitarian assistance. Stephen Wood is the Senior Director of the Maxar News Bureau. He has more than 30 years of experience analyzing satellite imagery and performing all-source analysis for government, commercial and media customers. Mr. Wood joined DigitalGlobe (which became Maxar Intelligence) in 2000, after 14 years in the U.S. government, where he held a range of senior imagery intelligence-associated positions. He was the co-founder of AllSource Analysis, an imagery analytic company based in Colorado. He has an in-depth record of creating geospatial and all-source material and has briefed audiences extensively throughout his career, including high-ranking government officials, CEOs and the media on geospatial information and high current interest issues. The Maxar News Bureau is a unique partnership program that collaborates with renowned media organizations worldwide, focusing on using technology for social good and global transparency. The program is operated by Maxar Intelligence, a leading provider of secure, precise geospatial intelligence. The Bureau leverages the business’ satellite imagery, analytics and expertise to complement quality journalism and provide irrefutable evidence in an era where credibility is critical. The Maxar News Bureau has provided high-resolution satellite imagery and analysis for notable reports like The New York Times’ 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning report on Russia’s use of shadow warfare and the 2019 Emmy-winning “One Building, One Bomb” story, which reconstructed a chemical attack in Syria. The Bureau’s satellite imagery allowed the Times reporters to enhance their storytelling and lend credibility to their reports. In the realm of current events, information is traditionally released by the media, governments or organizations directly involved in the event. The Maxar News Bureau serves as an auxiliary source, providing supporting evidence or context to unfolding situations.

In this SSPI-WISE Presents podcast, guest host Divya-Kala Bhavani, General Manager for PR, Communications & Marketing at Dhruva Space and co-chair of the SSPI-WISE Elevating Women Working Group interviews Pramoda Hegde, former Mission Director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). They discuss Pramoda's journey from a small coastal village in India to Mission Director at the ISRO and how she continues in retirement to tour different villages across India to speak with young engineering hopefuls about the space industry. A note for non-Indian listeners of this podcast: the convention "Pramoda Ma'am" is an expression of respect for a female elder that is common in India. Divya-Kala Bhavani oversees the Public Relations, Communications & Marketing activities at Dhruva Space, a full-stack Space engineering company and the first private Space-Technology company in India. Divya-Kala has previously worked as a journalist and National Technology Features Editor at The Hindu, one of India’s largest and oldest English daily newspapers. Divya-Kala holds a Master’s degree in Media & Communications Governance from London School of Economics, and a Bachelor’s (Hons) in Journalism from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Divya-Kala is an active member of HAPS Alliance and of Space and Satellite Professionals International and SSPI-WISE, where she is the Co-Chair of the Elevating Women Working Group. Dhruva Space has been recognized twice by the Government of India, having been awarded the National Startup Award for its efforts in Satellite and Space Technology, and having been awarded the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Telecom Excellence Award 2022 for the company’s work in the field of Satellite Communications. On 24 June 2022, Dhruva Space became one of the first private companies to receive authorization from IN-SPACe. The company has since completed three Space missions within 12 months; including the history-making Thybolt Mission, which saw the launch of India’s first two private satellites, Thybolt-1 and Thybolt-2, authorized by IN-SPACe, to be successfully deployed into orbit. In January 2024, Dhruva Space also successfully validated its P-30 Nanosatellite platform, which kicks off the company’s LEAP initiative of hosted payload solutions for the global market. Pramoda Hegde is a former Mission Director at the Indian Space Research Organisation. Her career at ISRO spanned 32 years, during which she played pivotal roles in some of India's historic Space missions. In 2011, Pramoda was designated as Mission Director for the GSAT-12 mission; this was the first time a woman was designated as Mission Director for a GEO Mission in ISRO's history; additionally, this was also the first time all three key positions of a mission were handled by women. Pramoda also took on the roles of Project Manager, Operations Director, and Deputy Project Director for many other Geostationary satellite missions: INSAT-4A and INSAT-4B, GSAT-9 GSAT-12, GSAT-18, and GSAT-31. After retiring from ISRO, Pramoda frequently delivers lectures at various research institutes across India, and is also known for her 'From Village to Space' storytelling sessions where she recounts her journey of growing up in Muroor, a small farming village in India, and eventually joining ISRO.

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we explore the exciting developments in space-based data analytics and the absolutely game-changing nature of this relatively new part of the industry. The fourth episode features a conversation with Mike Collett, Founder and Managing Partner of Promus Ventures and Joe Fargnoli, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the New York Space Alliance and co-host of the monthly New York Space Business Roundtable alongside SSPI's Lou Zacharilla. Mike and Joe join Lou to talk about space-based data analytics and the role satellites play. Mike Collett is Founder and Managing Partner of Promus Ventures. Since its inception in 2012, Promus Ventures invests in DeepTech early-stage startups, with offices in Chicago, San Francisco and Luxembourg. Mike has been a venture capital investor for over 20 years. Mike has invested in over 100 startups, including Rocket Lab, AngelList, Whoop, Mapbox, ICEYE, Bellabeat, FLYR, Kensho, Swift Navigation, Spire Global and others. Prior to Promus Ventures, Mike was Founder and Managing Partner of Masters Capital Nanotechnology Fund, a venture capital firm. While working at Masters Capital, a hedge fund, Mike invested in software and hardware startups. Prior to venture capital, Mike was a Vice President in Merrill Lynch’s Mergers & Acquisitions group. Mike holds a BA in Math and BA in English from Vanderbilt University. He also holds a MBA in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis. Mike and his wife Paige have four children and live in Chicago. Joe Fargnoli is one of the co-founders of the New York Space Alliance (NYSA), a Public Benefit Corporation focused on bringing the immense and diverse resources of New York City and State to the New Space Economy. NYSA offers programs in tactical entrepreneurship such as an accelerator, a bootcamp in conjunction with Founder’s Institute and a Hacking for Space Program in development as well as an online Innovation Exchange community connecting the many different space impacting industries with the New Space Economy. He also serves as a Solutions Architect for Raytheon Intelligence & Space and SMA, Inc. and Managing Partner for both NYSA and Innovation Acceleration Capital in Rochester, New York. Together with SSPI, Joe co-founded the New York Space Business Roundtable, a monthly dialogue and real New York style conversation about the space & satellite industry and its many facets, including where the investments are going. January's edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable - 2024: What We Want! - is coming up later this week on Wednesday, January 17. You can learn more and register for the Roundtable on SSPI's website. His previous career background includes Northrop Grumman Electronic Sensors and Systems group working on both National Electro-Optical as well as SAR system and Kodak/ITT/Exelis/Harris with focus on National and Commercial systems.  He also served as a Technical Fellow within the NRO. Joe holds an MS in Optics from the University of Rochester, an MS in Telecommunications and Computers from the George Washington University a BS in Mathematics and MS degree in Electrical Engineering from The State University of New York.

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we explore the exciting developments in space-based data analytics and the absolutely game-changing nature of this relatively new part of the industry. The third episode features a conversation with Raimundo Rodulfo, Director of Innovation & Technology and Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Coral Gables in Florida. Raimundo joins SSPI’s Lou Zacharilla to talk about how Coral Gables is using satellite technology to manage city services and provide better quality of life for its citizens - one of many reasons why Coral Gables was recognized in 2023 as a Top7 Intelligent Community of the world by the Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org). Raimundo Rodulfo started his career 30 years ago in the early 1990s as an electrical engineer in the telecommunications industry, developing urban networks and intelligent systems. He joined the City of Coral Gables in 2004 and currently serves as Director of Innovation & Technology and Chief Innovation Officer. He leads strategic planning, co-innovation, oversight and management of citywide IT operations, infrastructure and smart city initiatives. Under his leadership, the City has received numerous awards including IEEE Smart Cities Jury Award in 2022, first place in the Digital Cities 2018, first place in the U.S. Open Cities Index in 2019 and 2020, first place in the Government Experience award in 2023, Smart 50 Award in Urban Infrastructure in 2020 and 2023, Smart Cities Council Innovation Excellence Award in 2022, Smart21 and Top7 Intelligent Community in 2023, and being recognized as one of the 8 Smart Cities to Watch in 2020 by State Tech Magazine and as one of the Top 12 worldwide in the Gartner Eye on Innovation Awards for government in 2021. Prior to joining the City, he spent ten years in the private sector working for various Fortune 500 companies such as Bellsouth, Siemens, and NCR in varying capacities. During this time, he also worked on engineering and technology projects for Motorola and Lucent Technologies in Chicago, and Agilent Technologies in Silicon Valley. He volunteers as Co-Chair of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Global Cities Team Challenge (GCTC) Superclusters, as a member of the World Business Angel Investment Forum (WBAF) Miami Board of Directors and the Cities Today Institute (CTI) Leadership Forum, and as an advisory member of international nonprofit professional committees, academic programs, and engineering standard development organizations. He has been a guest speaker at numerous conferences and events, and has also authored multiple research papers, articles, technical book chapters and other publications in the areas of smart cities, engineering and technology. Rodulfo has received numerous awards and recognition throughout his career. Most recently, he was named City Executive of the Year in the 2022 LocalSmart Awards, received the Globant Digital Disruptor award and the CyberTrust Pioneer award in 2021, was named to State Tech Magazine's list of 30 State and Local Government IT Influencers Worth a Follow in 2020, was recognized as Sustainable Technology Innovator in 2023 and Smart Disruptor in 2020 by Smart Cities Americas, and received the Key to the City from the Mayor of Coral Gables.

In this Making Leaders podcast, we hear from Julie Newman, Program Chief Engineer at Boeing and one of three Promise Award Recipients in 2023. Julie is Program Chief Engineer for Satelit Nusantara Lima N5 (SNL), a major geostationary communications satellite program. In this role, she has been instrumental in overseeing risk management and problem resolution for the satellite, particularly in the midst of a challenging shift to a different payload. Julie regularly directs and approves the work of senior engineering staff and provides recommendations to the program management office and the customer. She has also represented her executive manager in various critical functions, ranging from safety to quality assurance across Boeing’s El Segundo site and has spearheaded multiple process improvement initiatives, including major efforts to improve Boeing’s engineering training and metrics tracking systems. Before taking on her current position, Julie was the Technical Program Manager, a role in which she led a team of 15 engineers to develop the engine controller assembly for the Space Launch System (SLS) first stage rocket. The team consistently exceeded expectations under her leadership while executing a late re-design of the unit to resolve a leakage issue associated with a sneak path discovered during testing of the engineering model. Julie is a graduate of Caltech with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we ask the question: "What would you do if you had the power to make the world a better place during your career?" Joining SSPI's Lou Zacharilla to answer that question in the first episode are 3 members of the "20 Under 35" cohort of 2023: Onyinye Nwankwo, Atmospheric and Space Scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Amy Comeau, Lead Member of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner Chief Engineer's Office; and Dr. Justyna Kosianka, Senior Remote Sensing Scientist at Ursa Space Systems. Onyinye Nwankwo is an accomplished scientist in the field of upper atmospheric and space sciences, currently pursuing her PhD in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Industrial Physics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in her home country of Nigeria before obtaining a Master’s degree in Space Geophysics from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in Brazil and a second Master of Science in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering from the University of Michigan. During her undergraduate studies, Onyinye served as an industrial trainee “Radio Signal Officer” at the Nigeria Port Authority in Lagos State, where her skills in maintaining radio signals and signal processing were key to ensuring efficient communication and navigation services. She went on to become a Scientific Officer with the Center for Atmospheric Research, National Space Research and Development Agency (CAR-NASRDA) in Anyibga, Kogi State, Nigeria, where she showcased her expertise in data processing, management and the operation of cutting-edge imaging technology. In this role, Onyinye provided key raw data handling for the All-Sky Airglow Imager and Fabry Perot Interferometer and made significant contributions to the understanding of atmospheric phenomena, which also bolstered Nigeria’s stature in space and atmospheric research. Before joining CAR-NASRDA, she worked as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Physics at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Umudike, Nigeria, where she handled a range of responsibilities for the department, including course instruction, design and implementation of research methodologies, contributions to lab experiments and management of administrative tasks. Onyinye was selected as one of the three Promise Award Recipients for the 2023 "20 Under 35" cohort. Amy Comeau is a lead member of the CST-100 Starliner Chief Engineer’s Office at Boeing, a position that requires solving complex system-level design and integration challenges. As part of her current role, she facilitates factory tours of the Starliner program for key stakeholders, including legislators, community leaders, national and international customers, universities and other organizations, making constant use of her powerful communication and leadership skills. Amy began her career at Boeing in 2018 as a satellite systems vehicle engineer as part of a rotation program, where she led an in-depth analysis of test equipment anomalies and supported the setup and functional checkouts of various satellite payloads. Before joining Boeing, she worked in a fellowship for start-up Bryce Space and Technology as a Brooke Owens fellow – one of only 36 women selected for the fellowship in 2017. She also participated in NASA’s Micro-g NExT challenge as a student, during which she designed, developed and manufactured a tool that could seal micrometeorite debris holes on the International Space Station. Amy graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. Dr. Justyna Kosianka is a Senior Remote Sensing Scientist at Ursa Space Systems, with a history of designing and developing algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) analytics, geospatial modeling for synthetic SAR training data generation and data fusion. Within this she has focused on change detection as well as environmental monitoring analytics. Dr. Kosianka serves as the manager for Ursa’s SAR-based Analytics Team and has served as the technical lead for the company’s suite of SAR-based Earth observation analytics, including National Catastrophe, soil moisture, stockpile measurement, flood mapping, well monitoring and oil storage measurement and supply chain management. She was recently assigned the role of Product Owner for Ursa’s commodities-based product offerings. In this role, Dr. Kosianka is responsible for planning for design and development of commodities and Earth observation products, which helps set the direction for an entire suite of SAR-analytics-based products for the company. She has made particular progress in the area of 3D Change Detection while at Ursa, resulting in her being awarded 2 patents for SATELLITE SAR ARTIFACT SUPPRESSION FOR ENHANCED THREE-DIMENSIONAL FEATURE EXTRACTION, CHANGE DETECTION, AND VISUALIZATIONS (A-1 and B-1).

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we explore the exciting developments in space-based data analytics and the absolutely game-changing nature of this relatively new part of the industry. The second episode features a conversation with Peter Broadhurst, Senior Vice President, Safety and Regulatory at Inmarsat. Peter joins SSPI's Lou Zacharilla to talk about how Inmarsat is making continuous investments in safety and enhancing life at sea while helping to build maritime communities and collect and process data to improve our knowledge of and relationship with Earth's oceans. Peter Broadhurst joined Inmarsat in 2014 as Vice President of Service Delivery for the Maritime business unit, where he was responsible for leading the development of products and services from conception and implementation, through to launch and life cycle management. Peter was instrumental in the launch of Inmarsat’s high-speed broadband service Fleet Xpress launched in March 2016. With over 25 years of experience in the maritime industry, Peter began his career at sea as a Radio Officer, before running his own business and working for a maritime distributor. Peter then spent 15 years with Sea Tel Inc., / Cobham SATCOM as Vice President of Sales and Marketing where he was responsible for overseeing and managing global sales, support, marketing, training, and product management. Peter has a HND Electronics, Marine Radio General Certificate, Radar and Marine Navigation Aids accreditation from Wray Castle Merchant Navy School, and holds an Open University, BSc (Hons) First Class degree on Radio Frequency Systems. Peter is Acting President of Comite International Radio Maritime (CIRM), on the Board of the World Maritime University and an Ambassador for the Sailors’ Society.

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we explore the exciting developments in space-based data analytics and the absolutely game-changing nature of this relatively new part of the industry. The first episode features a conversation with Geoffrey Craig, Senior Product Strategist at Ursa Space Systems. Geoff joins SSPI's Lou Zacharilla to talk about how satellite imagery can be applied to Commodities. Geoffrey Craig is a Senior Product Strategist at Ursa Space where he focuses on developing remote sensing products for commodity markets. Prior to joining Ursa Space, Geoff spent eight years at S&P Global Platts covering oil futures, renewables & carbon markets. He was also a Cairo-based business journalist, during which time he traveled widely across the Middle East & North Africa. Geoff began his career as an International Trade Analyst at the US Department of Commerce. He holds a Master’s degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor's degree from The George Washington University. Headquartered in Ithaca, New York, Ursa Space Systems is a satellite intelligence company providing on-demand analytic solutions. Through its radar satellite network and data fusion techniques, Ursa detects real-time changes in the phsyical world to understand trends and events at deeper levels than ever before.